Executive Summary

Summary

Playfulness is widely acknowledged as essential for creativity, hence innovation. As technology develops to take care of more and more of the routine our workforce is freed up to shape and create the future. Much of our education system is steeped in the past, where the content and learning style adopt a positivist approach where 'truths' are taught and tested; students' ability is judged by their ability to demonstrate knowledge of these 'truths'. Given the above is the dominant approach, then playfulness is at best viewed as 'nice to have' after the essential learning has been demonstrated and often viewed negatively as not taking a subject seriously. The education style and content needs to reflect the changing requirements of the workforce to support this digitally enabled economy. Playfulness, as a topic spans many disciplines. Its theoretical home lies somewhere between philosophical and pedagogical and its application spans all disciplines.