A CONFERENCE will be held in Limerick later this year to discus the importance of play in early years childcare settings.
The third ‘Revolutionising Education Through Play’ conference will take place at Mary Immaculate College (MIC) on March 2, and will explore the importance of play in educational settings from the early years through primary, post-primary, and beyond.
MIC’s Dean of Education, Professor Emer Ring, along with Faculty of Education Department Heads, Dr Lisha O’Sullivan and Dr Maurice Harmon, and MIC Education Lecturer, Dr Sylvaine Ní Aogáin, will help deliver the daylong event that will see a keynote address by Professor Paul Ramchandani, LEGO Professor of Play in Education, Development and Learning and Director of the PEDAL Research Centre at Cambridge University.
Dr Lisha O’Sullivan, head of the Department of Reflective Pedagogy and Early Childhood Studies at MIC, explained that “play is uniquely positioned to foster the physical, emotional, social, moral, cognitive, creative, and spiritual aspects of learning in a manner which cultivates learner interest and active engagement”.
“Moreover, playful pedagogical approaches have particular leverage in terms of equalising outcomes and in ensuring that all learners are enabled to reach their potential.
Dr Emer Ring added: “During this period of seismic change across early years, primary, and post-primary curricula, it remains critical that the growing evidence base highlighting the contribution of play to holistic and integrated learning is firmly positioned at the centre of this change. Hence our commitment at MIC to organising a conference focused on revolutionising education through play.”
Since MIC’s last play conference in 2019, the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted on the health and wellbeing of children, adolescents, and adults across the globe. While the pandemic significantly altered opportunities for play and recreation, particularly in their social forms, it accentuated the power of play as an emotionally satisfying and meaning-making experience for positive mental health and emotional wellbeing, organisers of the conference enthused.
The conference takes place at Mary Immaculate College on March 2 from 9.30am.
