In reality, the Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage (CGFS) document, like its predecessors, fundamentally misunderstands and misrepresents the nature of authentic play. We are told in CGFS, for example - and this is typical of the document - that 'the role of the practitioner is crucial in ... extending and supporting children's spontaneous play' (p 25). The very idea that it is the adult's place to 'extend spontaneous play' for children is of course fundamentally self-contradictory.
We are told that 'practitioners need to take part in children's play ... and encourage children to sort, group and sequence in their play' (p 53). This is yet more adult-centric 'control-freakery' that can only interfere with, rather than enhance, healthy, play-driven child development.
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