“Comparative Study Between State Run And Private Primary Schools In Northern Ireland To Critically Evaluate The Different Perceptions Towards Play

1.0 Executive Summary

Play is a significantly important part of a child’s development. It is a term which can be interpreted in many different ways by different people, it is therefore of great importance to come to a common understanding of what play really is.

The ultimate aim of this research is to explore and challenge the different perceptions people have towards play on behalf of the Playboard group. Playboard is an agency �working for the child’s right to play’. They actively campaign government for legislation to promote the importance of play in schools with the introduction of set play policies into the curriculum

An exploratory study was the basis of our research. The method chosen was focus groups. Our research focused specifically on the perception of play within primary schools.

Four focus groups were set up using four different primary schools located around the Belfast area. Two private run and two state run schools were chosen to be the object of our research, two of which had an active policy and two who did not.

There was no clear relationship identified between those schools with a policy and those without indicating that policies are proving unproductive. Our research identified the need for a clear and concise implementation strategy to aid in the successful adoption of play policies into schools. The benefits of play must be clearly outlined in order to gain full cooperation when implementing a play policy. Another area of concern is the greater need for resources. Governmental bodies have supplied insufficient resources to allow schools to promote play actively therefore hindering the process of introducing play policies.

The recommendations identified through our research therefore suggest for Playboard to continue to lobby Government for legislation and sufficient resources in order to promote play throughout schools successfully.

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2.0 Introduction

Definition of Problem:

The purpose of this research is to: highlight the growing problem of a disregard to the importance of play in a Childs’ life. Many people in today’s’ society have either a non-existent or negative perception/understanding of play. To challenge this, the research will ultimately aim to answer the question: why is this so? And make appropriate suggestions to Playboard based on this.

The motivation behind the research was twofold; firstly, the management team at playboard stated that on a daily basis they face challenges that often relate back to the problem of a poor understanding or perception towards play, and how it is difficult to overcome due to the time constraint that is placed on transmitting the benefits and getting the person to believe them. The management team feel that this is a struggle that should not be present and they needed this research to identify the possible causes of it, in order to find away to overcome such a struggle. This mirrors a report published by the BBC on the 14th of November 2007 that states how the notion of play has changed over the years as less importance has been placed on it and children are losing the freedom to roam and play independently.

Secondly, the subject was interesting and had a slight revolutionary quality, in that, to date, the research into play has been conducted at a micro level and there is little research into people’s perceptions of play; this allowed great opportunity to tailor the study to what the research team could practically achieve. Many theorists have researched that there is a direct relationship between play and learning and that it is a critical element in children’s cognitive affective psycho-motor development (Blenkin & Kelly). However, many critical advantages of play (described in the literature as fringe benefits (REFERENCE,YEAR)) have failed to been given any importance. It appears that despite all the research play time is being cut more and more each year. This research refuses to accept this statistic and asks the question: Why is nothing being done to increase children’s play experience? And with the growing trend of childhood obesity, why is physical play not a focal part of the curriculum? It is the belief of this research team that the answer lays in analysis and dissection of people’s perceptions. This research will also attempt to make suggestions after analysis as to the best way forward?

Project aims:

1. Highlight and compare each focus groups attitude, perception and understanding towards play and identify trends in relation to this. To achieve this each group will be asked questions in three main topic :

- What is Play?

- How important is play?

- Opinions on Play Policy?

2. Pose the question “Is there a difference in how play is adopted in schools with or without policies?”

3. Identify if there is a difference in the importance placed on play due to the social status of primary schools? (Private or State-Run)

4. To ask the question “is there any significant difference in the actual activities undertaken when playing in each school (quality of play)?”

5. Identify the group that places the most emphasis on play and find out why this is so?

The structure of this research can be found in Project plan (Large excel sheet).

3.0 Background and Context

3.1 Rationale for Positive Play

Play is seriously underestimated; it should be viewed as an extremely important part of a child’s life however this is not the case. Play is a surprisingly simple solution to what appear to be complex problems; research suggests that by prioritizing play we can tackle the issue of childhood obesity, anti-social behaviour in youths, children with learning difficulties in a simple and natural way. Furthermore, the positive development aspects of play assist children in being strong, competent and better equipt to meet the challenges of a global economy. Play also helps children to understand the world around them and can prepare a child for the future and shape the personality they grow into (Pellegrini et al 1995).

One of the central principles in the foundations of early childhood education is the value