The Right to Play

The Bernard van Leer Foundation (see previous post for details)has just published the latest edition in its Early Childhood in Focus series. The new publication is entitled The Right to Play, and contains "short summaries of theory, research and policy issues that can inform the implementation of Article 31 of the UN Convention on Children's Rights" - click here to read it in full.

I have also just noticed that the Foundation's magazine Early Childhood Matters now has its own dedicated website, where you can read articles for free. The magazine has an international focus, and one item that caught my eye was a recent article about Vygotsky and child development - very useful if you're currently learning about theorists...

Playday 2013

Today is Playday, an annual event where the importance of play to children's development is highlighted and celebrated. The website will tell you all about what's going on, and also contains the results of a specially commissioned opinion poll on children, parents and adults' attitudes to outdoor play. One finding is that some parents fear letting their children play outside for fear of upsetting their neighbours.

If you're a Twitter user, you can also follow the day's events using the hashtag #playday2013 (as I type this it's currently trending). For further reading, the publisher Routledge is providing free access to a collection of play-related articles for a short time. Also, don't forget that you can look at all posts relating to play on this site by clicking on 'Play' in the 'Hot Topics' menu on the right of the page, or you can view my bookmarks on the topic.

Play in the Snow

This is possibly a few days late now that spring seems to be (finally!) on the way, but below is an archive 1945 film produced by Encyclopedia Britannica which provides advice for children on how to play safely in the snow, and also has ideas for fun activities. The film might be almost 70 years old, but the sledging section which begins at 05.37 looks almost identical to the scene in my local park during the first snowfall back in January...

Bernard van Leer Foundation

The Bernard van Leer Foundation is an international organisation with a mission to "improve opportunities for children up to age 8 who are growing up in socially and economically difficult circumstances." While I've previously linked to the occasional report on their site, I thought that as it's a slow news day, it might be worth drawing attention to some of the resources available on their website, all of which are free to access.

 From a research point of view, the most interesting part of the site is the Publications area. You can search or browse through the various documents in a number of ways, though my personal preference would be to browse by series. Among the series that the Foundation publishes are a collection of Working Papers - recent topics covered include Children's Right to Play and Fostering Language Acquisition in Daycare Settings - and Early Childhood in Focus, which is published in collaboration with the Open University, and examines recent research on key policy issues. Recent titles in this series include Supporting Parenting and Effective Early Childhood Programmes. The biannual journal Early Childhood Matters is also worth a look.

If you'd prefer printed versions of the Foundation's publications, you may order up to five copies free of charge.

Free Play Articles

Yesterday was Playday, an annual event which celebrates the right of children to play, and the role that it has in their development. To mark the day, publishers Routledge are offering free access to a range of journal articles about different aspects of play for the whole of August. If you're considering doing a dissertation in this area, or just want to know more about the subject, this is a great opportunity to do some in-depth reading.

For links to the various articles, click here.

Children's Playground Games

The Institute of Education has published the results of a study which examined children's behaviour in school playgrounds over a period of two years. The researchers found that, while children are familiar with computer games and technology, they are incorporating this knowledge into more traditional playground games.

To read the full text of Children's Playground Games and Songs in the New Media Age, click here.

Playwork Education & Skills Strategy

SkillsActive have today published a new five year strategy to encourage workforce development in the play sector. The document has been written to echo Article 31 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (which recognises play as fundamental to children’s quality of life), and contains 4 aims and objectives for the play workforce to work towards.

To access the full text of SkillsActive UK Play and Playwork Education and Skills Strategy 2011-2016, click here.

Playday 2010

Yesterday was the 22nd annual Playday, an event organised by the National Children's Bureau which celebrates the right of children to play. This year the theme was 'Our Place', with an emphasis on creating better places for children to live and play.

To coincide with the event, each year some research is commissioned to tie in with the chosen theme. Among this year's publications is a poll which found that half of all adults think it is unsafe to let a child play outside without supervision. For links to all of the Playday 2010 research with information on communities and play, click here.

Playwork Survey

A new survey from SkillsActive has found that many playwork employers say that they cannot find staff with the skills they require; 44% of the playworkers who took part in the research did not have a playwork specific qualification. Other issues raised by the report include the difficulty of finding sufficient finance for staff training, and a lack of familiarity with the playwork principles.

To look at the research for yourself, click here.

Changes to Children's Play

Tonight sees the first of two episodes of Hop, Skip and Jump (see previous post for details), which charts the evolution of children's play during the 20th Century. If you're interested in this topic, the series' producer has also written a fascinating article on how "stranger danger" played a role in reducing opportunities for children to play unsupervised.

Hop, Skip and Jump

Next Tuesday (8th December) you might want to tune into BBC4 at 9pm for the first episode of Hop Skip and Jump: The Story of Children's Play; this is a 2 part series which examines childrens' outdoor games in Britain through the 20th century. Playing on the streets, children's songs and the differences between social classes and boys and girls will all be explored in the series. For further information, take a look at this article.

Regulating Play-Based Provision

A new factsheet from Ofsted seeks to clarify how play providers can meet the requirements of the EYFS without altering existing good practice. The information provided in the document (entitled Regulating Play-Based Provision) outlines Ofsted's role in overseeing early years provision, and provides links to other useful materials. To access the factsheet, click here.

The DCSF will be issuing further guidance to help the play sector deliver the EYFS before the end of the year; when this information is released it will be featured on here. Readers with an interest in play may also like to take a look at the Playwork Principles, which lay out a professional and ethical framework for playwork, and are being incorporated into the Playwork National Occupational Standards.

Playday 2009

I've been a little slow off the mark with this one, but the 5th August was this year's Playday, an annual event which celebrates children's right to play. This year's theme was 'Make Time', with a focus on ensuring that children are given enough opportunity to indulge in this important part of their development. On a serious note, the organisers behind the event commissioned several opinion polls and pieces of research exploring different perspectives on play, from parents, schools, and the children themselves; a detailed literature review has also been produced. Links to each of these reports can be found from this link.

Families & Childcare / Play

Following on neatly from yesterday's post about grandparents, the DCSF has just published a new research study of how modern families put together care packages for their offspring. The report provides a detailed breakdown of who cares for children at different stages of their lives (parents, grandparents, nursery etc), and how this can vary between different social groups and income brackets. Fitting It All Together: How Families Arrange their Childcare and the Influence on Children’s Home Learning is online now.

Also dealing with families and children, another new publication from the DCSF - Children and Parents’ Experiences of Recently Improved Play Areas - contains in-depth feedback from parents on the play facilities which are available for their children.

Review of 2008

As this is the period when reviews of the year are published, today's post gathers together some of the most significant childhood and education reports and events from 2008.

Rather appropriately, it seemed like there were a lot of reviews being published this year - the Bercow Report looked at services for children with speech, language and communication needs, while the Byron Review examined ways of ensuring children's safety while they are online. There were even two competing reviews with regards to primary education - Sir Jim Rose has been commissioned by the DCSF to carry out a review of primary education and his interim report appeared this month, with the final version set to appear next year; meanwhile, the Primary Review from the University of Cambridge generated a string of reports on various aspects of education throughout 2008, and its final report is also due next year.

From an international perspective, UNICEF's recent report The Child Care Transition caused a bit of a ruckus by placing the UK only about half way in a league table comparing children's services in developed countries. UNICEF also published its annual The State of the World's Children report (a new one is due next month), while UNESCO released Overcoming Inequality: Why Governance Matters, which looks at access to primary education in developing nations. Those of our students who carry out research into education in other countries should also be interested in a piece of DCSF research entitled Comparison of the Core Primary Curriculum in England to those of Other High Performing Countries.

With regard to contemporary issues, two major studies on children's play were published in 2008. Play and Exercise in Early Years: Physically Active Play in Early Childhood Provision is available to download online, while Play England recently released a mammoth study entitled Play for a Change - Play, Policy & Practice: A Review of Contemporary Perspectives. As there is currently a lot of talk about the concept of childhood wellbeing, readers may want to look at a DCSF study entitled Childhood Wellbeing: Qualitative Research Study. Elsewhere, a snapshot of the future of staff roles within the childcare sector is provided by For Love or Money: Pay, Progression and Professionalisation in the ‘Early Years’ Workforce, while you can read about current perceptions of the sector in Childcare and Early Years Survey 2007 Parents’ Use, Views and Experiences.

Two major changes with regard to professional practice have taken place this year. In September the new Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) was implemented in schools - you can find full details about the EYFS from its website. And last month, the Children & Young Person's Act 2008 was passed by parliament; these explanatory notes should help clarify some of its main points.

A round up of some random other useful items: The Sure Start Journey: A Summary of Evidence is an independent assessment of the progress of the Sure Start project; Ofsted's annual report is the first review of the organisation under it's new remit of assessing early years care as well as schools; Harnessing Technology is Becta's annual review of ICT use within schools; Becta were also behind a report entitled A Review of the Evidence on the Use of ICT in the Early Years Foundation Stage; and the ever-present topic of child poverty was covered by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation's annual publication of Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion.

Within the College, since the summer all students now have access to the CCInform service, which provides access to detailed information for professionals who work with children and young people; take a look at this previous post for an overview of the service and a link to a user guide.

Finally, it seems an odd thing to mention in a review of 2008, but the most regularly viewed post on the blog all year has been one about something that occurred 30 years ago. So in case you missed it the first time, click here to read about how you can access the full text of the 1978 Warnock Report, a study on special educational needs which proved to be something of a landmark.

That should keep you all going for the holiday break - for child-related festive fun, try taking a look at the Peanuts site, which gives you free access to the archives of this legendary comic strip. Merry Christmas to all our readers!

Children's Plan / Play Strategy

Two documents released last week by the DCSF:

• It is 12 months since the publication of the Children's Plan (see this previous post for details); now the DCSF has released a progress report which details what has been done so far across a range of areas

• The Play Strategy describes how the DCSF intends to create and develop play facilities for children across the country
  

Play for a Change

Several students I know are doing research into children's play at the moment, so hopefully all of them (and many other readers) will find today's post useful.

Last week Play England published Play for a Change - Play, Policy and Practice: A Review of Contemporary Perspectives. The organisation presents this new report as "a comprehensive review of the evidence underpinning current thinking on play", by analysing research and literature published in this area since 2001. The references list contained in the appendix is a whopping 39 pages long, so is an excellent source of further reading if you have an interest in this topic; once you've read the report itself of course...

If you follow this link you'll be taken to a page where you can download the individual chapters and appenix one at a time. Even the summary version is 63 pages long, but can be accessed by clicking here. Or if, like me, you find your attention span decreasing with age, try looking at the 4 page research briefing with gives a short overview of the project and its findings.

Remember that details of other play-related reports, and links to the research, can be accessed by clicking the 'Play' link in the 'Hot Topics' menu on the right hand side of this screen. You may also want to look through the back issues of Children's Play Update, a monthly magazine which is freely available from the National Children's Bureau's Play Information Service; to do so, click here.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Children

Today's post may be the longest this blog has ever seen; last months issue of OnTheWeb (see this previous post for details of this excellent service) was packed with reports that students may find useful, covering topics such as mathematics, child obesity, preschool education, play, and much more. So without further ado, here's a list of new publications that may be worth a look:

• Mathematics: Understanding The Score is a new report from Ofsted which looks at how maths is currently being taught in UK schools
• Schemes to Promote Healthy Weight among Obese and Overweight Children in England examines the different ways in which the issue of overweight children is being addressed
• How to Halve Child Poverty by 2010: Options for Redirecting Resources to Reduce Child Poverty is a new report from Barnardo's
• 'Fun and Freedom' is the latest report from the Children's Commissioner's Office, and looks at what children have to say about their play experiences and the facilities available to them
• PreSchool Education and it's Lasting Effects: Research and Policy Implications is an interesting new publication from Arizona State University in the UK
• The OECD has published Raising Education Achievement and Breaking the Cycle of Inequality in the United Kingdom
• The Centre for Policy Studies has recently issued some research entitled Youth Mentoring: A Good Thing?
• Working with Challenging and Disruptive Situations in Residential Child Care: Sharing Effective Practice is a new publication from the Social Care Institute of Excellence (SCIE)
• Literacy Changes Lives: An Advocacy Resource is a National Literacy Trust report which looks at the relationship between a child's literacy ability and their achievement later in life
• The latest official statistics on Drug Use, Smoking and Drinking Among Young People in England are now available from the NHS
• Grief Matters for Young Asylum Seekers and Refugees examines the support services available for children who have lost parents or siblings while moving between countries
• For All Ages: Bringing Different Generations Closer Together is a new report from the '4 Children' charity
• Early Intervention: Good Parents, Great Kids, Better Citizens is the latest publication from the Centre for Social Justice

Phew! Normal service will be resumed tomorrow...

Time for Play

In June the National Children's Bureau published Play and Exercise in Early Years: Physically Active Play in Early Childhood Provision. This is a piece of detailed research which focuses on the extent to which young children (under-fives) are given opportunities to play in early childhood settings. The report helps to address the fact that there has previously been far more research conducted into the physical activity of older children than their younger counterparts.

On a similar theme, Play England have just released Design for Play: A Guide to Creating Successful Play Spaces. This publication is aimed at those responsible for looking after children's play areas, with the aim of helping them to create "imaginative, innovative, and stimulating
play spaces."

Fair Play

The DCSF has today launched a consultation document on plans to create more play facilities for young children. You can read the consultation document (entitled Fair Play) online; if you want to respond to the government with your comments, then you can do so in a range of ways from the options on this page.