Play not tell: Agency and becoming in the playful university

In this chapter, Roy Hanney issues a call to a form of active playfulness that promotes agency and autonomy in our learners. Drawing from research into early years development, evolutionary theory, pedagogy and philosophy, he argues that play is the primary mode through which we discover the world. He asks us to think of the university as a mind-gym, as a becoming space where transformation can occur, a space that celebrates divergent thinking and offers opportunities to practice thinking differently and embracing the novel and where impossibilities can be imagined, boundaries crossed and the world turned upside down. Importantly, he encourages us to imagine a safe place in which to take risks. Suggesting that such an approach might aid us in rethinking what universities are for and to embrace a new way of doing things.