Exploration: Play in Practice - innovation through play in the postgraduate curriculum

Play is well-established as central to the learning processes of young children (including Anning (2015) Moyles (2015) and Wood and Attfield (2005)) and is included in UK state legislation, central to the Statutory Framework for Early Years Foundation Stage (2017). This chapter will counter the assumption that play-based learning is of value only to Early Years teaching and learning by outlining how it has been used to develop and carry-out research within a Higher Education postgraduate programme. By outlining a number of benefits of play-based approaches to teaching, learning and wider curriculum development at postgraduate level, this chapter demonstrates how a play-based approach to postgraduate programmes can enable programme teams to create transformative learning environments that enable risk-taking and innovation, enhancing the creative practice of learners and meet the changing needs of a contemporary workplace.