“I think that we should, but I don’t think that we can”: What school staff think about adventurous play at schools in England
Teachers and school staff indicate a need for play policy, education, guidance, and training to enable adventurous play in schools
Adventurous or risky play is child-led form of play that involves intentional engagement with challenge or risk. Although adventurous play has been found to support a range of beneficial outcomes related to children’s health, behavior and development, opportunities for outdoor adventurous play have declined in recent years. Further, while school recess breaktimes have the potential to provide regular opportunities for children’s outdoor adventurous play, many barriers are known to constrain children’s engagement in risky play at school. This study explored the perspectives of school staff regarding adventurous play during breaktime (recess). The study also examined staff perceptions of the barriers and facilitators of adventurous play.
Thirteen school staff in England participated in the study. The participating staff were purposefully selected to represent a variety of school roles and different regions of England. The selected staff included teachers, headteachers, lunchtime supervisors and other support staff, and most worked at primary schools serving children aged four to 11 years. The majority of the participants were White British and female. One-on-one interviews were conducted with each participant for an average of 50 minutes. The interviews used closed and open questions to glean perceptions of adventurous play and the barriers and facilitators of adventurous play in school. The interviews also employed photo elicitation, using pictures of traditional and adventurous school playgrounds, to encourage discussion. Interview data were analyzed using qualitative thematic analysis.
Analysis identified four themes: risk, valuing and supporting play, resources and school policy and practices. In addition, culture emerged as an overarching theme, which underscored the challenges of “a changing culture, specifically, a perceived litigious environment, and changing parental attitudes” that constrained opportunities for adventurous play. The theme risk revealed school staff’s fear and anxiety towards adventurous play in schools. The risk of student injury was a main concern. Staff described the consequences associated with risk, such as damage to the school’s reputation and litigation, and felt that strategies to mitigate risk (such as adequate supervision) would be necessary. Valuing and supporting play highlighted the importance of understanding the value of play, and many staff recognized benefits for children’s confidence and learning. Staff also described a need for wider education on the value of play, as they believed play was often not valued or supported in schools. The need for support highlighted the importance of internal support from school leadership as well as external support in the form of policies that encourage play and also the need for parent buy-in. Staff’s perception of the need for additional funding, space, adequate staffing, equipment and appropriate clothing and footwear to enable adventurous play was revealed through the theme resources. The lack of funding was viewed as the most substantial barrier. The final theme, school policy and practices, highlighted the importance of school-level policy and guidance. Inconsistencies in staff approaches to play supervision were perceived to often limit children’s opportunities for adventurous play. School staff described a lack of knowledge about supervising adventurous play and the need for guidance and training to improve their competence.
The study revealed several considerations that may enable schools to successfully offer opportunities for adventurous play. In particular, “findings stress the need for clear play policy, education, guidance, and training for all staff who supervise play.” The need for external policy and wider support for play in schools was also highlighted. The researchers call attention to the need to overcome staff views and assumptions around risk, as some perceived risks may not pose an actual increased risk. For example, while staff indicated a need for increased supervision to manage anticipated poor behavior and increased risk of injury during adventurous play, existing research suggests that behavior may actually improve when children have access to adventurous play opportunities.
Citation
Nesbit, R. J., Harvey, K., Dodd, H. F., (2025). “I think that we should, but I don’t think that we can”: What school staff think about adventurous play at schools in England. Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning
