Putting Play Back into the Playground.

Abstract

During 2008 and 2009, a group of nine Resource Teachers: Learning and Behaviour (RTLB) from Canterbury met as a Community of Practice to investigate the way that play in the school playground contributes to the social competence of students. While the original concern was around the needs of students who were unable to manage their behaviour in the playground, the focus shifted to question how the school playground can be viewed as an important learning environment for all children. The RTLB Playground Focus Group, as they were known, began by discussing the differences between play, games and sport. They collected advertisements and considered the impact thatthe marketing of toys and equipment has had on choices for play, including the demise of traditional games. Some members of the Focus Group informally surveyed their schools’ reasons for changing break-times, the role of duty teachers, student voice, choices in the playground and strategies for the successful inclusion of all students in their playground. Survey participants were advised that the findings would both inform RTLB work in the region, and were intended to be published. It was soon found that there is an enormous body of research around bullying and physical violence and play in early childhood, but very little concerned with the design or physical structure of playgrounds or the role of adults in the playground. Some researchers like Hickman (2009) and Leff, Power, Costigan, and Manz (2003) have explored children’s perceptions and playground experiences in an attempt to assess the climate and school environment, and the balance of power between adults and children. This paper was born out of the work of the Playground Focus Group, but also reports on issues confronting schools in relation to play and school playgrounds.