Description:
Play-based learning (PBL) has been increasingly recognized as central to early childhood learning and development; however, research indicates debate and controversy about what play is, across educational settings. The dichotomy in what is considered as play in distinct education systems has consequences on policymaking, affecting teachers and students in the classroom climate and the learning processes. This is especially true in the transition period from early year settings (i.e., kindergarten, nursery, or preschool) to school, where a shift in learning goals already poses a challenge to collaboration and smooth transition. On top of that, reforms in the international educational system increasingly emphasize twenty-first-century skills, which prompts us to rethink the role of play in education. In this chapter, early childhood education (ECE) curricula documents relating to children in the transition period across Norway and England were analysed using Critical Policy Discourse Analysis (CPDA), to examine the main discourses of play and to evaluate the power behind these discourses. We found two dominant discourses in Norway and two in England in the curricula relating to PBL pedagogies. We also found indications that societal values and political agenda may have influenced the PBL ideologies in the curricula documents. However, a longitudinal analysis of the curricula and the corresponding educational policies is needed to understand the power dynamics in depth.