Land-based green play and reconciliation: reflections from educators in the Canadian Playful Schools Network

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Abstract

The Canadian Playful Schools Network was established in 2022 as a bilingual professional learning network hosted at the University of Ottawa. Spanning seven Canadian provinces, the network brought together researchers, pracademics, and educators from 41 schools with a mission to implement ‘learning through play’ in the middle school grades (students aged 9-13) to advance student well-being, engagement, and equity. School teams were grouped into ‘play-groups’ based on their interest in four interconnected modes of play: green (outdoors), screen (digital and computer-based), machine (digital and physical building) and everything in between, which looked at the intersections of language, identity, and cultures. This study examined the experience of educators from one green play-group who were engaged in reconciliation-based projects in their diverse school contexts across three provinces. Four themes emerged on the power and potential of cross-provincial professional learning networks: celebration of well-being and flourishing, empowering community and cultural connection, pedagogy of play, and sharing and affirming in meaningful collaboration. Five recommendations are offered to support educators to collaborate and explore meaningful ways to design and integrate Indigenous knowledges and cultural understanding through land-based play.

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Keywords

play-based learning, land-based learning, reconciliation, professional learning networks

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