The benefits of school breaktimes for children and young people: Reflections on evidence from three national surveys in England and international data

Abstract

This talk will examine the role of school breaktimes in relation to the wellbeing of children and young people. 'Breaktime' or 'recess' is normally a break within the school day where children get to play and socialize with peers. However, there is little international understanding of the nature and position of recess in schools. There is little information about the activities that take place during these times and there are few statistics. Drawing on unique evidence from three national surveys in England and other countries there are signs that they are being eroded. However, there is also good evidence that these times are highly enjoyed and valued by nearly all children and that these times provide important opportunities in school to support children's wellbeing. Breaktimes are an important context for children to: develop relationships and friendships with peers, and engage in physical exercise and activities of their own choosing. These times also offer significant opportunities for the development of social and cognitive skills that are important for current and future wellbeing in terms of social, emotional and academic functioning. Breaktimes provide an important window into children's social and emotional lives and indicate the extent to which schools and countries are meeting children's right to play and recreational activities as advocated in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Good quality school provision for breaktimes can be used to support children's wellbeing.

Full text

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Written article - to cite this article:
Baines, E. (2023). The benefits of school breaktimes for children and young people:
Reflections on evidence from three national surveys in England and international data.
Paper presented at the CNESCO International comparison conference - ‘Well-being at
school: How can schools foster well-being of their students and staff?’ Paris 21-22 Nov.
2023.
The benefits of school breaktimes for children and young people: Reflections
on evidence from three national surveys in England and international data.
Ed Baines – IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society, London, UK
Summary
This talk will examine the role of school breaktimes in relation to the wellbeing of children and young
people. ‘Breaktime’ or ‘recess’ is normally a break within the school day where children get to play
and socialize with peers. However, there is little international understanding of the nature and
position of recess in schools. There is little information about the activities that take place during these
times and there are few statistics. Drawing on unique evidence from three national surveys in England
and other countries there are signs that they are being eroded. However, there is also good evidence
that these times are highly enjoyed and valued by nearly all children and that these times provide
important opportunities in school to support children’s wellbeing. Breaktimes are an important
context for children to: develop relationships and friendships with peers, and engage in physical
exercise and activities of their own choosing. These times also offer significant opportunities for the
development of social and cognitive skills that are important for current and future wellbeing in terms
of social, emotional and academic functioning. Breaktimes provide an important window into
children’s social and emotional lives and indicate the extent to which schools and countries are
meeting children’s right to play and recreational activities as advocated in the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child. Good quality school provision for breaktimes can be used to
support children’s wellbeing.

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The benefits of school breaktimes for children and young people: Reflections on evidence from
three national surveys in England and international data.
Children’s social lives in and outside of school have changed substantially over the last two to three
decades and meeting the new challenges and pressures of living in 21st century society has required
adjustment. Over this period there have been growing concerns about the mental health and
wellbeing of children and young people (Unicef, 2007; 2013). There are increasing reports that children
and young people are experiencing mental health and wellbeing problems at unprecedented levels
with national estimates of between 1 in 4 or 1 in 6 children and young people in England with a
probable mental health disorder (Newlove-Delgado et al., 2022). Data suggest increased reports of
anxiety, self-harm, depression and loneliness (Twenge, 2023; Patalay & Fitzsimons, 2016, 2018). Other
studies have demonstrated that the levels of in-person interactions between peers and friends outside
of school have markedly declined for children in primary and secondary school in the past 15-20 years
(Baines & Blatchford, 2019). The ‘Good Childhood’ reports by the Children’s Society (2015; 2017) provide
evidence suggesting a decline in children’s happiness with friendships since 2007. Similarly, levels of
independence of movement and play have markedly declined amongst young people (Baines &
Blatchford, 2012; Gray et al., 2023; Shaw et al., 2013; Singer et al., 2009). Commentators, in particular
Twenge and colleagues have attributed these changes and associated effects on wellbeing to the
increased availability of powerful digital technologies (e.g. smartphones, gaming consoles) which may
have led to altered patterns of social engagement and relational support. The suggestion is that it is
the changes created by digital technologies, rather than the use of the technologies themselves, that
may have led to changes in mental health and wellbeing (Baines & Blatchford, 2019; Gray et al., 2023;
Twenge, 2018).
In the context of these changes, breaktimes and lunchtimes, in English schools at least, are a
seeming constant. These are parts of the school day where children have time away from formal
learning activities and where they get to meet friends and socialise. While these times may seem
inconsequential, they can be important sites for children’s health, wellbeing, their social development
and learning and adjustment to school (Ramstetter et al., 2010). ‘Breaktime’ (or ‘recess’ as it is referred
to in some parts of the world
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) is a break within the school day which typically involves access to
outdoor space, when weather and space permit, and is often unstructured time for recreation, play
and socialization with peers in a safe setting where adults often supervise at a distance. Breaktimes
can be differentiated from other short breaks which allow students to have a comfort break, a snack
or meal or to move to another location for the next lesson. This short paper will draw together recent
research evidence on breaktimes in school to provide insights into the nature and contribution of
these times to children’s psychological and physical wellbeing and development.
Although breaktimes may appear to be relatively typical in most schools, it is surprising how little
we know about them at an international/ global level across different school systems. Even though
there is unprecedented knowledge about and comparison of different educational systems, e.g., by
international comparison studies as part of OECD
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work, there is limited knowledge about even basic
features of recess such as their duration and activities that take place, how they are supervised,
facilities and resources available and how breaktimes relate to children’s social and academic
1
Throughout this chapter the terms breaktimes, playtimes and recess are used interchangeably.
2
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

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development. Estimates from simple studies undertaken by Unesco
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and by Beresin (2016) provide
some insights but also conflicting estimates of time available for breaktimes and their frequency in the
school day. Importantly these studies are based on the reports of a few people and do not provide
information on how breaktimes vary as a function of school phase and children’s age in school. Recent
findings from an international survey of teachers in schools participating in outdoor classroom day, a
campaign to encourage young people to spend more time in the outdoors during the school day,
(Baines et al., in preparation) found that:
• Some countries provide very limited break times. These vary in terms of time but also relative
to the average length of the school day.
• There are different approaches to breaktimes in different countries – some countries have
short frequent breaks, others have a one to two longer breaks.
• There is much variation within countries in terms of the total break time offered, possibly due
to pupil age and school funding arrangements (state vs private schooling)
The relative lack of definitive systematic information relating to breaktimes tells its own story
in terms of the extent to which they are seen as inconsequential or even viewed negatively by
governments, policy makers, researchers and educators. This is perhaps no surprise as, on the face of
it, breaktimes are not obviously important, just a time when pupils are given some free time during
the busy school day. But there are other reasons behind the negative view. Breaktimes can be
challenging in terms of bullying (Smith, 2014), supervision (e.g. having enough supervisors to cover
the space), management and safety, and school leaders suggest cutting them back in terms of time or
banning particular activities that are perceived as unsafe or problematic. Another key reason for the
negative view is because breaktime is seen to get in the way of time spent on school academic matters
and learning. In the USA, recess was banned in Atlanta public schools on these grounds: “We are intent
on improving academic performance. You don’t do that by having kids hanging on monkey bars.”
3
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

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(Superintendent of public schools – Pellegrini, 2005, p3). Following a similar perspective, a newly built
Academy school in England, as reported in the Guardian and Telegraph newspapers in 2007, was
designed with no playground and no morning recess. A school official was quoted as saying “We have
taken away an uncontrollable space to prevent bullying and truancy.” (Barkham, 2007; Beckford, 2007)
Probably the only systematic and representative data come from a series of three studies
undertaken in England and focused on the duration, organisation and supervision of breaktimes in
schools. These studies took place first in 1995, then 2006 and again in 2017 covering a 25-year period.
Each of the studies was based on a nationally representative sample of approximately 5% of primary
and secondary schools and the survey was completed by school leaders (further details below). These
studies are nationally important because not only is there an absence of data collected on these times
or up until the last year on the length of the school day generally, but also there are no policies relative
to their provision, the length they should be or the resources that should be available and their quality.
The long-term perspective provided by the results from these studies suggest that breaktimes are
being eroded in favour of increased time for learning and instruction and to control problem behaviour
in a few pupils. This is especially at secondary school levels where students receive 65 mins less per
week in 2017 compared to 1995 but that even young pupils are receiving 45 mins less breaktime per
week. Schools with higher levels of socioeconomic deprivation provide less time for breaks than
schools with more privileged intakes (Baines & Blatchford, 2023). Supervision of breaktimes has
changed over the 25-year period, from a situation where teachers were the main supervisors to a point
where support staff (who tend to be untrained, unqualified and inexperienced) are the main
supervisors. Numbers of supervisors have also increased such that pupil-staff ratios have markedly
reduced, implying an approach that emphasises greater concern for the safety and control of children.
For example, the ratio of children per supervisor for morning breaktime in primary school was on
average 86:1 in 1995, 67:1 in 2006, and in 2017 it was 52:1.
In contrast to the view of breaktimes as a time to be limited and controlled, there are a number
of good reasons why breaktimes are important for children (Hodges et al., 2022). These are often
overlooked and are arguably becoming increasingly important in the light of the changing societal
contexts in evidence in westernised countries, as already discussed (Gray et al., 2023; Twenge, 2023).
Firstly, breaktimes have a positive role to play in children’s health and wellbeing and their play
activities. Secondly, breaktimes are an important context for children’s social relationships and social
development, and finally school breaks make a positive contribution to school engagement and
adjustment. We will consider each of these areas in turn.
Breaktimes contribute to children’s wellbeing and health
Breaktimes at primary and secondary school levels can contribute positively to children’s mental and
physical health and wellbeing (Reid et al., 2015). A key element about school breaktimes is that for
children and young people they are the most highly valued times in the school day. Our national
surveys of over 1300 children and adolescents aged 10, 14 and 16 undertaken in 2006 and 2017 shows
that pupils overwhelmingly enjoy breaks, particularly the longer lunchtime period and this is
unchanged over the past few decades (Baines & Blatchford, 2019; Blatchford, 1998; Blatchford &
Baines, 2006). These times provide an important opportunity for children to have a brief enjoyable
period away from the intensities of learning in class to relax, recharge, get some fresh air and to do

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something enjoyable of their own choosing in a safe and supportive context (Burson & Castelli, 2022;
McNamara et al., 2018).
Having some free time to undertake activity of one’s own choosing is one of the most valued
things about breaktimes, as identified by young people (Baines & Blatchford, 2019). During breaks
children are often observed to engage in a variety of forms of play. Typical activities during breaktimes
involve sociable interactions between children to engage in rule games such as football, chasing, catching
and seeking games, construction play, imaginative or sociodramatic play, vigorous and rough-and-
tumble play activities (Baines & Blatchford, 2011; Blatchford, 1998; Smith, 2010). Given the common
negative view of recess behaviours, it is interesting that in observation studies anti-social behaviours,
such as arguing, teasing/taunting and aggression are often found to be infrequent, accounting for no more
than 1-2% of observations (Pellegrini et al., 2004). These results suggest that the common view of
breaktime activities as largely negative and conflictual would be wrong. Although the different types of
play may appear to some like frivolous activities with no particular purpose or value, in many respects
they are part of organisms own evolutionary systems for development and adaptation (Pellegrini, 2009).
Play activities become increasingly a forum for social engagement and by early adolescence social
engagement and conversation become the dominant activity (Blatchford, 1998). We should not assume
that breaktimes are any less important to adolescents. Their social lives become more relevant in new
and deeper ways and are central in their developing sense of who they are, building their identity and
self-efficacy. But school staff tend not to see the important social value of recess for adolescents. They
tend to view it as time to meet physical needs such as have something to eat, get physical exercise
and fresh air. Given these views it is maybe not surprising that secondary schools are reducing
unstructured social time at school (Baines & Blatchford, 2023).
Breaktimes, especially during primary school, also contribute positively to physical health as
they are often times for vigorous physical activity during play and games. In the context of increased
concerns about the lack of physical activity and obesity levels amongst young people, some highlight
that breaktimes can contribute 30%-40% of the recommended amount of daily physical activity
(Graham et al., 2021; Ridgers et al., 2006). However, one unfortunate consequence of this benefit is
that educators feel breaks can be replaced with physical education (Pellegrini, 2005) and this misses
the manyother important functions described below.
The global community has long considered that times for breaks, unstructured play and
recreation are fundamental to children’s happiness and their physical, social, mental, and emotional
development. This was recognised in 1987 as part of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of
the Child (UNCRC) and specifically Article 31, “The Right to Play, Rest, and Leisure” which emphasises
that “every child has the right to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities
appropriate to the age of the child, and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts.” In a recent
review of progress in relation to article 31 identified that there needed to be further work to “create
time and space for children to engage in spontaneous play, recreation and creativity, and to promote
societal attitudes that support and encourage such activity.” As children and young people spend a
substantial amount of their time in school, breaktimes provide a significant opportunity for societies
to allow all children to exercise their fundamental rights to play and recreation.
Breaktimes contribute to the development of friendships with peers and social skills.

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Breaktimes are one of the few times when children can interact together without an adult organising
or managing the activity (Blatchford, 1998). These times enable children to find out about each other,
where status, reputation and social structure are formed through everyday conversation and activities
but also where close bonds can develop between children to form friendships and groups. These times
also offer powerful everyday opportunities for the development of social and emotional skills. These
skills are used to manage, negotiate and develop relationships with peers and provide an important
foundation and developing knowledge for the future and life after school (Baines & Blatchford, 2011;
Pellegrini, 2005).
There are several ways in which the activities that children engage in during breaktimes are
meaningful for their friendships and peer relations (Blatchford et al., 2016). First, playful activities and
games can act as inherently motivating social scaffolds which support the development of social
interactions of children who are unfamiliar with each other, for example at the start of school. Second,
games and playful activities can function to strengthen and consolidate friendships and peer groups as
well as contribute to a shared identity as a group. Once relationships are established, members
collaborate in the elaboration and embellishment of games and development of new frames of reference
for playful activity. Third, breaktime activities also function as a super-ordinate goal that assists in the
bridging of difference, for example between ethnic groups or members of the opposite sex. Much early
research led social psychologists to understand that, in addition to contact, there is a need for a super-
ordinate goal to provide the basis for collaboration that can bring about new relationships and
understandings. Play and games as expressed during school breaktimes can also offer opportunities for
social exploration. This may involve relations with the opposite sex where children explore gender roles,
stereotypes and boundaries through play and games.
A specific area of interest concerns the relation between breaktime and social skills. It is now
well accepted that friendships can support cooperation, reciprocity, effective conflict management,
intimacy, and commitment. Maxwell (1992) suggests, "The peer group provides arguably the most
efficient and highly motivating context for the learning and development of social skills which will
ultimately enable children to live effectively as a member of adult society." (p. 171). During their playful
interactions with peers at breaktime, children can learn and develop these important social skills as well
as others such as: decision making and problem solving, arriving at compromises, self and emotional
regulation strategies and a range of other social and emotional skills not formally taught in every day
classroom settings (Blatchford et al., 2016). Socialization at playtime can provide the context for
lessons relevant to adult life (Pellegrini, 2005).
Playground life also has an important and complex group-based nature to it as friends tend to
meet in the company of other peers and friends. Interactions that take place within groups during
breaktime playful activities provide important opportunities to learn group skills and understandings
about roles and norms as well as intergroup relationships. These lessons are not things that can be
duplicated by classes in school (Blatchford & Baines, 2010; Kinderman & Gest, 2018) however it is
possible for school staff to mediate these experiences so that positive learning outcomes are the
result.
Breaktimes can have a more negative side. Unfortunately bullying and victimization can take
place during break and lunchtimes when children are free to socialize in their own way and particularly
where adult supervision is low (Smith, 2014). Many schools thus seek to reduce bullying by shortening

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breaktimes, and/or by controlling what children do through more structured activity. Though
understandable, this misses the important value of these times for children’s enjoyment and social
development and probably transfers the problem to other contexts (e.g., outside of school). Schools and
school policies need to adopt a more inclusive ethos that supports those that stand up to bullying and
provides children with clear strategies for doing this (Smith, 2014). While there are useful measures that
schools can adopt to minimise problem behaviours, for example, by ensuring that a wide range of
interesting play materials and opportunities for activities are available, this is no replacement for
empowering children with the means and systems to resolve bullying. There are a range of successful
evidence-based social and emotional interventions that can facilitate school environments and processes
that successfully tackle bullying (Boulton et al., 2021; Kärnä et al., 2011).
Breaktimes contribute to engagement and adjustment in school
Breaktimes are a context in which broader lessons and skills that are not covered by traditional
education have the potential to be developed and these have important implications for children’s
wellbeing. As already noted, important social and emotional lessons and skills are learned during these
times, but playtimes can also offer wider lessons in relation to risk and challenge, innovation,
creativity, self awareness, identity and social and moral lessons that are not necessarily explicitly
taught or reflected upon in formal lessons (Ramstetter et al., 2022). Breaktimes also contribute in
positive ways to the more academic side of school to support children in cognitive and behavioural
terms and we know that engagement with school , liking of school and achievement are important for
mental health and wellbeing in the longer term (Patalay & Fitzsimons, 2018). There has been interest
in the optimal timing and length of breaks as well as the value of pauses for learning. Some studies
have manipulated the length of a lesson leading up to a breaktime and/or students’ ability to engage
in physical activity (Pellegrini et al., 1995; Rhea & Rivchun, 2018). These studies indicate that the longer
children are required to focus their attention on a task the less likely they are to be attentive, and that
children are more engaged and better behaved after a breaktime, than they are towards the end of
the lesson prior to the break (Brez & Sheets, 2017; Jarrett et al., 1998; Pellegrini et al., 1995; Barros et
al., 2009; Rhea & Rivchun, 2018). Such studies are limited in terms of causal explanations because it is
impossible to attribute the cause to having a break, or opportunities for play, physical activity, or for
socializing with peers, nevertheless they highlight the overall positive contribution of these times.
Researchers have drawn parallels between the activities that take place informally between
peers on the playground and the more formal side of school learning (Blatchford & Baines, 2010;
Howe, 2009), but the evidence that play and games are related directly to learning in the classroom is
not substantial. Some research suggests that those most socially involved in play activities are likely to
be better adapted to school (Blatchford et al., 2003; Pellegrini et al., 2004). There is also research that
indicates that play provides many opportunities for the development of basic academic skills such as
oracy, literacy and numeracy, and non-verbal logical reasoning (Hodges et al., 2022; Kern et al., 2018;
Ramstetter et al., 2022) as well as understanding about life and culture (Blatchford, 1989; Haapla et
al., 2014; London et al., 2015).
There are clear overlaps between some play activities and classroom learning activities (e.g.,
creativity in socio-dramatic play and creative writing skills, play counting rhymes and number), but the
extent to which skills transfer between situations is under studied. It may be that playful social
activities have more of an impact on individual social skills and understanding, the ability to cooperate

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and work with others as a group, and other ‘life’ or ‘soft’ skills which support learning but are not part
of the formal school curriculum. There is good evidence that friends collaborate better together on
academic tasks than non-friends (Zajac & Hartup, 1997). This suggests that repeated interactions with
friends during playful activities might prepare friends to be more successful at engaging in complex
collaborative tasks in the classroom. Some of the planning, reasoning, problem solving and explaining
skills that are commonly required for collaborative learning, may be first experienced during children’s
play and games with peers (Howe, 2009) and may provide an important role in the development of so
called 21st century skills such as collaboration and team work, problem solving, decision making and a
range of communication and individual skills. The potential associations between breaktime play, peer
relations, development and learning within the classroom deserve more research attention.
How breaktimes are changing in British schools
So far we have examined the potential contributions that breaktimes make to children’s social
emotional and psychological development and wellbeing, and we now turn to consider efforts to
improve the quality of school breaktimes in British schools. In the light of the erosion of breaktimes in
British schools, reported earlier, there have been marked efforts on the part of playworkers and other
play advocates to improve the nature of unstructured play opportunities. Within school settings this
has primarily involved introducing or increasing the play offer. Aside from the training of supervisory
staff and developing a school policy on breaktimes and play, this often amounts to increased
opportunities for loose parts play (LPP). This is achieved through the introduction of everyday and
cheaply available moveable, flexible materials and resources (e.g. tyres, barrels, clothing, nets) that
inspire children to explore a range of different types of play including: construction, imaginative and
risky play and also other forms of open ended unstructured play. Initiatives such as 'Outdoor Play and
Learning’ (OPAL) (Follett, 2017), ‘Scrapstore Playpods’ and many other groups work with schools to
improve play opportunities during school time.
Preliminary research evidence suggests that LPP is associated with greater Physical Activity in
terms of increased step counts, time spent in moderate physical activity and a reduction in sedentary
activity (Engelen et al. 2013; Hyndman et al., 2014) and there are well documented associations
between physical activity and health and wellbeing (Biddle et al., 2011). Other studies involving
qualitative methods have indicated that LPP interventions show promise in terms of providing benefits
for children in terms of their happiness, self-esteem and confidence, social inclusion, academic
engagement and reductions in aggressive behaviour (James, 2012; Lester et al., 2010). However, a
systematic review of five studies involving the use of LPP in relation to cognitive, social and emotional
development reported relatively few effects, except for higher levels of happiness and cooperative
play (Gibson et al., 2018). This is in large part due to the limited number of studies and availability of
good quality quantitative tools with sufficient sensitivity for measuring these constructs, a problem
shared amongst much research on the topic of wellbeing.
Conclusions

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This paper has suggested that, in contrast to an indifferent or negative view, school breaktimes make
an important and rich contribution to children’s health and wellbeing as well as their social-emotional
development and for positive engagement and adjustment to school. However, the extent of these
effects is likely to depend substantially on the quality of children’s breaktimes and supportive
supervisory practices. Children need to have positive opportunities to engage in a wide range of playful
activities which promote positive forms of individual and social play, creativity and innovation. Whilst
schools and teachers can be effective in teaching children about moral understanding, children also
learn from their own experiences, mistakes and reflections. School breaktimes play an important role
here. Social activities and interactions during breaktimes offer opportunities for children to develop
valuable social skills and encounter and resolve real world social challenges of the sort not usually
experienced when adults mediate the interaction. The difficulties that staff know arise at breaktime
can be viewed positively in the sense that they can be the basis for discussion with pupils and greater
involvement of pupils in school decisions and management (Blatchford, 1998), within a moral framework
provided by the school. We argue that schools should take on board pupil perspectives and seek to
find ways to reconcile the interests of school management and to minimise difficulties that can arise
at breaktime with the important social, physical and mental benefits of breaktime. Schools should
consider developing a policy on breaktimes which is considered alongside other school policies and
the curriculum to ensure that these times are strategically considered, funded and not disregarded in
terms of their impact on the development and wellbeing of children and young people.
It is fitting that we end with a call for greater reflection on the ways that practice and policy
may impact on and enhance these important social-learning contexts. There need to be national and
international discussions and expectations about these times and how they can be carefully nurtured
to ensure the best opportunities and benefits for all children so that they can exercise their rights as
advocated in the UNCRC rights of the child but also benefit from these experiences in a changing
society and cultural climates.
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