Playing to learn (finally) to live, or the complexity of the game as a pedagogical strategy

Abstract

The dialogue with the experiences described in this article seeks to highlight the pedagogical value of play as a ritual action and whose purpose is to live in freedom. However, this liberating condition does not always present itself when the game is used as a pedagogical strategy, because being part of the educational planning, the game must fulfill an objective, which as such would take it away from its liberating condition. This contradiction becomes one of the daily situations of the teacher's work, the liberating experience of the game, in contrast to the predefined one of education. That is why the element at stake, in this article, is not to hide the contradiction, but to open up to it and deconstruct it, looking for other ways of doing, thinking and acting.