Full Description
Play is of critical importance to the well-being of children across the globe, a fact reflected in Article 31 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Yet existing literature on the subject is largely confined to discussing play from a developmental, educational or psychological perspective. Researching Play from a Playwork Perspective offers a new and exciting angle from which to view play, drawing on the authors' own experience of conducting research into various aspects of this all-important and pervasive phenomenon.
This innovative work will act as a compass for those looking to undertake research into different aspects of play and child welfare. Each chapter explores how the author has combined established and new research methodologies with their individual playwork approaches to arrive at emergent understandings of playwork research. The overall conclusion discusses directions for future research and develops a new model of playwork research from the four common themes that emerge from the contributions of individual authors: children's rights, process, critical reflection, and playfulness. Examples from the United Kingdom, Nicaragua, and Sweden give this unique work international relevance.
Researching Play from a Playwork Perspective will appeal to researchers and students around the world working in the fields of playwork, childcare, early years, education, psychology and children's rights. It should also be of interest to practitioners in a wide variety of professional contexts, including childcare and therapy.
Contents
Foreword Introduction 1. Why the Playworker's Mind-set is Ideal for Research with Children: Child Researchers Investigate Education Rights in Nicaragua 2. Playwork Research as the Art of 'Mirroring' 3. Nomadic Wonderings on Playwork Research: Putting a Dialectical and Ethnographic Methodology to Work Again 4. Researching Children's Play as a Playworker-Ethnographer 5. Playing at Research: Playfulness as a Form of Knowing and Being in Research with Children 6. Process, Participation and Reflection: How Playwork Practice Influenced a Mixed Method Approach to Researching Children's Perception of Choice in their Play 7. Using Action Research to Explore Play Facilitation in School-based School-age Childcare Settings Conclusion
