The school playground experience: opportunities and challenges for children and school staff

Abstract

The school playground experience is an inevitable part of school life for primary school children. For most children, the experience is a positive and enjoyable one that contributes to their physical and social well-being and has been associated with enhanced attention and learning in the classroom. For some children, however, the playground can be a frightening and dangerous place in which aggressive behaviour and bullying can be experienced and/or witnessed. The recognition of this fact has, in some cases, led to the reduction or elimination of playground time. Many intervention programmes aimed at promoting positive in-school behaviour and preventing negative behaviours, including bullying, have been developed and used with positive results in schools. This paper provides a research-based commentary on some of the positive and negative features of playground life for children and some of the successful intervention programmes that have been developed and used. It is argued that facing the issues and problems presented by negative playground behaviour and dealing with them in a positive way, rather than avoiding them with policies that restrict the freedom of children to interact and engage with peers in the playground, is essential for the well-being of children and school staff. The paper calls for further research to inform school policy and action in this area.

Space, body, time and relationship experiences of recess physical activity: a qualitative case study among the least physical active schoolchildren

“…The least physically active children’s temporal perspective showed that recess time was perceived as speeded up when they were enjoying themselves and slowed down when they were feeling bored. In line with our study, a study by Mulryan-Kyne showed that the majority of children typically experienced recess as a fast going enjoyable time [ 69 ]. In another study, children mentioned being able to enjoy games and physical exercise as positive features of recess [ 70 ], similar to most of the high activity children in our study.…”

“…This is in line with Blatchford et al who found that recess first and foremost was a social event [ 71 ]. A study found that, for many children, school was the only setting in which opportunities for learning to negotiate and manage conflicts as well as form new friendships with a wide range of peers from their own and other classes existed [ 69 ]. However, in our study most of the least physically active children were close friends and peer relations had been established in kindergarten.…”

Peer‐mediated intervention to improve play skills in children with autism spectrum disorder: A feasibility study

“…Although it would be ideal to have a playmate who demonstrated positive play skills and the emotional maturity to be flexible throughout the sessions, real life play situations do not exclusively involve considerate playmates and positive play outcomes (Mulryan‐Kyne, ). Both children in the dyad will benefit from developing their skills in repairing play situations with each other, with and without adult support (Mulryan‐Kyne ). We believe that the improved ability to repair play situations will support generalisation of skills to other peers and environments after practicing in a safe, naturalistic setting created in the clinic (Wilkes‐Gillan et al ., ).…”

“…The positive trend in the play skills of the playmates is worth exploring further. Although it would be ideal to have a playmate who demonstrated positive play skills and the emotional maturity to be flexible throughout the sessions, real life play situations do not exclusively involve considerate playmates and positive play outcomes (Mulryan‐Kyne, ). Both children in the dyad will benefit from developing their skills in repairing play situations with each other, with and without adult support (Mulryan‐Kyne ).…”

“…Secondary measures are recommended to assess if the intervention has an effect across a range of different areas from the parent and child's perspective (Henning et al ., ). Unfortunately, no data or opinion was gathered from the teachers of the children participating in this study (Mulryan‐Kyne, ). It is therefore recommended that for the RCT the Piers‐Harris and PRQ are used, and the SSIS‐P be replaced with two outcome measures for social behaviours, one to capture the parent's point of view and one for the teacher.…”