Children at St. Mary’s C.B.S. primary school in Clonmel, Ireland have always played, of course. But since their teacher, Elaine Morrison, completed online training course Exploring Play: The Importance of Play in Everyday Life, offered by the University of Sheffield, she has been allowing them to ‘direct their own play a little bit more’.
The pre-school facility is termed an early intervention class, which caters for 12 three- to six-year-olds with an Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnosis. Ms Morrison did the training in 2020 on the FutureLearn portal, over seven weeks with three hours of weekly study.
The course covers topics including the history and diversity of play, play in indoor and outdoor environments, disability and modern technology. It delivers these through videos and research articles, with students doing a quiz at the end. It encourages participants to engage in online commentary with other students.
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