Play and Learning?: A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Treatment of Play in Relation to Learning in Australian and New Zealand Early Childhood Curricula Frameworks

Abstract

The role of play in early childhood settings has become a global issue due to coordinated policy trends that privilege early learning, academic foci and formalised assessments amid a broader economic and investment agenda. This paper undertakes a critical discourse analysis of the Australian and New Zealand national early childhood curricula frameworks in order to examine the treatment of play and learning as they relate to one another. The analysis revealed that curriculum documents from both Australia and New Zealand drew on lifelong learning ideological frames to present a view of play as an activator of learning, where learning is interpreted as observable and recognisable academic processes. It was found that the agency attributed to the child in play and learning processes was central to how the role of the adult was interpreted, with implications for the play opportunities that children may encounter.