Being Equal

I read recently in a newly released book the phrase “playworkers make themselves equal with the children” and repeatedly throughout the book the insistence of adults and children being equal is essential for play.

I want to challenge this.

Because adults and children are not equal - there are differences in age, height, knowledge and number of years of experience, as well as responsibility and accountability.

I think it is important that we acknowledge our lack of equal-ness when children and adults meet. Because it is in the recognition that we can take responsibility over our actions. We do need to recognise children having equal value - that their different-ness from our adulthood is valued equally as we value our own adult experiences. We need to act with equity, which is not the same as equal or equality.

In Swedish equal is “lika” meaning - the same. Equity is “rättvisa” which directly translates as right-show but is also the word for justice. And “jämställd” is the Swedish word for equality - and means stood on even ground. I share these Swedish words to illustrate that desiring children and adults being equal can be a dangerous way of viewing our adult role with children - because ignoring the fact that we are not the same could result in failing to notice the imbalance of power because we are think we are equal.

Power is also interesting - because this was often the word used to explain how an adult was to become equal - that they should relinquish power. I am deeply committed to the fact that both children and adults should not be relinquishing power, but that we should be aware of how we use our power, and whether we are using it to create community, connection and belonging, or to control, create fear and the need to adjust to fit in.

These ideas of equal and power can stretch to the idea of being co-researchers. I, personally, do not think that this means we, as educators, should be learning together with the children at exactly the same time, but that we are, instead, open to research what the children are researching, and using our knowledge and experience to create the spaces, materials, opportunities and permission for the children to discover. If we, as adults, do not understand it becomes much harder to scaffold the children’s process. We can, and should, admit when we do not know or understand something and share that you will research and share your findings - this is an excellent way of showing

• your interest in what the children are interested in,

• that learning is life long

• that adults do not know everything

• that it is OK to say you don’t know because this is the first step in finding out

• and that when we do share, we can include where we found the facts/information/knowledge or gained the experience so they know that they can do this too.

I have found it is hard to ask good, open questions that can support the children’s learning flow if we do not know or understand enough, we can even ask questions that lead us all in a direction that is not suitable for the children we are working with. This is why I will do lots of research behind the scenes of what is interesting the children - not necessarily to give them answers, but to know how to support their research.

I also think there is a risk, if we are co-researchers, that our adult research agenda might control the direction rather than the children’s curiosity controlling it. When we are searching for answers to our own questions, we will not be open in the same way to the questions of the children. Again this is why I seek to answer my own questions behind the scenes so that my curiosity itch is satisfied and my energy can be dedicated to the children’s questions - I don’t need to ask them, “what happens if we do this” to satisfy my own research curiosity, but only if I think it will benefit the children’s research. There are many times when the children have taken things in a completely different direction than I expected/prepared for, because my questions and research behind the scenes were following in part my interests and in part what I thought they would be interested in. But sometimes children hear or experience a minor thing that grabs them by the lapels and throws them on a different trajectory - and it’s just for me to research again behind the scenes so that I can not only catch up, but pass them just far enough to ensure the path we are on is safe enough, inclusive enough, challenging enough etc.

We are not equal. We are not them same. But this does not mean I do not value their power, experiences or knowledge. I listen to them with the same sincerity as I would a respected scientific researcher. I value them in the same way I value any human of any age or profession.

I am also acutely aware that amongst the children they are not equal. There are those children who need more support and strategies than others to be able to access their rights. We have to work hard to ensure all children have equal access to their rights because of their lack of equal-ness.

The children I have worked with over the last three decades plus have been able to participate in a myriad of play opportunities not because I am their equal, but because I have used my experience, education, training, knowledge that they don’t yet have to provide those spaces (social, emotional, physical, temporal and spiritual) where they can achieve play flow. I have used my awareness of the lack of equal-ness to ensure that I am not taking over when the children are engaged in play and/or learning flow and such control would be detrimental for a whole range of reasons. But I am also aware of my responsibility to create a community of play and learners. To scaffold the children to gain the skills they need for both play and learning flow, alone and together with others.

And, as I wrote in a recent social media post
”The luxury of playwork.” it is noticeable that playwork is separated from the responsibility of teaching children both information as well as skills needed to play and learn. And while I think…

”Playwork is also a necessity when we consider how children are being raised in an over controlled environment with little time, space and permission for autonomy and flow. Playwork becomes that vital space”

I also think this is problematic - because playwork is therefore reliant on others supporting children to “understand their democratic rights and responsibilities and know how to access them and to self regulate enough not to prevent other accessing theirs. To learn about how to participate in society, to know how they can influence, to understand their democratic rights norms and how to break down walls of bias and prejudice (collectively and individually) or at the very least not contribute towards their continued construction.”

And this is why I advocate for the Original Learning Approach have three roles - the teacher, the facilitator and the playworker. All three are needed - so that children have the space they need for autonomy and flow, and all the benefits of that flow and autonomy, they get the information they need to make informed decisions, the opportunity to develop skills needed to be autonomous together with others, and the right amount of support to be able to access flow for sustained periods of time. The three roles collaborate - but if playwork is separated from the teacher and facilitator it becomes harder to know what skills and knowledge children need to sustain their flow, and to learn from the play how to motivate children’s learning flow.

”Playwork practice and theory are, without a shadow of a doubt, important when considering both play and children's rights. But the more I read, the more colonial it feels, which I know might upset some folks reading this.” It is reliant on a system that is hierarchical - instead of changing the education system so that play, flow and autonomy take their rightful place - playwork allows the system to continue because there is a place for release outside of the school system where children can blow off steam. Which of course oversimplifies the work of playworkers - but sadly to those not familiar with the complexities of playwork, this will be generally how it is viewed.

Play should be everywhere.

It’s what both my cohorts of playaristas said on Saturday during our second module of the certification - we were exploring spaces and stuff - and where play can happen. These are educators from around the world - yet they all believed that play occured everywhere, but would look different depending on the space and the adults that occupied/controlled the space.

Why not check out the work of Emma Bearman who is bringing play to the streets - changing how cities are seen, for all ages, so that they are more playful, and through that play a greater sense of safety and belonging. Because they are also challenging this sense of equal - all spaces should not be the same, all experiences should not be the same, but we should value each and every human’s need to access their play experiences throughout the city - and some humans are struggling more than others, sometimes due to small details in the infrastructure that many are overlooking. I think the gift of playwork is that we get the opportunity to notice play for the sake of play - and then we can apply that through the lens of children’s rights, or pedagogy, or physical health, or mental health, or inclusion, or anti-bias or playwork infrastructure, or city planning, or, or, or…

maybe that’s playscaping?