Time stamped: 29.01.2026
Earlier this week, I witnessed history unfold. With over 106,000 signatures, the petition “Make Play and Continuous Provision statutory in England’s Key Stage 1 Curriculum” was debated within the walls of Westminster Hall. It marked a rare moment of clarity in an education system often clouded by metrics, mandates, and misaligned expectations. Most significantly, for the first time, a dedicated Westminster Hall debate focused specifically on making play‑based pedagogy statutory in Key Stage 1, triggered by public demand.
The petition called for play to be positioned not as an add‑on or enrichment, but as the central mechanism through which children learn, connect, and make sense of their ever‑changing world. This aligns with recent developments showcased within Play Matters (2025), which brought together voices across disciplines to advocate for play as a developmental right from birth to eight years old. Throughout the debate, this message resonated strongly. Politicians repeatedly returned to the idea that play is not a distraction from learning; it is learning.
Unsurprisingly, many MPs referenced the ongoing policy developments emerging from the Curriculum and Assessment Review (CAAR). All four nations of the UK are currently united in engaging with this major curriculum reform. Yet in relation to play‑based learning, England remains the outlier. Within our other nations, statutory protection for play and continuous provision exists, but not here. As I listened to the discussion lean into the CAAR’s work, I found myself returning to a long‑held belief: play should never conflict with curriculum. When understood properly, play can (and ought to!) be curriculum.
For me, the curriculum and assessment reviews underway across our four nations reflect a wider recognition that the current system places unsustainable pressure on both children and teachers. While ministers expressed caution about policy change, the momentum for reimagining education is already in motion. We are deep into that “rare reform window” so many MPs referenced. This petition sits securely within that movement. It recognises the potential of continuous provision as a pedagogical tool and calls for a system that reflects what we know, and what we value, about child development.
The debate also highlighted a familiar tension: national expectations versus operational realities. Teachers want to innovate, share best practice, and build high‑quality environments. Yet without statutory protection for play‑based learning, these ambitions remain vulnerable to the pressures of curriculum coverage, assessment, and inspection. Again and again, MPs returned to the notion that play is not enrichment or reward. It is a primary way of learning, especially for young children. As noted within many ministers supporting statements, it fosters productive struggle, genuine agency, and joyful engagement. As one put it, “No formal lesson, no matter how well constructed, can outdo a happy, relaxed, learning‑ready child.”
In spite of this, the Early Education and Equalities minister’s, final response (despite sixty minutes of research‑informed contributions, lived realities, and passionate pleas) mirrored the pre‑recorded government statement originally issued alongside the petition. As the debate drew to a close, she acknowledged the importance of play in early childhood education but confirmed that the Government does not intend to make play‑based pedagogy statutory in Key Stage 1. Schools, she argued, already have sufficient flexibility to use play‑based approaches, and statutory change was deemed unnecessary, with decisions about pedagogy best left to individual schools. Despite the compelling evidence and collective, cross-party support voiced throughout the debate, no legislative amendments were put in place, as the debate called for.
To me, this raised a wider question for democracy. This was a debate—not simply an exercise in allowing voices to be heard or a token gesture to public demand. When evidence, practitioner expertise, and public mandate align so clearly, we must ask: what drives policy, if not evidence and practitioner voice? The decision within the Early Education and Equalities minister’s closing statement to disregard the call to make play‑based learning a statutory right for KS1 children seemed to overlook the messages shared throughout the debate. Within the room, there felt a hunger to formalise this practice in some meaningful way. By ignoring this it raises questions around equality. Surely, if we are serious about ensuring equitable access to high‑quality pedagogy, then statutory protection is one of the clearest mechanisms for achieving it.
Yet despite the Government’s current stance, and response to this calling, this debate was grounded in genuine professional insight, lived experience, and research‑informed practice. Contributions drew on neuroscience, international comparisons, and the realities of classroom life. It felt grounded, authentic, and deeply connected to the everyday work of teachers. This debate was a call to action. It reminded us that pedagogy matters, that it shapes everything; and, ultimately, policy must catch up with practice. It challenged us to think systemically, to advocate for equity, and to ensure that our frameworks reflect what we know about how children learn.
At its heart, this petition was about reclaiming developmentally appropriate practice. It surfaced a shared ambition: to ensure that our youngest learners are met with environments that honour their agency, creativity, and emotional readiness. This petition is bigger than recognising the importance of play; it is a call to make it statutory, to eradicate the postcode lottery children currently face in accessing best practice across birth to eight, and particularly within KS1 classrooms.
Finally, I’ll finish with this. One of my firmest beliefs is that children are not unequally able, but unequally experienced; a truth I believe can and should shape both curriculum and pedagogy. This belief sits at the centre of why this debate mattered, and why the conversation must continue.
You can watch the full debate here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HS6698xi0M
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