Abstract
Many consider play a natural part of childhood, and although there is disagreement in the literature on what essentially defines “play” in childhood, philosophical theories of play tend to support this initial consideration. But is childhood play also something we owe each other within a framework of educational justice? This is a question yet to be addressed. In this paper, I answer this question affirmatively. I take off from a generic account of educational justice and argue that childhood play should be considered a central entitlement of this account. I then argue in line with the capability approach that if we ought to protect childhood play, it should be children’s capability for play rather than the functioning of play that needs protection. I end by offering an account of the capability for childhood play.
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Notes
The issue of unequal parental upbringing—which, I should add, propose a hard dilemma for all educational egalitarians—has given rise to a heated debate separating Rawlsians from luck egalitarians on the issue of the injustice in reading bedtime stories for children (Swift 2003; Segall 2011, 2013; Mason 2011; Brighouse and Swift 2014).
See Claassen and Düwell 2013.
Bou-Habib and Olsaretti (2015) provides an argument for the importance of autonomy in childhood that could serve to support the importance of play integrity in childhood in its own terms.
I am grateful to an anonymous reviewer for pushing me to consider this question.
For an argument for the constitute role of carefreeness for child wellbeing, see Ferracioli 2019.
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Acknowledgements
I am grateful to Serena Olsaretti, Andrew Williams, Isa Trifan, Anca Gheaus, Andrew Walton, Pedro Silva, Siba Harb, Josep Ferret Mas, Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen, Søren Flinch Midtgaard, Tom Parr, Tim Meijers, David V. Axelsen, Jens Thaysen, Andreas Albertsen, Nicolás Brando and Andreé-Anne Cormier for comments along the way. And to the editors of, and reviewers for Studies in Philosophy and Education. I am also grateful to the Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona, at which much of this work was done.
Funding
This study is funded by the Danish Council for Independent Research [Det Frie Forskningsråd], Grant No. DFF 4089-00020B.
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Nielsen, L. Teach Them to Play! Educational Justice and the Capability for Childhood Play. Stud Philos Educ 39, 465–478 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11217-019-09680-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11217-019-09680-1