At its first play conference, in London last week, the National Union of Teachers launched the policy and called for an independent review of the national curriculum that would provide more opportunities for play in schools. The NUT also called for local authorities to be encouraged to establish individual play policies, with a national audit of play facilities.
NUTgeneral secretary Steve Sinnott said, 'Ultimately the NUT would wish to see a play policy develop in every school, with every local authority supporting such approaches to learning. However, as this may be some way off, the NUT hopes class teachers will be able to use some of the examples in our 'Time to Play' resource pack to plan for play in their own classrooms.'
'Time to Play' was developed in consultation with the Children's Play Council, London Play, Playlink, and CABE Space (Commission for Architecture and Built Environment).
The play policy and resource pack are available at www.teachers.org.uk.
