We know that curiosity is an innate, intense drive that motivates young children to learn through active exploration and relationships.  Whether it’s the sensory exploration of a two-year-old or the endless questions of a four-year old, young children are built to learn new information. Fueled by intrinsic motivation, young children desire to learn and know about the world. So if children are naturally curious, have an innate desire to know things, why is learning in school often experienced as a mind-numbing chore? Now I know not all kids feel this way about learning or school. I, for one, loved going to school, and I loved learning so much that I became a teacher and then a teacher educator. I would go back to school right now if I weren’t so close to having all my student loans forgiven! But many children today do not like going to school, and when you ask them why, they often say that learning is boring or difficult. 

I know some people find it strange that I’m always talking about freedom and liberation in early childhood education and care. Those two concepts are rarely linked to educating young children. When I was in graduate school, I learned about liberatory pedagogy by studying Paulo Freire and bell hooks, but those theories were typically applied to educating older teenagers and young adults. No one talked about what a liberatory pedagogy meant for young children. 

I’m not gonna lie, terms like play-based, playful learning, and guided-play irk my nerves. They imply that true play, child-driven, unstructured, free play, is not enough. That real learning only happens when the activity is play-based, playful, or when the teacher guides the play. Well, the truth is, play is enough, and these activities aren’t play. If the teacher came up with the idea, it’s not play. If the activity has external rules or goals created by the teacher, it’s not play. And if the teacher has to ask questions and push the child to do something they aren’t doing, it’s not play.  

Freedom to Teach = Liberated to Learn

When people think of teaching or school, they rarely think of freedom. Even those who loved school wouldn’t describe it as liberating. And I went to school before the rise of the global education reform movement (GERM)—before rigid national standards, hyper-testing, and privatization transformed classrooms into pressure cookers. Before free play and recess were replaced with screens and academic mandates.