No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Giving children permission for risky play: teacher variables and reported practices
Abstract
This study aimed to examine (a) whether preschool teachers’ risky play
attitudes differed in relation to school type, number of children, presence
of teachers’ aides, professional experience, age groups, and/or duration of
time outdoors, and (b) preschool teachers’ self-reported practices regarding
risky play outdoors. An explanatory sequential mixed method design
was utilized. 484 preschool teachers were completed the Scale for the
Attitudes Towards Risky Play at Early Childhood-Teacher Form. Semi-
structured interviews were conducted with 21 preschool teachers.
Quantitative results unveiled significant differences in teachers’ risky
play attitudes regarding preschool type, presence of teachers’ aides, and
daily time spent outdoors. Qualitative results shed light on the way
parents and administrators perceived risky play impacted teachers’ practices
for allowing or prohibiting children’s risky play outdoors. This study
underscores a need for professional training and continuous collaboration
among teachers, parents, and administrators to support risky play in
educational settings.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any citations for this publication.
We investigated the dynamic relationships between children’s risky play attempts in a naturalistic setting, their injury experience, and their self-control ability. To test this, we administered surveys to 862 mothers of 3- to 5-year-olds. The results showed that children who tried more diverse types of risky play experienced more injuries in naturalistic settings than those who tried fewer types of risky play. Children with a high level of self-control experienced fewer injuries than those with a low level of self-control. Also, children who frequently played in naturalistic settings demonstrated higher self-control. We conclude that when children play in naturalistic settings, those who enjoy trying various types of risky play may be exposed to more danger than those who do not. However, in the long term, children’s experience playing in naturalistic settings can enhance their self-control ability, which mitigates the chance of them getting injured.
The focus of this theoretical paper is to explore three biopsychosocial levels of children’s risky play: (1) mental health and emotion regulation, (2) social functioning and challenging norms, and (3) physical health and development. As such, in this paper, we expand Sandseter’s and Kennair’s focus in their original article in 2011 on the evolved function of risky play as an anti-phobic mechanism, and consider other types of risk than physical risks and other types of play, including other types of emotional regulation than anxiety reduction. Motivated by the thrilling emotions involved in risky play, one matures in competency and masters new and more complex psychosocial settings. Play with emotional, social, and physical risk may have evolved to increase the child’s psychosocial competency here-and-now, but also train them for future adult contexts. We recommend that future research consider how risky play in all contexts may have a similar function.
Physically challenging, risky play is a natural part of children’s outdoor play behaviour, yet risky play is often limited by the environmental affordances as well as educators’ reluctance to allow this type of play due to safety concerns. This case study explored the influence of the redesign of the outdoor environment on 18–26-month-old children’s play behaviours and their educators’ attitudes and responses to the children’s risky play. Video recorded observations examined the children’s play behaviours and adult interactions with the children during their usual outdoor play time. Interviews with educators explored their conceptions of risk-taking and attitudes towards the risky elements included in the redesigned space, whilst their attitudes towards children’s risky play and personal risk-taking behaviours were examined using the Tolerance of Risk in Play Scale and Attitudes Towards Risk questionnaire. Findings indicate that despite initial concerns, educators were supportive of the children’s risky play in the new environment and the environment afforded opportunities for diverse play including risky play.
Unstructured outdoor play has been recognized for its beneficial impacts on children’s healthy development; however, unfortunately, opportunities for children to engage in meaningful play are limited. Early learning and childcare centres can be essential settings for unstructured outdoor play, and educators can play a vital role in supporting children’s opportunities, yet they face numerous barriers. We conducted five focus groups with 40 professionals working in the early childhood education field (educators, students and licensing officers) in British Columbia, Canada, to examine their experiences and perceived challenges in promoting children’s unstructured outdoor play. Participants’ identified challenges were mapped on the ecological system and ranged from microsystem concerns (e.g. knowledge and skills) to mesosystem concerns (e.g. lack of shared understanding with parents and colleagues), exosystem concerns (e.g. licensing regulations) and macrosystem concerns (e.g. societal risk aversion). We recommend evidence-based strategies to address each of the identified barriers, targeting each ecological system level.
Early childhood educators (ECEs) are highly influential role models in the childcare setting with respect to encouraging physical activity and outdoor play, and minimizing sedentary behavior among children in childcare. Measuring ECEs’ behavioral intention (BI) and perceived behavioral control (PBC) is one way to monitor their determination and ability to support these health behaviors. The ECE Movement Behavioral Intention and Perceived Control (ECE-MBIPC) questionnaire (56 items) was developed via expert consensus to fill the noted gap in tools used to measure these constructs among ECEs. A test–retest approach, via an online survey administered twice (1-week apart) was adopted to evaluate the reliability and factorial validity of the questionnaire with ECEs in Canada (n = 165). Cronbach’s alpha and test–retest statistics were used to assess reliability, while exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to examine factorial validity. The ECE-MBIPC questionnaire demonstrated high internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha > 0.85 across subscales) and acceptable temporal stability (> 0.70). A seven-factor solution was proposed by the EFA, with each of the seven behaviors loading onto their own factor; this solution explained 71% of the variability in the data. As the first reliable and valid tool to measure ECEs’ BI and PBC to promote physical activity and outdoor play and to minimize sedentary behavior in childcare, the ECE-MBIPC questionnaire will help to standardize the manner in which these psychosocial variables are measured in early years research.
Risky play provides multiple benefits for children’s development. This study compared teachers’ perceptions of risky play in one kindergarten in Norway and one in China, including the concept of risky play, the roles of teachers, the protective strategies adopted, and the factors limiting the practice of risky play. The aim of the article is to identify how teachers perceive risky play in different cultures and broaden our knowledge of what risky play is. The research question is: How do teachers from different cultures perceive different aspects of risky play? The study employs a risk “thermostat” model (Adams, 2001), drawing on teachers’ perceptions of individual propensity to risks, perceived danger, potential rewards, and accidents in children’s risky play. Semi-structured interviews with ten employees revealed that teachers in the two participating kindergartens had different perceptions of risky play. Findings indicated that teachers in the Norwegian kindergarten have theoretical and practical experience of understanding risky play within their cultural background. Guided by the kindergarten philosophy (rules or guidelines that kindergartens should follow, such as letting go of children and encouraging risky play), kindergarten teachers in Anji (a county in China) have learned a little about risky play and are gradually developing their views on it in practice. Teachers in both kindergartens support children’s risky play, although in different ways and with different perceptions. This study contributes information on the differences in risky play across countries with diverse cultures.
Free play is important in early childhood and offers physical and mental health benefits. Outdoor play offers opportunity for children to use natural elements and promotes physical activity, among other health benefits, including exploring their environment and taking risks. Risky outdoor play may involve challenges, heights, speed, and the potential for injury, but has been associated with increased physical activity levels, decreased sedentary behaviour, improved mental health, and social benefits. The integration of loose parts, or open-ended, unstructured materials, into play environments, has been associated with positive social behaviours, creativity, and improved problem-solving, confidence, and resilience. As opportunities for risky play in early childhood are determined by adults, including early childhood educators, it is important to understand their perspectives on these types of play. The purpose of this study was to explore early childhood educators' perspectives of risky play, in the context of the Physical Literacy in the Early Years (PLEY) intervention. PLEY was a mixed methods study that aimed to evaluate a loose parts intervention in early childcare settings. This paper used Qualitative Description to explore educators' perspectives. Data were collected from 15 focus groups with early childhood educators. Four themes were identified through thematic analysis. The first explains how risky play with loose parts contributes to evolution in educator perceptions; the second describes how educators' perceptions of risk are connected to institutions and systems; the third illustrates how educators developed strategies to facilitate risky play with loose parts; and the fourth demonstrates how educators perceive risky play as beneficial for children's healthy development. This project highlights societal shifts in play and how loose parts and risky play fit into the ongoing evolution in play, from the perspectives of early childhood educators.
In this conceptual article, we draw upon the literature regarding cognitive and behavioural factors that underpin childhood anxiety to outline how a range of these risk markers might be targeted through adventurous play. When children play in an adventurous way, climbing trees, riding their bikes fast downhill and jumping from rocks, they experience feelings of fear and excitement, thrill and adrenaline. We propose that the positive, thrilling and playful emotions associated with this type of child-led play facilitate exposure to fear-provoking situations and, in doing so, provide opportunities for children to learn about physiological arousal, uncertainty and coping. We hypothesise that these learning opportunities will, over time, reduce children’s risk for elevated anxiety by increasing children’s expectations and ability to cope with anxiety, decreasing intolerance of uncertainty and preventing catastrophic misinterpretations of physiological arousal. If our conceptual model is correct, then ensuring that children have the physical and psychological space required to play in an adventurous way may help to decrease their risk for elevated or clinical anxiety.
In this study, the aim was to develop “Scale for the Attitudes towards Risky Play at Early Childhood (SATRPEC) - Teacher Form” for early childhood educators. For this purpose, 381 preschool teachers were included in the study among in-service preschool teachers working in nursery schools or kindergartens located in Afyonkarahisar/Turkey in 2019-2020 academic year. In order to develop SATRPEC-TF, a pool consisting of 44 items with five-point Likert type was initially created. The form containing the items was presented to the opinions of eleven experts, five academicians who are experts in preschool education and child development, a measurement and evaluation specialist, and five teachers, and the scale was finalized according to the views of the experts. SPSS and AMOS programs were used in the analysis of the data, confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis and internal consistency coefficient were determined for the entire scale and sub-dimensions. The values obtained as a result of the analyzes showed that the scale was reliable and had acceptable psychometric properties.
Research on children’s risky play and young children’s risk taking is a relatively new research area that has drawn the attention of many researchers in the last decades. Nevertheless, to our knowledge, no earlier studies have measured the prevalence of risky play when children can freely choose what to play, with whom, and where. Most research on risky play has also exclusively focused on outdoor play. This study aims at examining the occurrence and characteristics of children’s risky play, indoors and outdoors, in early childhood education and care (ECEC) institutions. Children (N = 80) were observed in two-minute sequences during periods of the day when they were free to choose what to do. The data consists of 1878 randomly recorded two-minute videos, which were coded second by second for the occurrence of several categories of risky play. Results revealed that risky play was registered in 10.3% of the total data material. The data is further analysed to explore distribution among different types of risky play, as well as differences between gender, age and environment (indoors vs. outdoors).
There has been increasing recognition of the importance of children's outdoor play and independent mobility for thriving children, neighbourhoods, cities and society, which has led to calls to reverse children's retreat from the street commonplace in many Western nations. We privilege the voices of children aged 10–13 living in three diverse neighbourhoods in an urban centre in Canada to examine the factors that influence children's unsupervised outdoor activities (UOA), such as play, hanging out, and active. A total of 105 children participated in go-along interviews. Analyses revealed two themes: First, ‘feeling safe’ encompassed a sense of social and physical safety, including children's sense of neighbourliness, social dangers, discomfort around traffic, and personal agency to keep themselves safe. Second, having ‘things to do,’ included the affordances that children perceived as important in their neighbourhoods, particularly having other children to play with, diverse amenities and access to nature, and opportunities for challenge and risky play. We outline a conceptual model of children's decision process for UOA that identifies key variables that influence children's engagement in UOA.
Risky play is defined as thrilling and challenging forms of play that have the potential for physical injury and has been linked to development and health benefits for children in the early years. These benefits include risk-assessment skills, increased physical activity and well-being, and promoting social competencies and resilience. Currently, in a Western context, children’s opportunities for risky play are decreasing and at the same time, childhood inactivity and coinciding health concerns are on the rise [WHO. (2016). Risky play may help ameliorate some current health problems for children. This research aimed to increase understanding of how children use affordances (environmental factors that intersect with and influence human behaviours) for risky play. Physical environmental factors have been found to influence children’s affordances for all play, including risky play. The study employed a deductive analysis of participant-observer field notes and focused-video observations in order to identify how children utilize indoor and outdoor environmental features for risky play. Data was interpreted through Gibson’s (1979). theory of affordances and was then fit to established taxonomies of environments for children’s risky play. Research was conducted with children, ages 3–4 years, at a kindergarten in Norway. Findings identified environmental affordances for risky play that were actualized by children in this study. We propose that findings from this study may be useful in considering the physical design of early childhood education play spaces.
The aim of this study is to determine the school climate in formal kindergartens, to examine the factors affecting it and its effect on education and to use teachers and school principals' views to point out the elements necessary for its improvement. Partially mixed sequential dominant status design, which is a two-stage (qualitative and qualitative) mixed design was used in the study. In the first stage, 115 teachers and 34 school principals of 18 independent kindergartens in Eskişehir were administered an Organizational Climate Scale to determine the working climates of the kindergartens. In the second stage, semi-structured interviews were conducted with the teachers and principals of the two schools with the highest and lowest scale scores to investigate the reasons for the differences in school climates and their effect on education. Principals' personalities and their communication and problem solving skills, and support, praise and encouragement given to teachers, fair behavior, openness to new ideas and involving staff in decision making play an important role in creating a positive school climate. School climate has a great impact on students through teachers and staff.
A large amount of research has been conducted on play and in recent years the disappearance of play has been questioned (e.g., Brown in Kindergartners get little time to play. Why does it matter? 2016; Ebbeck and Waniganayake in Play in early childhood education: learning in diverse contexts, Oxford University Press, South Melbourne, 2016). Researchers and practitioners alike have expressed serious concerns that academic pressures on the curriculum have reduced the amount of time given over to play (Nicolopoulou in Hum Dev 53:1–4, 2010). This paper raises some important issues in relation to outdoor play and presents a research study conducted in Singapore—a highly urbanised country. The research examined early childhood teachers’ views on the value of outdoor play and their teaching practices in outdoor play with young children. Findings showed that most teachers enjoyed conducting outdoor activities, but they were concerned about the lack of physical and human resources. At a follow up sharing of the research results, teachers were able to suggest some ideas to cope with the challenges identified in the study findings. Implications are drawn for practitioners, education policymakers, and for town planners working in urbanised countries like Singapore.
The potential for risky play and independent mobility to increase children’s physical activity, and enhance cognitive development and emotional wellbeing has been recognised for some time. The aim of this study was to describe the attitudes of New Zealand parents towards such risky play practices and independent mobility, the barriers preventing them from allowing their children to participate, and how often their children engaged in risky play activities. An online survey comprised mostly of validated scales and standardised questions was completed by a nationally representative sample of 2003 parents. We found that parents had neutral feelings about the risk of injury to their child through play, rather they were concerned about road safety and “stranger danger”. There was strong agreement that there are multiple benefits to be gained from exposure to risk and challenge, and that health and safety rules are too strict. However, 73% of respondents stated that their 5–12 year old child seldom or never engaged in four or more risky activities, and only 14.3% engaged in four or more often or always. While parents agree that their child is likely to benefit from risky play, they do not have the confidence to allow their children to engage in such activities. Future research should address barriers and fears when implementing strategies to facilitate risky play.
Quality teaching, being a key factor in shaping students’ academic and personal growth, has been at the centre of scientific debate for many years. Sustainable professional development of novice teachers has recently been recognized worldwide as one of the key areas for improving the quality of teaching and learning in schools. Given that the initial years on the job are generally characterised by novice teachers as the most challenging and intense in their career, the following questions typically arise: What can be done to sustain and facilitate teaching at the early developmental stages in teachers’ career? What are the contextual factors and the prerequisites leading to the quality of teaching and learning?
The article presents the findings from a two-year longitudinal qualitative study aimed to contribute to the research base for understanding this crucial stage. More specifically, the purpose of this study was to provide deeper understanding and insights into key factors influencing and shaping novice teachers’ early professional development and learning, as well as their capacities to effectively adapt to their new roles and operate in complex and dynamically changing open-ended school environment. The research is framed as a cross-case analysis of 4 cases of novice teachers working in public secondary schools. The data were collected through multiple sources (i.e. semi-structured in-depth interviews, questionnaire, and focus groups) over a two-year period spanning the participants’ first and second full-time teaching years. Substantial differences in experiences and beliefs among the novice teachers, with varying levels of job satisfaction and professional support received, were identified in the study. The authors have also identified numerous patterns of novice teachers’ teaching practice closely associated with teachers’concerns and early professional experience interpretations, which might result in substantial fluctuation in teaching quality and teacher’s career paths.
Implications for teacher education programs, mentoring, supervision, teachers’ professional development, and future research are discussed.
This study contributes to the understanding of early childhood educators’ and parents’ attitudes and practices in relation to outdoor risky play for children. This study included 26 early childhood educators and 112 parents in rural and metropolitan areas of Australia and the United States. Participants completed an online survey about their perspectives and practices related to the provision of opportunities for children to engage in outdoor risky play. Questions also investigated reasons that prevented participants from providing such opportunities for children. Findings indicated that most educators thought it was important for children to be provided opportunities for outdoor risky play and did provide appropriate activities. Types of outdoor risky play opportunities fell into the categories of supporting large motor skills, supporting free exploration of the environment, and supporting assessment of risk. However, educators located in Australia rated outdoor risky play opportunities as significantly more important compared to educators in the US. Many parents also felt outdoor risky play was important and provided appropriate activities. Opportunities provided by parents fell into the same categories as educators, with additional features of nervousness and a desire to avoid hovering. Many parents identified the young age of the child and safety concerns as barriers. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
e authors point out a basic contradiction: On one hand, we want to keep children as safe as possible; On the other, they suggest, learning to take risks is a normal part of childhood and child development. In Norway, research has shown that early-childhood education and care (ECEC) practitioners have, in the past, taken
a permissive approach to children’s risk taking. In this article, the authors surveys ECEC managers to explore how the increasing focus on safety in Norwegian society aects ECEC programs. ey nd the previously more relaxed attitudes regarding risky play among children to be changing in such settings. ey describe restrictions recently introduced into everyday program activities, and they discuss the implications both for ECEC pedagogy and for children’s play, learning, and development.
Key words: early-childhood education and care (ECEC); play and safety; play in Norwegian preschools; risk taking and play
http://www.journalofplay.org/sites/www.journalofplay.org/files/pdf-articles/8-2-article-we-dont-allow-children-to-climb-trees.pdf
The purpose of this study was to explore kindergarten teachers’ views and roles regarding outdoor play environments in Omani kindergartens. Thirty kindergarten teachers from 15 private kindergartens were observed and interviewed. The results indicated that teachers recognize the importance of outdoor play in children’s development and learning. Although teachers are satisfied with the safety conditions of the outdoor play environments, they feel they need to know more about how to maintain safety criteria in this environment. Teachers most frequently took on the role of supervising and guiding children’s behaviour or setting up materials for play, whereas providing verbal comments and participating in play were less common. Omani outdoor play environments were found to face specific difficulties, such as the hot climate, a shortage of materials and equipment, a lack of natural surroundings and the short length of time spent outdoors. The article concludes with policy implications and pedagogical recommendations.
A diverse, cross-sectorial group of partners, stakeholders and researchers, collaborated to develop an evidence-informed Position Statement on active outdoor play for children aged 3–12 years. The Position Statement was created in response to practitioner, academic, legal, insurance and public debate, dialogue and disagreement on the relative benefits and harms of active (including risky) outdoor play. The Position Statement development process was informed by two systematic reviews, a critical appraisal of the current literature and existing position statements, engagement of research experts (N = 9) and cross-sectorial individuals/organizations (N = 17), and an extensive stakeholder consultation process (N = 1908). More than 95% of the stakeholders consulted strongly agreed or somewhat agreed with the Position Statement; 14/17 participating individuals/organizations endorsed it; and over 1000 additional individuals and organizations requested their name be listed as a supporter. The final Position Statement on Active Outdoor Play states: “Access to active play in nature and outdoors—with its risks— is essential for healthy child development. We recommend increasing children’s opportunities for self-directed play outdoors in all settings—at home, at school, in child care, the community and nature.” The full Position Statement provides context for the statement, evidence supporting it, and a series of recommendations to increase active outdoor play opportunities to promote healthy child development.
Risky outdoor play has been associated with promoting children’s health and development, but also with injury and death. Risky outdoor play has diminished over time, concurrent with increasing concerns regarding child safety and emphasis on injury prevention. We sought to conduct a systematic review to examine the relationship between risky outdoor play and health in children, in order to inform the debate regarding its benefits and harms. We identified and evaluated 21 relevant papers for quality using the GRADE framework. Included articles addressed the effect on health indicators and behaviours from three types of risky play, as well as risky play supportive environments. The systematic review revealed overall positive effects of risky outdoor play on a variety of health indicators and behaviours, most commonly physical activity, but also social health and behaviours, injuries, and aggression. The review indicated the need for additional “good quality” studies; however, we note that even in the face of the generally exclusionary systematic review process, our findings support the promotion of risky outdoor play for healthy child development. These positive results with the marked reduction in risky outdoor play opportunities in recent generations indicate the need to encourage action to support children’s risky outdoor play opportunities. Policy and practice precedents and recommendations for action are discussed.
While there is a growing interest in children's risk-taking behaviours and their safety when at play, there is also a focus on the need to balance the hazards of risks with the benefits of risk. This is also a growing concern among researchers of early childhood education and care (ECEC). The research conducted thus far on ECEC practitioners' perceptions of children's risky play has been qualitative. The aim of this study takes a quantitative approach to ECEC practitioners' perceptions of children's risky play with an aim to reveal how the perception is related to the practitioner's age, gender, and personality. Questionnaires, including a personality test, were administered to 116 Norwegian ECEC practitioners (20% male practitioners). The results indicate that male practitioners score higher on excitement-seeking scales than female practitioners, have a more liberal attitude towards children's risky play, and allow children to engage in greater risky play than women.
There is a growing debate on the balance between making sure our children are safe versus letting the children play in physically and emotionally stimulating and challenging environments. The focus is now on children's right to do risky play. There are no studies categorising risky play. The present study has aimed to do this. Qualitative observations of 38 children and semi-structured interviews with 8 children and 7 employees from two Norwegian preschools gave 6 categories of risky play: 1) Play with great heights; 2) Play with high speed; 3) Play with harmful tools; 4) Play near dangerous elements; 5) Rough-and-tumble play; and 6) Play where the children can 'disappear'/get lost. The reliability of the analysed categories was tested through a second opinion made by an experienced preschool teacher, who has long and varied experience with children's play in preschools.
Positive risk-taking in the context of outdoor physical play is important for fostering children's optimal health and development. Despite this, there is mounting concern that many developmentally beneficial activities are now seen as dangerous and something to be avoided. However, perceptions of risk are very much subject to cultural interpretation, and the growing risk aversion evident in some developed Western societies, such as Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America, is less apparent in other developed countries, notably some of the European and Scandinavian countries. To explore some of these cultural differences, early childhood practitioners from Australia and Norway were interviewed regarding their provision of outdoor play experiences for children and their attitudes towards risk-taking in play. Practitioners from both countries recognised the importance of risky play for children's development and well-being. However, differences in the extent to which children's risky play was supported were evident. Factors associated with the quality of the outdoor environment, regulatory requirements, and a litigious environment were identified as constraining teaching practice for the Australian practitioners. The findings have implications for the development of policy that supports teachers' pedagogical decision-making in providing developmentally challenging play environments for children.
Thematic analysis is a poorly demarcated, rarely acknowledged, yet widely used qualitative analytic method within psychology. In this paper, we argue that it offers an accessible and theoretically flexible approach to analysing qualitative data. We outline what thematic analysis is, locating it in relation to other qualitative analytic methods that search for themes or patterns, and in relation to different epistemological and ontological positions. We then provide clear guidelines to those wanting to start thematic analysis, or conduct it in a more deliberate and rigorous way, and consider potential pitfalls in conducting thematic analysis. Finally, we outline the disadvantages and advantages of thematic analysis. We conclude by advocating thematic analysis as a useful and flexible method for qualitative research in and beyond psychology.
Injury prevention plays a key role in keeping children safe, but emerging research suggests that imposing too many restrictions on children's outdoor risky play hinders their development. We explore the relationship between child development, play, and conceptions of risk taking with the aim of informing child injury prevention. Generational trends indicate children's diminishing engagement in outdoor play is influenced by parental and societal concerns. We outline the importance of play as a necessary ingredient for healthy child development and review the evidence for arguments supporting the need for outdoor risky play, including: (1) children have a natural propensity towards risky play; and, (2) keeping children safe involves letting them take and manage risks. Literature from many disciplines supports the notion that safety efforts should be balanced with opportunities for child development through outdoor risky play. New avenues for investigation and action are emerging seeking optimal strategies for keeping children "as safe as necessary," not "as safe as possible." This paradigm shift represents a potential for epistemological growth as well as cross-disciplinary collaboration to foster optimal child development while preserving children's safety.
This theoretical article views children's risky play from an evolutionary perspective, addressing specific evolutionary functions and especially the anti-phobic effects of risky play. According to the non-associative theory, a contemporary approach to the etiology of anxiety, children develop fears of certain stimuli (e.g., heights and strangers) that protect them from situations they are not mature enough to cope with, naturally through infancy. Risky play is a set of motivated behaviors that both provide the child with an exhilarating positive emotion and expose the child to the stimuli they previously have feared. As the child's coping skills improve, these situations and stimuli may be mastered and no longer be feared. Thus fear caused by maturational and age relevant natural inhibition is reduced as the child experiences a motivating thrilling activation, while learning to master age adequate challenges. It is concluded that risky play may have evolved due to this anti-phobic effect in normal child development, and it is suggested that we may observe an increased neuroticism or psychopathology in society if children are hindered from partaking in age adequate risky play.
Risky play, accompanied by thrilling feelings with real or perceived risks, is beneficial for children’s development. Playground quality and teachers’ attitudes about risk can influence preschoolers’ risky play opportunities. In this study, 10 U.S. preschools’ outdoor environments were rated using the Seven Cs Scale. Playgrounds scored lowest in challenge, demonstrating a lack of risky play opportunities and highest in context and connectivity, exhibiting adequate safety measures and pathways. The Tolerance for Risk in Play Scale was used to assess 58 teachers’ attitudes. The average score was 29 (on a scale of 0 to 100, highest risk tolerance). Across risky play categories, teachers were most accepting of rough-and-tumble play and least accepting of play with dangerous tools. During a focus group, teachers also expressed concerns regarding overly restrictive safety regulations. The findings highlight the need for further teacher education concerning risky play.
Existing research indicates that risky play plays a significant role in children’s learning and development. Children’s access to risky play is, however, culturally and institutionally mediated. The cultural values associated with a good childhood and the values and attitudes of people who are ‘in charge’ of children’s activities have a significant role in the creation of institutional conditions for the activities. In this paper, we report on the attitudes of Croatian Early Childhood Education (ECE) teachers towards various examples of risky play and their declared frequency of allowing it in their own work settings. A statistically significant difference is revealed between the ECE teachers’ educational degree and their attitudes towards risky play. The discussion section indicates that teacher education shapes attitudes, but it does not shape the ability to take action in respect of institutional limitations, particularly where these are reinforced by an array of safety procedures.
The notion of ‘belonging’ is a core component of many early childhood curriculum frameworks and recognises the importance of children’s sociocultural context for their self-identity and well-being. Children’s risk-taking in play has also been the focus of contemporary research in examining its beneficial role for children’s physical, social and emotional development. This study applies diverse disciplinary and theoretical lenses, including Hedegaard’s cultural-historical model and Gibson’s affordance theory, to present a critical and multi-perspective understanding of children’s experience of ‘belonging’ and risky play. The study involved naturalistic observations of 18–26-month-old children’s outdoor play in an environment designed to provide affordances for risky play. The findings suggest that children’s engagement in risky play also supports their sense of belonging through their shared engagement in risky-play experiences.
Childcare settings offer an ideal opportunity for children to become acquainted with risk-taking in play, which promotes healthy growth and development. Van Rooijen and Newstead’s (2016) model, based on a review of international literature, has identified the main challenges for childcare professionals when promoting risky play, namely; conflicting pressures from cultural and regulatory factors, parental concerns, personal attitudes and constructs of children. We used an online questionnaire to examine whether these challenges impact on children’s risk-taking play in Dutch childcare contexts. Dutch professionals encounter barriers; especially in external regulations, organization protocols, and parental overprotectiveness. We adjusted the model to gain further insight in influencing factors and their interrelatedness in a Dutch context. Our findings indicate that professionals can be supported with knowledge about and openness in discussion on risky play and with the tools necessary to support autonomy in daily pedagogical decision-making which then supports children’s age-appropriate risk-taking opportunities.
Young children's outdoor play serves important and diverse purposes, including physical exercise and opportunities for growth in all developmental areas. Unfortunately, the amount of time that children spend engaged in unstructured, child-directed outdoor play has diminished significantly in the past generation. In this article, the authors describe some of the reasons for this decline and outline the research-supported benefits of outdoor play in general, as well as benefits of play in natural outdoor environments in particular. Suggestions for making the most of outdoor play will benefit children around the world.
There is a growing concern that adults who supervise children’s play may restrict opportunities for children to engage in risky activities. Risk-benefit assessment is commonly advocated as a way of allowing children to take managed risks within settings. However ‘risk-benefit’ adopts a limited strategy of convincing professionals of the developmental benefits of risk, disregarding other factors which may also influence professionals when making risk assessments in their settings. This paper proposes an alternative approach to supporting practitioners in allowing risk by exploring the complexity of these influencing factors. A narrative literature review identifies five inter-related factors which affect professionals’ attitudes to risk. The relationships between these factors are discussed and presented as a model which illustrates the complexity faced by practitioners when carrying out risk assessments. The authors argue that children’s opportunities to benefit from risk in play may increase if these influencing factors could be explored within professional development.
Motor competence and physical activity (PA) patterns are established during the early childhood years. Early childhood education (ECE) settings are an important context for children’s engagement in physically active play. This paper reports the findings from an online survey examining resources, spaces and affordances for PA and risk-taking in outdoor play provision at 245 ECE centres across Australia. Centres were generally well resourced to promote physical play and provide a diverse range of experiences that support PA and motor development, although varied in terms of opportunities for risk-taking in play. Most respondents believed the environment at their centres supported children’s engagement in moderate to vigorous PA, however, regulatory restrictions relating to recommended height limits on climbing apparatus and having insufficient space were identified as factors limiting opportunities for challenging, physically active play. Outdoor space and teacher support are identified as important factors in childhood settings to promote PA and risk-taking. The emphasis on outdoor environments as a mediator of physically active play should be beneficial in directing limited resources to the provision of environments that are most likely to produce positive PA outcomes.
The present study examined the relationships between teacher structure, teacher behaviors, and child care quality. Participants included 72 female teachers from 44 preschool classrooms. Both a global measure of quality and a measure of teacher-child interaction were utilized. Results showed that a co-teacher structure was associated with higher quality child care and more positive teacher behaviors than a hierarchical two-teacher structure or a single-teacher structure. Comparisons between lead and assistant teachers in a hierarchical structure also revealed that teacher behaviors of lead teachers and assistant teachers were very similar, although their education levels were significantly different. Lower ratios and smaller group size were associated with more positive teacher behaviors. Implications for professionals and future research areas are discussed.
The call for accountability within education has led to the increased examination of the academic achievement of students across the nation. Too often, however, schools and school districts are scrutinized by means of overly simplistic linear models that fail to consider the complexity of interactions that result in student achievement. This paper postulates that student achievement is instead best understood as a developmental outcome that emerges as a result of interactions among layers within a complex system. Organizations such as schools can be modeled using Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems and analyzed using complexity theory as an appropriate and useful alternative to the linear models that often form the basis of educational research and policy. Key elements of both Bronfenbrenner's ecological-contextual theory and complexity are explained and applied at the level of an individual school.
Many children naturally seek challenging physically active play which may involve injury‐risk. Prior studies have attempted to describe the characteristics of risky play but to date none have considered factors that impact on opportunities for risky play or the likely resultant outcomes. Using semi‐structured interviews and naturalistic observations, this study aimed to investigate adult attitudes towards risk‐taking and whether children's experiences of risky play differ according to the contexts in which the play takes place. Although the children's mothers and Early Childhood practitioners believed risky play was an important aspect of learning and development and encouraged this type of play, observations of children's play at a local playground and their Early Childhood centre revealed that these contexts provided limited opportunities for risky play. Regulatory factors and requirements for playground safety were identified as having a detrimental impact on the quality of play in these settings creating tension between adult beliefs about the benefits of risky play and its provision.
RÉSUMÉ: De nombreux enfants développent spontanément des jeux à la recherche de défis physiques qui peuvent entraîner des risques de blessure. Des études antérieures ont tenté de décrire les caractéristiques du jeu à risque. Cependant, à ce jour, aucune étude n'a examiné les facteurs qui ont un impact sur les occasions de tels jeux ou leurs conséquences. A l'aide d'entretiens semi‐structurés et d'observations grandeur nature, cette étude a eu pour objectif d'analyser l'opinion des adultes face à la prise de risque et d'observer si les expériences de jeu à risque diffèrent selon les contextes dans lesquels le jeu a lieu. Si les mères des enfants qui ont fait l'objet de l'étude ainsi que les spécialistes de l'éducation des jeune enfants interrogés pensent que le jeu à risque est un aspect important pour les apprentissages et le développement et qu'ils encouragent ce type de jeu, l'observation des enfants en train de jouer sur le terrain de jeu d'un parc local ainsi que dans leur structure d'accueil révèle que ces environnements fournissent des occasions limitées de jeu à risque. Les éléments et critères réglementaires relatifs à la sécurité des terrains de jeu ont été identifiés comme ayant un impact négatif sur la qualité du jeu dans ces endroits, ce qui crée une tension entre les croyances des adultes sur les avantages des jeux à risque et les possibilités pour les enfants de les développer.
ZUSAMMENFASSUNG: Es ist ganz normal, dass Kinder die Herausforderung des körperlich aktiven Spielens suchen, was durchaus auch mit dem Risiko von Verletzungen verbunden sein kann. Studien in diesem Bereich haben bisher lediglich versucht, die Merkmale vom riskanten Spiel zu beschreiben. Bis dato hat aber keine Untersuchung darauf geachtet, welche Faktoren einen Einfluss darauf haben was für Möglichkeiten für riskantes Spiel sich Kindern bietet oder was die wahrscheinlichen Resultate vom gefährlichen Spiel sein könnten. Mittels halb‐strukturierter Interviews und naturalistischen Beobachtungen zielt diese Studie darauf ab, die Einstellungen von Erwachsenen gegenüber risikofreudigem Verhalten zu ergründen und festzustellen, ob die Erfahrungen, die Kinder durch riskantes Spielen machen, von den jeweiligen Kontexten abhängig sind in denen sie stattfinden. Sowohl die Mütter der Kinder als auch die MitarbeiterInnen des Kindergartens sind der Meinung, dass risikoreiches Spiel ein wichtiger Teil des Lernens und der Entwicklung von Kindern ist, und unterstützen die Kinder an einem derartigen Spiel teilzunehmen. Beobachtungen von Kindern beim Spielen auf Spielplätzen oder auch in den Kindergärten haben jedoch gezeigt, dass Kinder an diesen Orten nur begrenzt Möglichkeiten für riskantes Spielen haben. Gesetzliche Regulierungen und Auflagen für Spielplatzsicherheit scheinen eine nachteilige Auswirkung auf die Qualität des Spiels zu haben, was eine Spannung erzeugt zwischen der positiven Einstellung der Erwachsenen zu den Vorzügen des riskanten Spiels und den gebotenen Gelegenheiten, tatsächlich risikofreudig zu spielen.
RESUMEN: Muchos niños se involucran naturalmente en juegos físicos que encuentran desafiantes pero que pueden implicar riesgo de lesión. Existen estudios que han descrito las características de este tipo de juegos, sin embargo, hasta ahora ningún estudio ha considerado los factores que influyen en generar las oportunidades para estos juegos riesgosos, o en sus posibles consecuencias. A través de entrevistas semi estructuradas y de observaciones no obstructivas, este estudio tiene como propósito investigar las actitudes de los adultos en relación a la toma de riesgo por parte de los niños, y cómo las experiencias de los niños en este tipo de juego difieren dependiendo del contexto en el que se desarrollan. A pesar de que las madres de los niños y los docentes de infancia temprana piensan que el juego riesgoso es un aspecto importante del proceso de aprendizaje y desarrollo, e incluso alientan este tipo de juego, una serie de observaciones en el sector de juegos de un parque y en un centro para infantes ha revelado que estos contextos brindan muy pocas oportunidades para el juego riesgoso. El análisis de las regulaciones y requerimientos para la seguridad de este tipo de espacios de juego sugiere que éstos tienen un efecto negativo en la calidad del juego, y por lo tanto generan una tensión entre las actitudes que los adultos tienen sobre los beneficios de este tipo de juego y los espacios que existen para posibilitarlos.
Although the term "risk-taking" often has negative connotations, the reality is that the willingness to engage in some risky activities provides opportunities to learn new skills, try new behaviours and ultimately reach our potential. Challenge and risk, in particular during outdoor play, allows children to test the limits of their physical, intellectual and social development. This paper examines the current status of outdoor play in urbanised, Western societies such as Australia and provides a critical analysis of the literature to present an argument for the inclusion of positive risk-taking experiences in children's outdoor play, principally in the context of early childhood education. The increasingly restrictive regulation of early childhood services is considered in terms of the impact of risk avoidance in outdoor play for children's optimal growth and development. Finally, a model of possible developmental outcomes resulting from the minimisation of risk-taking in early childhood contexts is proposed. (Contains 1 figure.)
Denizli ilinde bulunan resmi ve özel anaokulu bahçelerinin karşılaştırmalı olarak incelenmesi
- N Cevher-Kalburan
- Cevher-Kalburan N.
A concise introduction to mixed methods research
- J W Creswell
- Creswell J. W.
Millî Eğitim İstatistikleri Örgün Eğitim/National education statistics
- Mone
Qualitative data analysis
- M B Miles
- A M Huberman
- Miles M. B.
Time to recognizing the benefits of recess
- C Ramstetter
- R Murray
- Ramstetter C.
Playing outdoors: Spaces and places, risk, and challenge
- H Tovey
- Tovey H.