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.

Keywords:

• playground
• bullying
• positive interventions
• challenges
• opportunities