Play and Its Contribution to Education in a Sustainable Development-Based World Framework

Dear Colleagues,

Since the times of Plato, play has come under consideration for its role in early childhood education, the former arguing that it is through play children learn to interact with the environment, assimilating habits, rules and social conventions. Nowadays, play has evolved to become a key element in human development from the earliest educational stages. It has been demonstrated through a wide range of scientific evidence that play constitutes a resource capable of promoting development and learning, improving different skills in cognitive, socioemotional and psychomotor dimensions.

Furthermore, the current trends place playful learning as an approach that enables such goals to be achieved, linking directly with the developmentally appropriate practices (DAP), with the quality processes in the current education, and, therefore, with objective 4 of the Sustainable Developmental Goals 2030.

Due to its relevance for the development of each individual and for the creation of competent citizens, the objective of this Special Issue is:

• To publish the scientific and/or didactic research regarding innovative practices linked to play in the field of education. This research will tackle sustainable human development from all dimensions and operate at all educational stages in the international context, from early childhood to higher education.

In this way, the monograph will serve as a complement for the existing literature, updating and enhancing the view of such a relevant element as play is from the multiple dimensions of human development and different perspectives, theories and approaches. This will establish the significance of a pedagogical resource for all educational stages, which has the potential to contribute to individual development and the creation of competent citizens for the future.

We look forward to receiving your contributions,

Dr. Pedro Gil Madrona
Dr. Jesús Guzmán-Mora
Guest Editors

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• play
• playful learning
• play-based assessment
• sustainable human development
• developmentally appropriate practices
• competent citizens
• early childhood education
• primary education
• secondary education
• higher education