The play needs of children in a London
Borough – seen through their eyes
by
Dr John Horton
From
September 2004 to August 2005, a major research project focussing upon
play provision and the play needs of children and young people in the
London Borough of Redbridge was conducted by the Centre for Children and
Youth (based at the University of Northampton), in conjunction with specialist
researcher partners from the Out of School Childcare Research Unit at
Brunel University, and the Early Years Education Department at the University
of Northampton.
The
project has provided a new and unprecedented body of evidence about play
in the Borough. So, where to begin?
The
Centre for Children and Youth (CCY) was asked, essentially, to provide
a vision of play, play needs and play provision in the Borough, through
the eyes and voices of children and young people aged 5-13.
We
spent the best part of a year working on the project, from September 2004
to August 2005. In that time we consulted over 750 children and young
people from the Borough. We used a wide range of methods including a very
detailed questionnaire survey, a mapping project and a photography project.
To get at other different perspectives we also consulted over 250 parents,
and twenty-eight key workers in the play/recreation sector from the Borough.
We
were asked to work with/in four contrasting communities in the Borough:
Loxford ward; Hainault ward; Wanstead ward; and children and young people
with disabilities, impairments or special needs in the Borough.
Methodological
details, and far, far more exhaustive findings are available on request
in a variety of end-of-project publications. However, for the purposes
of this column I will try to distil out some of the big lessons that we
have learnt from the project.
Children
Care about their Communities
The first thing is simply to say that, by and large, the children and
young people we met in the Borough care deeply about their local communities,
and want to have more of a say in and about community issues, including
issues relating to outdoor play. We found that there is so much that can
be learnt from local children and young people, not just on play, but
on all issues. Redbridge Children’s Fund and Redbridge Children’s
Advisory Panel should be proud of providing a forum where that sort of
engagement is both possible and encouraged.
Play Relates to Bigger Issues
Secondly, we have come to realise that play is never a stand-alone issue.
We went out and asked children questions about play, but the answers we
got back were rarely just about playing. Instead, the answers we got back
were usually about wider community life and bigger issues. So play must
be understood and approached as embedded in wider community life. And
because of that, play needs to be understood as complex and multifaceted
and bound up in all sorts of other issues that are going on.
Redbridge is Part of a Wider Community
Thirdly, our findings remind us that the Borough of Redbridge does not
stand alone – it is not an island. By that we mean that children
and young people from the Borough often play in places outside the Borough
boundaries. And likewise play crosses ward boundaries. So we need to be
aware that the issue of play rarely fits into the neat lines that adults
put on maps.
Recurring Comments
Fourthly, there were some issues relating to play which came up again
and again wherever we were in the Borough. Children and young people,
and parents and professionals too, were typically in agreement that local
play opportunities need to be better in five senses. In some ways these
findings might appear to be passé and predictable, but at present
these factors really do significantly limit the outdoor play/recreation
of many children and young people in the Borough.
i) Play opportunities need to be richer.
Among other things, children and young people meant that there is a need
for better quality outdoor play/recreation equipment, improved provision
for safe cycling or skateboarding, improved provision for sports, or more
opportunities for children (especially older children), who do not want
close adult supervision and require less structured play opportunities.
ii)
Play opportunities need to be more accessible.
There are some groups of children in the Borough who are, for different
reasons, often systematically excluded from local opportunities for outdoor
play. They include Asian and minority ethnic children and young people;
refugee children and young people; children and young people with disabilities,
particularly older or black and minority ethnic children with disabilities;
and children from low-income households.
iii) Play opportunities need to be safer.
Everywhere in the Borough, issues such as traffic, gangs, bullying, strangers,
and ‘bad behaviour’, rudeness and abuse (including racist
abuse) were reported as issues which limit outdoor play.
iv)
Play provision needs to be better maintained.
Here issues of litter, dog excrement, graffiti and vandalism were reported
time and again.
v)
Play opportunities need to be ‘better publicised’.
I have put that in inverted commas, because we have seen that a wealth
of information is produced about, and available in, the Borough, but we
have found that there was often very low awareness of this information,
or where to get hold of it.
Community
Issues
Fifthly, as well as those general issues, there are some issues which
are quite specific to the different areas and communities that we worked
in. Play issues and needs vary considerably across the Borough: each locality
has its own distinctive local opportunities and problems. Policies and
strategies relating to play should therefore be sensitive to these sorts
of differences. A ‘one-size-fits-all’ policy on play will
be ill-suited to attend to the diverse play contexts and issues which
exist within a Borough such as Redbridge.
For
example, the following issues characterised play in the different communities
in which we worked.
Play in Loxford
• There is a strong feeling in this community that potential venues
for outdoor play/recreation are currently ‘dangerous’ and
off-limits, primarily because of anxiety about personal safety, ‘gang
culture’, crime and drugs.
• There is a strong dependency on opportunities in the immediate
local area, primarily because of low income.
• There is a strong sense that opportunities for outdoor play/recreation
in the local area are ‘good but bad’: for each positive opportunity,
there is some negative factor which ensures that children and young people,
and indeed the community as a whole, are restricted in their ability to
make the most of these local opportunities.
Play
in Hainault
• There is a striking undercurrent of disapproval, lack of interest
and boredom in this community amongst many children and young people who
live there. This feeling is strongest amongst the oldest respondents,
particularly among young males.
• However, there is a strong feeling in the community that there
is ‘nothing’ for children or young people to do in Hainault,
and ‘the local Council do not care’ about children and young
people.
• There is a strong sense of boredom, dissatisfaction and disengagement
among local young people.
• There is a strong disinclination among local families and young
people to make use of nearby open spaces.
• There is a strong feeling in the community that potential venues
for outdoor play/recreation are off-limits, primarily because of ‘teenagers
hanging around’.
• There is widespread demonisation of teenagers, who are widely
disliked, talked about, and treated as a threat by local residents.
• There is a significant undercurrent of racism in the community.
Play in Wanstead
• There is a disproportionate anxiety among parents about children
being outdoors, particularly because of traffic, strangers and teenagers
in this community.
• There are relatively limited opportunities for free or unaccompanied
play for children and young people growing up in Wanstead.
The play needs of children and young people with disabilities
In all areas of the Borough, children with disabilities are especially
excluded from extant provision for outdoor play/recreation, for example
because of the following issues :
• A shortage of appropriate equipment and activities for children
with disabilities.
• Physically restricted or difficult access to opportunities for
outdoor play/recreation, particularly for wheelchair users.
• Uneven and poorly-maintained paths and surfaces in parks and open
spaces.
• The poor facilities and condition of public toilets and other
amenities.
• Inconsiderate behaviour by other users of parks and open spaces,
notably a lack of understanding among fellow users and staff in venues
for outdoor play/recreation, leading to physical and social exclusion
from opportunities for outdoor play/recreation.
• A sense that children with disabilities are especially vulnerable
in local public spaces, for example because of bullies and strangers.
• A sense that outdoor spaces in the Borough are can be ‘frightening’
and ‘stressful’ to children with disabilities, especially
those with special educational needs.
