Opinion: To the point - Providing an alternative

After a recent visit to an Early Years Unit covering the Foundation Stage in a school, I want to hit an optimistic note. I went to meet up again with a teacher with whom I had co-researched about six years ago when writing the book Early Years Play and Learning: Developing Social Skills and Co-operation. (His class and the 'whatever you want it to be place' are described from page 95).

This teacher has taken these ways of working, which he had helped to develop in the earlier research, much further into an exciting and challenging outdoor environment. This outdoor space looks unlike most traditional outdoor spaces, in that there are no wheeled vehicles or climbing equipment. It is resourced with large and small tyres, tarpaulins, tubes, brushes, cable reels, milk crates, pieces of wood and other materials which have become the children's tools for playful encounters.

I watched the children playing. There was a lot of movement around the area, but also a huge amount of concentration and dedicated problem-solving by adults working with children and by children with peers. Some younger children engaged in solitary activity, but most of it reflected communities of learners engaged in rich discussions and goal-oriented activity linked to their emerging and developing play themes. The sense of purpose and achievement was extensive.

What was especially interesting in discussions was that the teachers now felt the outdoor play was richer and more challenging for the children than the indoor play. They were beginning to think about how the indoor areas, organised into traditional Areas Of Provision, might be developed to mirror the physical and intellectual challenges available outdoors without replicating the outdoor provision. Observing children's play and learning had become a more central part of their work as educators and the team had developed new approaches to planning and recording.

Can I hear some of you asking 'where was literacy and numeracy in all of this?' It was everywhere. The reception children began the day with 20 minutes or so of phonic-based and related work and then moved into indoor and outdoor areas where literacy and numeracy materials were available to accompany their selected activities.

I know there are other providers working in these ways. Never has it been more timely to bring debates on these new pedagogies to the fore.

Pat Broadhead is professor of playful learning at Leeds Metropolitan University and chair of TACTYC (www.tactyc.org.uk).