What does it mean to give every child the chance to fulfil their potential? That question lay at the heart of the recent Westminster Hall debate on whether play-based learning and continuous provision should be made statutory in Key Stage 1. More than 106,000 people added their names to the petition that brought the issue to Parliament, and colleagues from across the House echoed the same concern: that our education system is misaligned with how young children’s minds and emotions develop.
England is now the outlier within the UK. It is the only nation where the statutory expectation for learning through play effectively stops at the age of five. In Scotland and Wales, national frameworks and legal duties embed play and developmentally appropriate practice into the early primary years. In England, by contrast, many children experience an abrupt shift from the play-based Early Years Foundation Stage to a far more formal model in Year 1 – a “cliff edge” that is not grounded in neuroscience or in children’s emotional and cognitive needs.
Several MPs spoke movingly about the difference play makes in children’s lives. David Baines MP, drawing on his experience as a parent and former teacher, described play-based continuous provision as “how young children learn best, achieve best and build the strongest foundations”. He reminded the House that play is not the absence of learning, but the medium through which literacy, numeracy and social understanding are most effectively embedded.
Tom Hayes MP, Chair of the APPG on Play, quoted a Key Stage 1 teacher from his constituency who put it simply: “The need for play doesn’t suddenly disappear at five. Removing play so early removes the very opportunities children need to develop creativity, collaboration, problem-solving and communication.”
The human benefits of play came through clearly. High-quality play-based learning builds confidence, curiosity and resilience. Children learn to negotiate, to persist, to cope with frustration and to take pride in what they create. Teachers from schools that have embraced play-first approaches told me that children can’t wait to get to school and don’t want to leave at the end of the day. behaviour problems fall, and children are more motivated and engaged. Quite simply, they love learning by playing.
Alongside this sits a strong economic argument. When developmental needs are unmet in the early years, difficulties often emerge later in more complex and costly forms – through special educational needs, mental health support, and disengagement from learning. Play-based pedagogy supports early language development, self-regulation and social skills, acting as a form of early intervention. By meeting needs sooner, it can reduce the demand for more expensive specialist services later on.
It also helps create a more effective education system overall. Confident, motivated learners are more likely to succeed academically, progress into skilled employment and contribute to the economy over the course of their lives. In that sense, investment in developmentally appropriate learning in Key Stage 1 is not only a moral choice, but a fiscally responsible one.
Looking ahead, the case becomes even stronger. In an age of artificial intelligence, the qualities that will matter most are creativity, adaptability, collaboration and emotional intelligence. These attributes are developed through play – through exploration, imagination, problem-solving and social interaction. If we want young people to thrive in a world of rapid technological change, we must start by cultivating those uniquely human capacities in the early years.
And play does not have to be expensive. The essential ingredient is children’s imagination. Cardboard boxes become spacecraft. Random bit and bobs become a bridge, a shop or a story. What matters most is time, space and skilled teachers who understand child development and know how to design environments that invite curiosity and extend thinking.
Yet many teachers told us that their training contains surprisingly little on neuroscience, early brain development and the pedagogy of play. They know instinctively that play works, but feel constrained by accountability systems that prioritise standardised outcomes over deep, developmentally appropriate learning. This contributes not only to poorer experiences for children, but to stress and burnout within the profession.
The petitioners are asking for statutory recognition of play-based learning and continuous provision in Key Stage 1, so that best practice becomes standard practice rather than the exception. They are asking for a system that supports children as they are, not as we might wish them to be.
For me, this goes to the heart of why I stood for Parliament. The Liberal Democrat constitution speaks of a society in which no one is enslaved by ignorance or conformity, and in which every individual is enabled to develop their potential to the full. That process begins in childhood. It begins when a child, through play, discovers that they can imagine, create, collaborate and belong.
Play is not a distraction from education. It is one of its most powerful foundations – for human flourishing, for economic resilience, and for the confident, capable citizens our country’s future will depend on.
Why Play Matters – and Why England Must Catch Up
