Early Years Masterclass Gladstone: The Original Learning Approach

Rather than asking "How do we teach children?", the Original Learning Approach asks a different question: "How do we create the conditions in which children can flourish?" Drawing on playwork, pedagogy, philosophy, and children's rights, this approach challenges traditional assumptions about teaching and learning, inviting participants to become more responsive, reflective, and play-literate practitioners.

Together we will explore:

• Play as a fundamental human need and right, not simply a tool for learning.
• Play-responsive educators – learning to recognise, interpret, and respond thoughtfully to children's play without diminishing their agency.
• Risky play as an essential part of children's development, confidence, autonomy, and wellbeing.
• Non-normative play, embracing children's diverse ways of playing, expressing themselves, and making sense of the world.
• The three roles of the educator – playworker, facilitator, and teacher – and how knowing when to move between these roles creates richer opportunities for play, learning, and flourishing.
• Professional literacies, including Play Literacy, Arting Literacy, Learning Literacy, and Teaching Literacy as ways of learning to read and respond to children's experiences.

Participants will leave with new perspectives, practical ideas, and philosophical questions while offering a coherent framework for creating environments where play, curiosity, creativity, belonging, and learning can naturally emerge.

About the Presenter

Suzanne Axelsson lives and works in Stockholm, Sweden, and has over 30 years of experience in early childhood education. Originally from the UK, she holds a Master’s degree in Early Childhood Education from Sheffield University, specialising in the Reggio Emilia approach, language and communication, and documentation as a tool for deep learning. She has worked across a wide range of early years settings - including Reggio-inspired, Montessori, and multilingual preschools - and also trained as a playworker to better understand play beyond a pedagogical lens.

Suzanne is the author of The Original Learning Approach: Weaving together playing, learning and teaching in early childhood (2023) and Risky Play and Teaching (2023, Swedish). Her work focuses on democratic learning and teaching, listening as an inclusive act, and play as resistance and a pedagogy of hope.

Through her blog Interaction Imagination, university teaching, and international workshops, Suzanne shares reflective practices that value play, curiosity, and connection. She is also the creator of the Playarista Training, a global initiative helping educators develop sustainable play ecosystems within their schools and communities.