Bringing together authors from a range of academic disciplines and research backgrounds united as standard-bearers for the childs right to play and set against a backdrop evoking plays critical essence, this book documents the rise and fall of an explosive period of political interest in play in the UK.
Has the withdrawal of so much state funding damaged the playwork profession forever? Has the battle for recognition of the significance of play in child development been lost? Why is childrens happiness always so low on the agendas of our politicians? The invaluable contributions in this book identify the lessons learned, and the opportunities that may be available to those determined to maintain the struggle for a greater recognition of the importance of childrens play in an era defined by the oppressive politics of austerity. This book was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Play.
Introduction
1. The state of playwork
2. Memories of and reflections on
play
3. Complex geographies of play provision dis/investment across the UK
4.
Play in the good times: the (English) inside story
5. The Big Lottery Funds
Childrens Play Programme: a missed opportunity to gather the evidence?
6.
Slip sliding away: a case study of the impact of public sector cuts on some
of the services supporting childrens play opportunities in the city of
Sheffield in the north of England
7. Playwork practitioners perceptions of
the impact on play of austerity in the UK: comparing experiences in Scotland
and SW England
8. Supporting healthy street play on a budget: a winner from
every perspective
9. Opportunities for free play
10. Promoting playfulness in
publicly initiated scientific research: for and beyond times of crisis
11.
Strategic playwork: a possibility that is neither intervention playwork
nor environmental playwork
12. Geographies for play in austere times
13.
Sharing playwork identities: research across the UKs field of playwork
14.
Ethical practice for the playwork practitioner
15. The Big Swing: reflections
on the first 10 years of an adventure playground
16. Books worth (re)reading:
Adventure playgrounds
Fraser Brown is the first Professor of Playwork in the UK, and teaches on the Playwork degree course at Leeds Beckett University. He is the specialist link tutor for APACs postgraduate play therapy courses, and has presented at conferences across the UK and around the world. His publications include Play and Playwork: 101 Stories of Children Playing (2014).
Mike Wragg is a Senior Lecturer at Leeds Beckett University, and the Chair of two charitabletrusts: Eccleshill Adventure Playground, and New Hall Prison Visitors Play Facility, both of which have been subject of his recent publications in the International Journal of Play and in the Prison Service Journal.
