A recent study by the Right To Play Organization found that the Tanzanian education system has started to embrace play-based learning despite still existing challenges, such as limited space to play, materials, and teacher training (Fesseha, 2020).  The study reveals that since the Ministry of Education Science and Technology (MoEST) switched to a competency-based curriculum in 2016, play-based learning was “determined” to be highly suited for the new curriculum. Furthermore, from the data collected by analyzing policy documents and evaluating stakeholders' perspectives on play-based learning, we learned that Tanzanians started to value the role of play in learning and child development (Fesseha, 2020).  

I would like to argue that learning and playing are two sides of the same coin. The enjoyment of early learning environments influences children’s development and dispositions to later schooling. Play-based learning fosters a sense of empowerment, significance, and joy in children, improving learning outcomes. I have seen kids learning best when they’re active and not passive and when the lesson is meaningful to them, and they can relate it to their own lives outside of the classroom.

However, many Tanzanians, including teachers and parents, consider playing to be a free-time activity that can only be encouraged after school or during specific periods outside the classroom (Shavega et al., 2014; Wilinskli, 2018). In addition, traditional views of academic achievement as primarily judged by cognitive learning coupled with the increased focus on standards-driven impetus on quantifiable improvements in the skills like numeracy and literacy seem to hinder stakeholders from appreciating play as an optimal medium for learning.

Studies reveal that a holistic approach to learning is most effective. So, kids can simultaneously learn language and literacy, emotional health, social well-being, attachment, self-reflection, visual motor skills, and numeracy (Pyle et al., 2017). With play, students can do various activities such as creating things, game playing with friends or alone, building things, drawing, coloring, as well as other arts and crafts. Students also develop the  21st-century skills most required to succeed through play, such as creativity, innovation, collaboration, communication, content, confidence, perseverance, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills.

We need to make a significant shift to enable our education systems to adopt play for learning by examining how our brains learn. . We first need to distinguish between free play and guided play and equip our teachers with appropriate tools to succeed in guided play pedagogy through teacher training and in-service programs. 

Free Play happens when kids are allowed to explore independently and play as they want, with no teacher interference or directions. At the same time, in guided play learning, students direct their own learning, but teachers may initiate or scaffold the process (Pyle et al., 2018). Although free play may allow children freedom, it could also mean that children are likely to have difficulty achieving academic goals because they are not guided to focus on the appropriate dimensions of the curriculum (Weisberg et al., 2013). However, we must remember that guided play learning is not equal to teacher-directed instruction, where the teacher explicitly tells the students exactly what to do and how they should do it, and kids cannot do what they wish to (Pyle et al., 2017). Fisher et al., (2013) suggest that directly imparting information to students is less effective than play-based learning because it does not invite the learner into learning. 

Guided play learning, unlike the free play, is effective because it happens with intention. Teachers have curricular goals in mind and teach in ways that follow children's leads and interests. It happens when we have an idea of what students need to learn, but we do not just lecture at them; we figure out ways to follow their leads and offer them opportunities to learn these things that involve agency and choice. Fisher et al. (2013) argue that in play-guided learning, children are active collaborators in the process of learning, and teachers are collaborative partners because they scaffold children learning by commenting on discoveries, co-playing with children, asking open-ended questions, and creating activities with well-planned curricular materials.  

As an example, consider a reading lesson (reading 4-year-olds a story) on vocabulary in a playful way. The teacher can draw students flashcards with new words or engage them in an imaginative way that they initiate in their small groups (with the teacher/ an adult) who make sure that the words get used at the appropriate time as she plays along, letting the kids lead and following the childrens’ storyline. The kids who learn with the adult learn more those words, and the words stick over time. Kids should be allowed to express themselves, which boosts their feelings of self-worth, making them grow emotionally (Mielonen & Paterson, 2009). 

Conclusively, we have discussed the enormous benefits of guided play learning. However, in Tanzania, stakeholders should work collectively to eliminate challenges that hinder its implementation. Firstly, teachers need sufficient training on integrating play into the context of the school curriculum (Barrett, 2005; Kejo, 2017). In addition, teachers need to demonstrate sensitivity toward children and use guidance strategies to support children’s autonomy and self-regulation, leverage children’s misbehaviors as learning opportunities and acknowledge children’s positive behaviors (Gerde et al., 2020). 

About the author: Abdul Mutashobya holds a B.A. and M.A. in Education, and is currently pursuing an M.A. degree in TESOL. Muta has more than years of experience teaching English and Swahili as a foreign language in Tanzania and the US and is interested in language teaching as well as how to adopt equal opportunities in learning. 

References

Barrett, A. M. (2005). Teacher accountability in context: Tanzanian primary school teachers’ perceptions of local community and education administration. Compare A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 35(1), 43–61. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057920500033530

Fesseha, E. (2020). Play-Based Learning in Tanzania: From Policy to Practice. https://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0geKepRmflhKAIAvxdXNyoA;_ylu=Y29sbwNiZjEEcG9zAzEEdnRpZANCQVNFTElORVQ1XzEEc2VjA3Ny/RV=2/RE=1643776465/RO=10/RU=https%3a%2f%2frighttoplaydiag107.blob.core.windows.net%2frtp-media%2fdocuments%2fPBL_Policy_In_Tanzania.pdf/RK=2/RS=Y0ndRqKOFzxx_YczVuk0AjenxTo-

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Mielonen, A., & Paterson, W. (2009). Developing Literacy Through Play. Journal of Inquiry and Action in Education, 3(1). https://digitalcommons.buffalostate.edu/jiae/vol3/iss1/2

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