The state of play

The vibrant debate triggered by Jonthan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation has provided a welcome boost to those of us concerned that the replacement of a play-based childhood with a screens-based childhood is having a negative impact on children. Haidt’s book is a call to action, and its emphasis on the importance of play in childhood is one I share.

We know that play should be central to childhood, but unfortunately, it increasingly isn’t. We’ve seen thousands of playgrounds, youth centres, and school playing fields lost. Traffic has taken over many of the streets that children used to play on, and housing new-builds rarely take into consideration the needs of children. In fact, a whole culture has emerged that sees children playing outdoors as intimidating, noisy, and even dangerous. So not surprisingly, time spent playing outdoors has declined by 50% in a generation, with children spending more and more time glued to screens.

As Haidt argues, there are consequences for our children’s wellbeing. One in five children and young people have a probable mental health issue, and four in ten children are living with an unhealthy weight. There is also a school attendance crisis, and more problems with behaviour in the classroom, as well as high numbers of children arriving at primary school below expected levels of development.

Our children need a new plan. That’s why I launched the year-long Raising the Nation Play Commission last June, supported by the Centre for Young Lives thinktank - to gather evidence and to offer a framework to the government to develop a new national play strategy for England. 

To achieve this, we’ve brought together experts from the world of play, academia, schools and communities, held oral evidence sessions, and received written evidence submissions. We’ve visited inspiring play schemes and schools in the UK, Scandinavia, South Africa, and the US. What have we heard? 

Firstly, children want to play more, and feel it improves their wellbeing. We’ve also heard how by its very nature, learning is constantly happening whenever play takes place – from basic numeracy or literacy skills to the learning and development of life skills. We’ve heard how play can improve core strength, balance, and spatial awareness, as well as having a positive link with motor skills development. We’ve heard how play is also a core component of a child’s personal, social, and emotional development, and how time spent outdoors can improve mental wellbeing.

By contrast, we’ve heard how “play deprivation” can lead to a fall in brain and muscle development and reduced communication, problem-solving, and social skills. Unfortunately, we’ve also heard about the decline in play at school. Playtimes account for up to 22% of time spent in school, yet there is no requirement to have dedicated staff or a strategy to maximise the benefits of this time. A significant number of schools punitively withhold breaktimes from children, and studies show that most children have seen their breaktimes eroded over the last 30 years, squeezed out by the pressure on teachers to deliver the curriculum. Children at Key Stage 1 had 23 minutes less breaktime a day on average in 2021 compared to their counterparts in 1995. 

Yet evidence shows how play can be used to achieve better learning outcomes, and to tackle pupil dissatisfaction with school. In fact, 92% of children say they learn better when it is made playful.

Many schools understand this and are making play a crucial part of their school day. I’ve been particularly inspired by the OPAL Primary Programme which helps schools to improve their culture of play through mentoring and practical support. Schools are supported to develop a play policy and equip their staff with training in play work, and OPAL schools have a dedicated play lead to ensure that breaktimes are being effectively and strategically planned. 
These schools report ten minutes more teaching time a day, improved behaviour, and happier playgrounds, while an independent study found that OPAL schools had higher levels of school satisfaction, and that teachers were more aware of the benefits of breaktime for cognitive development.

In June, we’ll publish our final Commission report. As well as calling for a fresh National Play Strategy for England we’ll propose new statutory DfE guidance to ringfence time within the school day for breaktimes and lunchtimes. We support The British Psychological Society’s call for an extra ten minutes of play to be restored to the school day. 

We’d also like to see guidance to discourage the withdrawal of playtime as punishment for bad behaviour, and for Ofsted to include time to play as a measure of school performance. We think the National Curriculum for primary schools should include clear guidelines for high-quality play-based learning and we want to see minimum requirements for new school playgrounds to ensure that they are safe, spacious, and accessible for all children. We’ll call too for an annual ‘Day of Play’ on 11th June, the United Nations’ International Day of Play.

Alongside all this, we’d like to see school staff receive high-quality and mandatory play training. As Jonathan Haidt argues, we need to restore play-based childhood. We can’t continue to watch as children spend less time playing outdoors, less ready to start school or to learn, and unhappier and unhealthier. We can’t have another generation deprived of honing critical life skills, so naturally acquired when children experiment, explore, and understand the world through play. 

If there’s one clear message that we’ve heard over the last nine months it’s this: our children love playing, they want to play more, and they want us – the adults – to find new and better ways of helping them to do what they love, including in schools. 

It’s time to pull down the barriers to play that are holding children back, and time to get our children playing again.