Play-Based Learning in Non-Formal Adult Education

The culture of adult numeracy and literacy delivery in non-formal education remains informed by pedagogical paradigms that emphasise standardisation, efficiency and assessment-focused outputs that have continued to reproduce instructional practices that have historically marginalised adult learners. This chapter reviews play-based learning as a contested pedagogical orientation in non-formal adult education, contending that its marginal status is due to deep-rooted assumptions about adulthood, legitimacy and serious learning and not pedagogical ineffectiveness. Drawing from adult education scholarship, the chapter presents play-based learning in terms of larger arguments on pedagogical authority, institutional accountability, and cultural constructions of learning. Rather than suggesting play-based learning as a remedy for the way learning should be, the chapter becomes a part of the scholarly argument by revealing the epistemological and institutional circumstances that define what is accepted as an acceptable learning in non-formal adult numeracy and literacy education.