Guest Post: Importance of Playwork and Out-of-School Provision
Theresa Perry, Early Years Consultant at Birmingham City Council
*The following guest post represents the author’s personal view and does not necessarily represent the view of the Birmingham Early Years Networks (BEYN) as a whole. Any issues or questions arising from the content of this post should, therefore, be directed to the author and not BEYN.
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Since 2004 there has been a steady increase in 5–19-year-olds being diagnosed with mental health conditions; diagnosis reached a high in 2017, with 1 in 8 children presenting with emotional disorders such as stress and anxiety.
Early indicators are that the Covid-19 pandemic has increased this figure significantly. It is therefore not difficult to see that the differences in the experiences of our youngest children and most adults as children are affecting children's welfare and mental health.
This impact is also borne out by research into this area, highlighting factors such as an increase in the time spent indoors, reduced lunch and play times during the school day, and social media pressures alongside pressures to reach educational targets.
Why Is Playwork Important?
We know that play promotes imagination and creativity. It also helps to build resilience through risk-taking, as well as aiding and establishing social skills and improving physical and mental health.
The Playwork Principles, which were established to describe what is unique about children's play and playwork, define play as:
"A process that is freely chosen, personally directed, and intrinsically motivated"
It is then easy for the interested adult to see that we need to create places where children can play freely and with confidence, away from the pressures of school and social media; where there are opportunities for children to experience the challenge and appropriate levels of risk (a Risk Benefits Assessment can support this). Spaces and places where children can engage in a range of play opportunities where the possibilities that challenge the child's resourcefulness are restricted only by the child's imagination.
If this space is then staffed with adults who understand the nature and importance of all aspects of children's play and play types (including that which the adult will often perceive as negative play, such as annihilation) whilst working to support and facilitate it, then the results can be well rounded, resourceful, and resilient individuals.
Most playwork theorists will agree that children are the experts when it comes to their play, adults who observe children at play can see that children's engagement in their own freely chosen and self-directed play contributes to their wellbeing, happiness, and their ability to be with and make new friends. Play helps them to stay healthy, to enjoy and explore the local area developing their own sense of safety and place in the world, whilst enjoying their self-set challenges.
So, What Is Playwork?
Playwork has its beginnings after World War II, when children were observed playing in the bombsites and abandoned areas using bricks, wood, junk, or other 'found' materials that we would today recognise as “loose parts".
A child's creation from "junk" at an adventure playground.
This led to the Adventure Playground movement, where empty public spaces were resourced with a variety of loose parts (often mistaken for junk) for children to build, create, and mould their environment and play.
Playwork is an approach to working with children in their play; it recognises that children are the experts in directing and controlling the content of their play. For the experienced playworker, the play process will take precedence, and playworkers act as advocates for play when engaging with adult-led agendas.
Playworkers understand that children should control the process and intention of their play which adults may or may not recognise or even understand. For children, the play process will often include exploring their environment, trying out and testing boundaries and theories, as well as testing their own abilities as they grow from their successes and mistakes; they learn to adapt and compromise, which in turn helps to build resilience.
It is often thought that playworkers "play with children", however, the experienced playwork practitioner will create, facilitate, and maintain an inclusive space for children to play.
For those who have studied playwork theory, there is a deep understanding and recognition that children's play should be "freely chosen, personally directed and intrinsically motivated." A playworker will use their knowledge of the play types to facilitate a broad range of resources for children to engage in.
The skilled playworker then stands back, becoming an observer to reflect and analyse children's play selecting when or if to intervene, acting on children's play cues or making additions or changes to the play space if needed. This is one of the most difficult skills for the playworker to master as it requires them to remove themselves from the child's play. Give it a go, and see how long it is until you are saying, "It would work better if…" or "Please don't…"
Playwork should not be confused with childcare. Although playwork is closely associated with playcare (you will often find qualified playworkers in before and after school clubs and holiday clubs or play schemes), the qualified playwork practitioner will explain that their qualification relates to working with school-aged children and should not be confused with qualifications more suited to work in early years or youth-work.
Over the last few years, we have seen a reduction of staffed play provision, such as adventure playgrounds, out-of-school clubs, school holiday playcare or play schemes, whether indoors or outdoors, facility-based or mobile.
This is an injustice to children as these types of provision have a crucial role to play in facilitating children's play experience. They allow children the freedom and excitement of being able to play in an environment which offers a variety of play opportunities and choices, with skilled adults who facilitate their play, neither directing nor organising their play or bringing an adultified agenda. Instead, playworkers see the child as a competent individual who needs to encounter and create uncertainty and challenge in their play.
Conclusion
Adults who work with children will understand that play is crucial for children's development.
The qualified playworker will realise that play is a child's occupation, it is simply what children do, and the adult who directs or ‘adultifies’ children's play directs the agenda and restricts the scope, breadth, and direction potential of the child's development.
This is why play provision such as out-of-school clubs, play schemes, play care, and adventure playgrounds are vital to enable children to develop and lead their own play with no agenda other than their own, with adults who are skilled and knowledgeable enough to facilitate play.
And finally, I recommend that you read one of my favourite poems, The Little Boy by Helen E Buckley… I would love to hear your thoughts after reading it!
Further Resources and Recommended Reading
Play England, Play Wales, and Play Scotland all have playwork blogs and resources for playworkers to download:
>> Playful Childhood - Play Wales blog: We aren't that different to you, we just make TikToks is an interesting young person's perspective and the Play in crisis article and accompanying downloads are really useful reads for those interested in children's play.
>> Play Scotland blog: Lookout for some interesting blogs and resources about intergenerational work
Download your free copy of Play Scotland's guide to loose parts: Loose Parts Play - A Toolkit
The PARS/Common Threads blog focuses on playwork and adventure playgrounds: PARS Playwork blog
West Midlands-based playwork advocates Playful Planet blog