The role of the teacher within New Zealand's public primary education system has changed dramatically in recent years. The once very teacher-oriented, chalk-and-talk-based classroom has developed into an open, enjoyable place suited to each child's pace and learning style. The intention of this essay is to explore and discuss how different adult interactions with children in the primary years and how play affects their learning both positively and negatively. Firstly, it will explore changes in the way primary education has taken place since the release of Te Whāriki in 1996 and the more recent New Zealand curriculum in 2007. It will then move on to a discussion of the child-led play in the primary school classroom and where the teacher is involved. We'll finish with some ideas for how adults can incorporate play into everyday activities. When the growing number of early childhood education centers of various types led to the release of Te Whāriki in 1996, it allowed for a step change in the way education was viewed in New Zealand. Learning was no longer limited to sitting in rows in the classroom and listening to teachers recite, with play being used solely as a way for children to blow off steam between lessons and to give teachers time to grade ( Arthur, Beecher, Death, Dockett, And Farmer, 2008). In this stunning new government document, play in the early years context has been recognized as essential to the child's growth as a person and as a valuable way of learning, as demonstrated by the requirement of the principle of holistic development that children have “opportunities for open exploration and exploration.” play” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p41) and with the principle of relationship “an appropriate and interesting play mat...... middle of paper ...... at the beginning of primary school. Works Cited Council for Education Change, (2010). KC Math Best Practices retrieved March 11, 2010 from: http://www.teachersandteaching.com/tti_module_math/glossary.phpArthur, L., Beecher, B., Death, E., Dockett, S. and Farmer, S.. , (2008) Programming and planning in early childhood settings (4th ed.). South Melbourne, Australia: Thompson. Ministry of Education (1996). Te Whāriki: he whāriki Mātauranga mo nga mokopuna o Aotearoa: early childhood curriculum. Wellington, New Zealand: learning Media Limited. Berk, L. (2005) Infants, Children and Adolescents: Fifth Edition. Boston, MA, USA: Pearson. O’Donnell, M. (2007) Maria Montessori. London, UK: Continuum International Publishing Group. Wood, E. and Attfield, J. (2005) Play, learning and the early childhood curriculum: second edition. London, United Kingdom: Paul Chapman Publishing.