FLAME with Brad Hook
The Power of Play: Rethinking Learning and Creativity
Dr Sarah Aiono is one of Aotearoa New Zealand's foremost experts in play pedagogy — and her research-backed case is that play isn't a break from learning. It IS learning.
As CEO of Longworth Education, Sarah has developed teaching frameworks that are reshaping classrooms across New Zealand and beyond — built on the evidence that child-centred, play-rich education produces deeper engagement and better outcomes than compliance-driven models.
The conversation reaches past the classroom: what the science of play says about adult creativity, why the instinct to make everything 'productive' backfires, and what leaders could learn from watching a good early-childhood teacher work. Playful in tone, serious in evidence.
In this episode
- Play as the mechanism of learning, not a break from it
- What play pedagogy changes in real classrooms
- Why compliance-driven education underperforms
- The adult version: play, creativity and innovation
- What leaders can learn from early-childhood teaching
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