"Open Wide, Come Inside, Its Play School"

Play School Perspectives on Playing Living and Learning

Speaker: Dr Cathie Harrison, ACU

In this presentation Dr Cathie Harrison will take you inside the iconic Australian children's television program Play School. As the second longest running children’s television program in the world, Play School offers more than entertainment for young children.

Research undertaken indicated that Play School engages and empowers young learners and their families to live and learn through everyday experiences and encounters. The focus on the child as central to production reinforces the relational nature of learning through the power of play.

Cathie will outline the rationale behind the program and explain the lengthy collaborative production process behind each series. Examples from the program will illustrate the ways in which Play School contributes to the development of positive dispositions to learning, emotional and social wellbeing and conceptual understandings and competencies in language, literacy and numeracy.

This rare and special seminar is for educators from prior to school and Junior Primary programs and settings. Participants will be offered strategies that can support them to engage in playful approaches to living and learning across the lifespan.