Many teachers believe that the situation in public schools has become critical. “They are still babies in so many ways,” the post read. “And yet I read about schools where their rest time is being rolled into their lunch break so they don’t waste ‘educational time’. “And I see posts where the end of year targets for these children are about phonics, sight words, numbers beyond 20 ..... “And I read opinions stating that they shouldn’t be allowed to ‘just play’, that free play is a ‘waste of valuable learning time’ and even that we need to start them early with formalised literacy and numeracy to maximise their Naplan results.

“And I just want to sob like my little one this morning.” Teachers warn some schools are moving away from appropriate play-based learning programs. Teachers from all over Western Australia reach out on almost a daily basis to a group of early childhood professionals who have decided to advocate for our littlest learners. These teachers approach the group to ask for advice on what to do when their school administrations tell them play is a waste of time. They believe some school principals are pushing early childhood specialist teachers to move away from the evidence-based appropriate play-based learning towards developmentally innappropriate direct explicit instruction. This group believes not much has changed since 2010 when a review of educational practice in kindergarten, pre-primary and year one was undertaken.

Department of Education director general Sharyn O'Neill said in 2011 the study: "found a lack of clarity about what constituted a high quality early years program, that practice was inconsistent across schools, with no clear expectations". She introduced the Early Years Learning Framework, a document designed to clarify what schools should be doing. Concerned teachers complain there is still no database kept that demonstrates exactly how much play-based learning kindergarten and pre-primary children are exposed to. And there is no transparency or accountability to the WA community on how schools are delivering on the child's right to play. Kindy should be about protecting, valuing, nurturing and enhancing childhood but in some cases we’re not just stealing their childhood but crushing it WA early childhood teacher

A mum of a four-year-old boy attending a WA public school said her son was already expressing worries about not wanting to get into trouble, giving the wrong answer in class and failing to make his parents proud. When she went to find out why he was not enjoying school she noticed there was no home corner in his classroom. “The class teacher directly told me that play-based learning does not work,” the mother said. The teacher admitted there was no time allocated in the childrens’ daily schedule for play, other than recess and lunch. There would be no other free play time, with the teacher warning this ‘was not kindy anymore’. “He is feeling that pressure because it’s so intense,” the mother said of her child.

“They’re asking so many questions of them all day. And there is no let-up; no chance for their little minds to refresh.” She had tried to find another school that valued play-based learning for her son, but said parents were powerless as she had been told there was no room for him elsewhere.

Some kids in kindy at WA public schools are being given nightly homework including name and number tracing sheets, sight words and reading books. And in one school, this started in week two of term one. One kindy teacher put it this way: “it seems like the current policy is that principals are free to make any decisions they want in their schools with no accountability except for Naplan scores, which then pressures them to look at academics over play.” Sue Briggs spent a 40-year career in education working in pre-primary and then at the department’s central and district offices as an early childhood consultant, among other senior positions. She recently resigned in disgust at the direction WA’s public schools were headed in early education, describing the changes as “horrifying”. Early childhood teachers in the public school system were being directed by principals to cut out play-based learning in favour of formal and developmentally inappropriate teaching styles, she said.

“I sit crying at some of the things people are being asked to do,” Mrs Briggs admitted. She said there was a push for academic achievement earlier, a focus on NAPLAN scores, and too many schools were forcing young children into sitting at desks earlier. It is paradoxical that many educators and parents still differentiate between a time for learning and a time for play without seeing the vital connection between them. Special education professor Leo Buscaglia The National Quality Standard - a policy which details seven areas of quality schools should satisfy - enshrined the right to play, but it was left up to principals to ensure this was happening in the classroom. She said years ago the department would regularly visit schools to see play-based learning in practice but now they had “no idea”.

In the past, schools and teachers could have somone with expertise from a district or central office level available for advice on early childhood teaching, she said. District office staff would visit schools, observe classrooms in practice. They would talk with the teacher and principal to ensure best practice. "That resource is no longer available," Ms Briggs said. The move to more formal and rote learning in more schools saw even some kindy children sitting at desks. Outdoor learning time was being cut to fit into recess and lunch in order to spend more time in formal learning. “Young children are naturally eager to learn, but now we are turning a lot of children off learning,” Ms Briggs said.

“They start to feel they’re not worthy, that they're incapable of learning. And it’s worse even for boys, whose fine motor skills develop more slowly, and they start to feel that they are failures." WA Department of Education director of early childhood education Rosemary Cahill said play provided opportunities for rich learning and schools had an obligation to maximise childrens’ learning through the use of high quality teaching programs. The NQS was put into place because across the nation it was realised schools could do better. But play-based learning was one aspect of quality, and schools must satisfy the NQS' seven areas. Rather than just saying 'do more play', the department aimed to help kindergarten teachers to optimise the learning out of these play-based moments, with explicit teaching and play-based learning working together.

Dr Cahill said all schools must engage in an internal audit about how they are performing to the National Quality Standard every year. Early childhood educators reflected on how they were performing in relation to the NQS areas. The principal was required to conduct an internal audit and must record their determinations about how they were travelling on specially designed software. Passionate teachers are getting together to ensure best practice teaching happens in WA schools. Credit:Catherine Yeulet In addition to that, once every three years schools were reviewed by consultants with expertise in early childhood who were employed through the government agency previously known as the Department of Education Services which now was part of the DOE. “The culture of schools is extremely compliant, they are not driven by a profit motive or a wish to run a business. They are run with a deep commitment to children’s learning. The vast majority of educators are really committed to learning,” Dr Cahill said.

“The schools say they really want to make sure we’re doing this properly. We offer a verification service. Our teams...were made available to schools to engage in the verification.” Schools could also invite the department in to assess their teaching programs. The first year this was offered 200 out of 650 public schools did so. In 2017 a similar number did too. "Already this year, there’s another 50-60 on our books," she said. “A big stick is not the way to achieve ongoing improvement.

“If we started saying ‘and we are going to come back and check’ then it’s very likely the schools will start fudging, or they may not be as candid about how they’re actually travelling.” Play provides rich opportunities for learning. If after two to three years a school had not requested a verification but were claiming they were meeting all seven quality areas, the school was given a ‘blue flag’ on the software system, which was visible to senior DOE staff. Then they were encouraged to have the consultants come in for verification. “No-one likes a blue flag,” Dr Cahill said. “I think the reality is that we have a clear structure and plan in place to improve everything across the organisation in terms of the quality of the learning experiences of children across the state.

“Schools don’t like having a blue flag, they don’t like having a red flag if they’re not meeting the quality areas, then they come up. And schools actively seek support.” Edith Cowan University early childhood studies Associate Professor Lennie Barblett recently completed several case studies at WA schools for the DOE, to determine how well they were implementing the NQS. She said her research showed schools were tough on themselves and wanted the best for their students. She was aware of "anecdotal evidence" that innappropriate teaching pedagogies were being applied in the early years in some schools but believed improvements were being made across the state. “We are calling it the ripple effect," she said. "Yes there are teachers using different pedagogies, and perhaps not what we would call age appropriate.

"Yes, we have heard the anecdotal evidence. But what these teachers did was say, now we have got something to think about in terms of what it should look like, feel like and we are going for it. “I think you’ll find it will gain a lot more momentum now that there are these official documents and a system in place.” But many teachers and experts believe the verification system is a toothless tiger, that some school administrations do not take the NQS seriously and schools are able to say they are 'working towards' improving a standard and that was deemed good enough. They agree a balance of explicit teaching and play-based learning is the foundation of a quality program. But they are concerned that the scales are tipping in favour of explicit formal instruction, and that in some schools, play has become a four letter word.