Making space for play in the global post-COVID landscape

ABSTRACT

In the last 4 years, over 1.5bn children faced education disruptions due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Approximately half of the world’s children were affected by prolonged school closures and unequal access to remote learning. However, initial global narratives mostly focused on academic setbacks resulting from these changes, known as ‘learning loss’. As such, they did not acknowledge the potential of play in children’s post-pandemic experiences. The Global Symposium on Post-Pandemic Play (GSPPP), held in March 2021, aimed to gather insights from researchers and practitioners working with young children. Data from the symposium highlights how play can mitigate the effects of academic setbacks and promote socioemotional wellbeing in the ongoing post-pandemic context. This paper presents GSPPP findings regarding challenges and opportunities associated with play in post-Covid societies.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19
• play
• learning loss
• socioemotional wellbeing
• education

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the following individuals who served on the original GSPPP committee with us: Ricardo Sabates, Deborah Spindelman, Benjamin Alcott, Esinam Avornyo, Priya Silverstein, Lynneth Solis, Melanie Greaux, and Janice Kim. We thank Kyleigh Melville for her work in preparing the data from the symposia for analysis. We would also like to acknowledge the grant received from the British Association for International and Comparative Education (BAICE) which made this symposium possible, and the support for the symposium and project given by the University of Cambridge’s Faculty of Education, Early Start at the University of Wollongong, the Centre for Education and International Development at University College London, BRAC University, the PEDAL Centre at the University of Cambridge, and the REAL Centre at the University of Cambridge. We also thank our panellists and participants for their contributions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sabilah Eboo Alwani

Sabilah Eboo Alwani is affiliated with Cambridge's PEDAL and Real Centres, with research and publications covering various aspects of early childhood development and learning, ranging from play to preschool efficacy to parental involvement. She conceptualised and spearheaded the Global Symposium on Post-Pandemic Play, served as an Associate Director for the COVGEN Alliance, and was appointed a Special Editor for the British Education Research Journal. Sabilah lectures on a number of topics in education, as well as consulting for various organisations on play, parenting, and issues in early childhood.

Natalie Day

Natalie Day is a Research Fellow with Early Start at the University of Wollongong, Australia, and has published on early self-regulation development and play. Natalie's work has contributed to research on playful pedagogies at Cambridge's PEDAL Centre, and she works on a variety of projects, including digital play contexts, intergenerational play, and parent-child interactions. Natalie is a PEDAL affiliate and a member of the NSW Institute of Educational Research and Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child. Prior to academe, Natalie was a Secondary Science teacher.

Krishna Kulkarni

Krishna Kulkarni completed her PhD from the PEDAL Centre at the University of Cambridge, focusing on parent-child play in India and the UK, the measurement of play, and families' experiences of COVID-19 lockdowns. She has recently set up her practice as a parent coach and play specialist in India.