There are always many ways to tackle a problem or accomplish an objective, and The LEGO Group has a variety of approaches under its umbrella to promote its message of learning through play, such as with LEGO Foundation. This educational branch of LEGO has been looking for a new Global Director of Play, and they found him in the Scottish Highlands.
Ollie Bray, age 40, has been serving as head teacher for the Kingussie High School since five years ago, where he had set aside the regular curriculum for the 450-student institution for “joyful” project-based learning. But now LEGO Foundation is counting on him copy his success to everywhere in the world the LEGO Foundation reaches, as the foundation’s new Global Director of Play.
In his new job, Bray will find himself overseeing the LEGO Foundation’s global initiatives that seek to accomplish one of the brand’s most important points: connecting play with education.
According to him, “Learning through play is widely accepted in the early years and my job will be to find ways of extending it by incorporating it into the curriculum for older children.” This aligns with LEGO Foundation’s prevailing idea that current educational practices put “an outdated emphasis on standardized testing and rote learning” that prepares its students for the world “yesterday”, not today or tomorrow.
But Ollie Bray also opines that what education and learning needs is much less “fun” and more “enjoyment”; fun can potentially be without purpose, while adding joy to the purpose of education motivates students to identify problems and solve them.
And it seems other institutions, inspired by LEGO, are jumping into the “learning with play” bandwagon. The year before, the prestigious Cambridge University took on its first “Professor of Play”, Paul Ramchnadani, thanks to funding provided by the LEGO Foundation.
Source: The Guardian