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The UK government’s COVID recovery plans for schools have been criticised for prioritising learning over wellbeing. Education specialists routinely extol the benefits sports, creative activities and the performing arts can bring to children.
This is particularly relevant in light of the disruptions to schooling and childhood that COVID has wrought. Storytelling has emerged as a powerful tool for children to process the crisis. COVID stories have encompassed heroism and resilience, myth and fable, entertaining and educating simultaneously.
Historical home learning shows that there need be no dichotomy between play (to improve wellbeing) and learning (to satisfy educational needs). As my research into educational literature from the 18th and 20th centuries shows, learning through play is an age-old concept.
Historical perspectives
For children aged between five and ten, attending formal school only became compulsory with the Elementary Education Act of 1880. Before that, charitable and…
