Centre for the Study of Play and Recreation
May 12, 2011
University of Greenwich
Old Royal Naval College, Park Row, London SE10 9LS
Play from Past to
Present
Session One
Session Two
Theory and
Technology of Play
Strand One
Play and
Recreation in
Practice
Strand Two
Toys and Games
from the past
Contemporary
Playgrounds
Theorizing Play
Adrian Seville
Kevin Brehony
Perry Else
Roger Stearn
Stuart Lester
Hilary Orpin,
Beverley Salmon,
Earlyn Francis
Jo Saunders
Freedom and
exploration
Sport, Gender and
the Olympics
Complexity and
networks
Mary Clare Martin
Hattie Coppard
Adam Steiner
Sheryl Clark
Francis Barton
John Smith
International
Play
Association
Strand Three
Tim Gill
IPA AGM 1:302:00pm
Session Three
Providing Play
Spaces: Royal
Philanthropy and
Community Politics
Schoolchildren’s
right to play:
protecting,
observing,
pretending
Creativity:
Technologies of
Play and
Imaginary Friends
Ina ZweinigerBargielowska
Jover Gonzalo
David Chadwick
Heather Soanes
and children from
Bedonwell Junior
School
Liz Jarvis
Tim McGinley,
Keiichi Nakata,
Aggeliki Aggeli
David Ellis
Session Four
Alan Powers
Toy Theatres
Karen Majors
Interactive Play
Dale Le Fevre New
Games
Strand One-Toys and Games from the Past
Adrian Seville –Learning through the Jeu de l’Oie during the Ancien Regime in France
Roger Stearn – Playing with toy soldiers: an aspect of British middle-class boyhood, circa 1870 to
1960
Strand Two –Contemporary Playgrounds
Stuart Lester - The production of play time/space in schools: working out ways of being together
Hilary Orpin, Beverley Salmon and Earlyn Francis - The Charlie Chaplin Adventure Playground:
Adventurous play in a safe, exciting and inclusive environment
Jo Saunders- Singing Playgrounds: the impact of the ‘singing virus’ in playground and classroom
contexts
Strand Three -Theorizing Play
Kevin Brehony - Education for self-realisation: Play, work and alienation in educational theory (18261927)
Perry Else - Four quadrants: a model for understanding play
Tim Gill -'Rubbing along: public space and the "assimilation" of children'
Strand One - Freedom and Exploration
Mary Clare Martin – A widening sphere? Elite children and opportunities for outdoor play, 17401870
Hattie Coppard - Gillett Square – an example of a permanently flexible and playful public realm
Strand Two-Sport, Gender and the Olympics
Adam Steiner - ‘Wheels of Change’ – Creating a positive cycle of health and exercise through play
and sport in fulfilment of the Olympic legacy
Sheryl Clark – The Olympic Legacy and Girls’ Participation in Sport – What can girls get out of it?
Strand Three-Complexity and Networks
Francis Barton - “Actor-Network Theory” considered as an approach to researching children at play
John Smith- Different Paradigms of Play and Development
Strand One –Providing Play Spaces: Royal Philanthropy and Community Politics
Ina Zweiniger-Bargielowska - The Royal Family’s Campaign for Playing Fields and Playgrounds in the
20th Century
David Ellis- The Politics of Play: Childhood, community and the built environment, 1950-1990
Strand Two-Schoolchildren’s right to play: observing, protecting, pretending,
Gonzalo Jover- The right to play and its presence at Spanish primary schools: research by the
Observatory of children’s play
Heather Soanes, Child’s Voice:-the impact of Guardian Angels
Liz Jarvis, Play in the Early Years Foundation Stage in the UK
Strand Three –Creativity: Technologies of Play and Imaginary Friends
David Chadwick- Edutainment: A form of adult Play, for the teaching of logic and numeracy for ITrelated subjects
Tim McGinley- Neighbourhood planning game: enabling sustainable communities
Karen Majors-Children’s imaginary friends
Interactive Play (These sessions will be have two occurrences)
Alan Powers –Through the Cardboard Proscenium: English toy theatre explained
Dale LeFevre -What is the point of playing new games? Play and find out: a practical games session
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Abstracts
Francis Barton
“Actor-Network Theory” considered as an approach to researching children at play
The concept of actor-network theory (ANT) is introduced. Its ontological (relational pluralism),
epistemological ('naïve' empiricism) and methodological (descriptive ethnomethodology)
commitments are discussed, and some criticisms are addressed. Its applicability to the study of
children at play is appraised.
Despite its name, actor-network theory (ANT) is not really a theory of anything, nor is it a tool for
understanding networks, as one might assume. Rather, ANT is an ontologicalepistemologicalmethodological package that can be applied to ‘new realities’: complex phenomena
involving social, political, natural, cultural and technological elements.
According to Latour (2004), the epistemological attitude of an ANT researcher is a ‘naïve’ empiricism,
where the researcher is a “simple spectator” (1999, cited by Massey, 2003:84). Latour contrasts this
with the dominant theory-first, interpretive approach. So, ANT
“is a theory... about how to study things, or rather how not to study them. Or rather how to let the
actors have some room to express themselves.” (Latour, 2004).
An ANT approach implies the study of actors - be they humans, objects, animals, tools, ideas,
processes or institutions - and their relations and alliances. Actors are all treated on an equal
ontological level. The network element of the ANT approach refers to the way in which the
researcher assembles the actors and their various relations; for Latour, relations are always
transformations, never unmediated information transfers. Actors are real (if not always material)
objects, but they are not simple: they are "complicated, folded, multiple, complex, entangled"
(Latour, 2004). The product of an ANT study will be a heterogeneous,
unfamiliar and post-anthropocentric landscape. Prout (2005) draws on Latour’s notion of
nature/culture hybrids in his analysis of the ontology of childhood, arguing that childhood should be
understood through an interdisciplinary approach. I suggest that play, too,
must be approached in this hybrid, interdisciplinary fashion. Latour’s analysis of the myth of the
separation of nature and culture can provide a useful reconceptualisation of children’s play. ANT
might well be used in researching a play setting: as a dynamic, social, physical, organisational and
technological ‘collective’, which inevitably involves a mixture of real and imaginary elements;
cultural, creative, mediated, kinaesthetic, communicative and expressive activities and relationships.
ANT's ethnomethodological and phenomenological approach presents a departure from traditionally
abstract and theory-first disciplinary approaches to play research.
References
Bingham, N. & Thrift, N. (2000). Some new instructions for travellers: the geography of Bruno Latour
and Michel Serres, In: Crang, M. & Thrift, N. eds., Thinking space, London: Routledge, pp281-301
Latour, B. (1999). On recalling ANT, In: Law, J. & Hassard, J. eds., Actor-Network Theory and After,
Sociological Review Monographs, Oxford: Blackwell, pp15-25
Latour, B. (2004). A Dialogue on ANT [online], Available from: http://www.brunolatour.
fr/articles/article/090 . htm l
Massey, D. (2003). Imagining the field, In: Pryke, M., Rose, G. & Whatmore, S. eds., Using Social
Theory: Thinking through Research, London: SAGE/Open University Press, pp71-88
Philo, C. (2005). Spacing Lives and Lively Spaces: Partial Remarks on Sarah Whatmore's 'Hybrid
Geographies', Antipode 37(4): 824-833
Prout, A. (2005). The Future of Childhood, London: RoutledgeFalmer
Kevin Brehony
Education for self-realisation: Play, work and alienation in educational theory (1826–1927)
Advocates of education through play have invariably been confronted by its ‘other’, work. This paper
considers Friedrich Froebel’s great innovation, the kindergarten and the relation in his thought
between play, work and self-realisation first outlined in his book The Education of Man, It is
observed that Froebel in this book presents a theory of alienated labour that bears some similarities
to the work of the young Marx. Both of them were immersed in a culture which contained within it
German Idealism and Romanticism and these were key components in versions of active learning
and creative work which are considered next. The notion of self-realisation through creative work
and its connections to play is traced through the English Romantic tradition as exemplified by
Carlyle, Ruskin and Morris.
Attention is then paid to, among others; Kerschensteiner and Dewey who reformulated conceptions
of education by play and work to suit the new conditions of industrialisation. Another inflection was
given to play and work in the early years of the Soviet state by Blonski and other theorists of the
‘unified labour school’ which was suppressed when Stalin came to power.
At the centre of these theories was the question of whether or not non-alienated work or play both
in school and in wage-labour could ever be realised and drudgery replaced creative work. For some,
Like Marcuse this was possible in part but the history of education by play in the confines of
schooling, suggests otherwise.
David Chadwick
Edutainment: A form of adult Play, for the teaching of logic and numeracy for IT-related subjects
The word ‘edutainment’ is clearly a blend of the words ‘education’ and ‘entertainment’. Currently,
books, games and learning schemes are sold to adults as ‘edutainment’ but often this is no more
than a commercial selling ploy. There is no agreed understanding of what the term ‘edutainment’
really means and certainly no definition of any underlying educational model with proven practical
principles. There is much research to show that edutainment has been very useful in children’s
learning, especially the blending of learning with play, but there is minimal research on its true
usefulness in adult learning.
For adult students, the learning of IT-related subjects (important in today’s world) is beset with
problems of learning numeracy and logic. There is also a common public impression that numeracy
and logic are difficult, dry topics that only ‘gifted’ people can learn. However, there is some evidence
that this misconception may be overcome in formal teaching by the use of an edutainment approach
incorporating fun, humour, challenge and experimentation – in short, play.
This research project takes well researched examples of children’s edutainment (e.g. Alice in
Wonderland, Sesame Street) and seeks to find basic learning principles which may be adapted to
construct an educational model for the teaching of adults. This resultant model will be trialled with
adult Higher Education students for practical application incorporating design of teaching materials,
lectures and tutorials. A possible outcome of this work may be to find that ‘play’, which is used by
children to find out about the world around them, is also of use by adults for much the same
purpose and that ‘adult play’ in a learning context may be defined by an educational model.
Sheryl Clark
The Olympic Legacy and Girls’ Participation in Sport – What can girls get out of it?
In an attempt to bring together research, policy and practice this presentation will draw on findings
from my PhD research into girls’ participation in sport over the transition to secondary school.
Findings from the research suggested some of the ongoing processes framing girls’ participation in
sport as including their relationships with peers and coaches, selective team practices, expectations
of ongoing athletic development and discourses of health and achievement. Following the
‘academic’ reporting of the research, I decided to start a girls’ running group in conjunction with the
club I had been running with in order to put some of my research ‘principles’ into practice. Within
the presentation I hope to describe some of my thinking behind the group and also to reflect on the
process of working with young women in sport in relation to broader goals of participation and
enjoyment as potentially at odds with those of competition and ability. The presentation will try to
tease out some of the tensions between theorising gender and sport and working with girls in sport
with a view to overarching policy frameworks that have recently targeted young women’s
participation in sport as an area of concern and attention. Consideration will be given to the 2012
Olympic Games legacy which aims to inspire young people to lead more active lifestyles through
subscription to Olympic values including ‘friendship, excellence and determination’
(http://getset.london2012.com/en/home).
Hattie Coppard
Gillett Square – an example of a permanently flexible and playful public realm
How can we create a public realm that encourages children’s independent play and enables adults
and children to happily share our public spaces together?
There are between 14 and 15 million children under the age of 20 in the UK, and yet in many towncentres children are nowhere to be seen. The public realm is designed to suit the requirements of
shopping, cars, commercial interests, and frequently ignores the needs of children and young
people. And the effect of specially designed ‘children’s areas’ is to segregate children rather than
include them in the life of the street.
This presentation will suggest that this was not always the case and need not be so now.
The context will be set with historical and current examples of children’s playful use of the public
realm in Norway and Dublin and reference will be made to Snug & Outdoor’s experimental
playground projects. The heart of the presentation will be a discussion of Gillett Square in Hackney
as a current example of a permanently flexible and playful public space.
Gillett Square is a local authority owned and publically managed public space in the heart of one of
the most deprived areas in London. Each day large-scale, loose-parts play equipment is brought onto
the square by café staff and volunteers. Children of all ages come to play in the square and create
their own extraordinary and continually changing play environments. There is no adult supervision
other than an informal overseeing by parents, shoppers and local businesses. Children and adults
share the space together, interacting occasionally but mostly just getting on with their own
activities.
Using the experience of Gillett Square, this presentation will discuss the importance of flexibility,
design, local culture and strategic partnerships in creating public spaces that support children’s play.
Keith Cranwell
Leisure and Play
David Ellis
The Politics of Play: Childhood, community and the built environment, 1950-1990
This paper will discuss the current findings of my Masters dissertation. This is a work in progress and
my conclusions are tentative.
After the Second World War, children’s play became the subject of intense local political struggles in
communities across Britain. This was a response to the perception that planners, builders and
governments had neglected children’s need for play space in the development of urban spaces and
public policy.
My research focuses on the object of most community campaigns for play space in this period:
adventure playgrounds. These were spaces where children were given the resources and the
freedom to construct their own play environment. Children would be supervised but the on-site play
leader would facilitate rather than control their play. Free from adult interference, children would
learn creative skills, how to build relationships and how to manage risk.
Management committees composed of local residents and interested outsiders, including students
and academics, ran the playgrounds. Their survival was rarely assured and their history is that of a
constant struggle to secure financial support, acceptance in the community and recognition from
local authorities.
I am also interested in campaigns for play space more generally, as an attempt to re-shape the city
and public policy to meet the needs of children.
These campaigns are an excellent example of the rise of community action and a new activist,
voluntary sector, the subject of my proposed doctoral project. I am interested in the interaction
between community groups, voluntary bodies local and central government and asking what this
reveals about the impact of grassroots groups on policy-making.
I am keen to shed light on what these campaigns reveal about the development of new approaches
to education, play, childhood and child development, such as the concept of child-centred learning
and the ideas of Colin Ward and Jo Benjamin. Grassroots action shaped, and was shaped by, this
new thought.
Children’s play was re-constituted as a major concern for policy-makers and our understanding of
the function and meaning of play was radically changed.
Perry Else
Four quadrants: a model for understanding play
In making sense of the many views and forms of play now catalogued, this presentation will aim to
draw them together in a holistic model (Else 1999, 2009) that recognised these views as different
but equal.
Building on the work of Wilber (1995, 2000) the model integrates dominant paradigms of
development and progress with less mainstream views of individual choice and intuition, it aims to
bridge the differences objective/subjective divide to fully explain human experience through play.
The presentation will show how play is necessarily ‘of the moment’ self determined, freely chosen
with any ‘outcomes’ determined by the player. The approach is therefore about process rather than
rules, the way it is done rather than the format used and so dependent on personal judgement and
interpretation as much as resources and structures.
Along the way issues such as adaptation, healing and resilience, risk management, multiple
intelligences (Gardner 1999) and play deprivation will be discussed.
Tim Gill
The hard evidence on children and nature: results of a quasi-systematic review
Richard Louv’s book Last Child in the Woods: Saving our children from nature-deficit disorder has
prompted a worldwide re-examination of the relationship between children and the natural world.
The book brings together passionate argument, anecdote and evidence to make the case for a new
movement to reconnect children with nature. This movement, building on ideas from educators,
psychologists, conservationists, geographers, health professionals and children’s rights advocates,
makes strong claims about why it matters for children to have everyday contact with nature. But
how good is the support for such claims? Is the evidence robust enough to convince the sceptic, or
does it largely sing to the choir?
Tim’s presentation will summarise the findings of a literature review of the benefits for children of
spending time in natural environments. The review focused on children aged 12 and under, and on
what might be called ‘nearby nature’. Funded by the Greater London Authority as part of a wider
project, the review took a ‘quasi-systematic’ approach. It conducted an exhaustive search to find
relevant primary empirical studies from authoritative sources. It also categorised and evaluated
studies in a consistent, transparent way. The resulting pool of 72 papers gives one overview of our
state of knowledge on the topic. The review, Tim claims, offers significant support for the arguments
of the children & nature movement. However, he concludes, the picture is far from complete, and
care is needed when drawing on the evidence base to make the case for changes in policy and
practice.
Liz Jarvis
Play IS Learning, for the under-fives
Learning through Play, as set out in the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum is, of necessity for
effective learning and teaching, incorporates assessment of learning and consideration of future
steps for the children in the planning of the daily experiences provided.
We work from information that we gather about each child; beginning with parents views and initial
observations of the children at play and from there creating a ‘profile’ of achievement that will help
us to identify needs to be met during their time with us. Our final aim has to be the achievement as
far as possible of the goals in the Foundation Stage Profile, which is a statutory assessment for the
key stage.
The children’s individual profiles are in the form of Learning Journeys, which chronicle as much as
possible of new learning, steps taken, targets reached, interests followed; they are added to
throughout the children’s time at school but specifically during their weeks as ‘focus’ children.
During these we observe the children’s learning and behaviour in detail, recording with written
comments the information being accrued through shared play, and through photographic evidence.
I will be sharing some examples of the journeys taken by children in their exploration of the
provision made in our learning spaces, both in and out-of-doors, and how this is assessed by us in
terms of the six learning areas of the curriculum to show how much of their learning develops as a
natural outcome of their play.
Gonzalo Jover
The right to play and its presence at Spanish primary schools: research by the Observatory of
children’s play
The purpose of this paper is to present the Observatory of Children’s Play, recently created in Spain,
and the research carried out there on the presence of playing at Spanish primary schools.
The Convention of the Rights of the Child acknowledges playing as one of the fundamental rights of
childhood (Article 31). Despite progress made in complying with the rights set out in the Convention,
in Spain, information available in that regard remains highly fragmented. Currently existing
indicators focus mainly on aspects such as education, health, socio-economic circumstances, or
situations of risk, while games and playing are largely ignored.
The Observatory comprises professors from a number of universities as well as practitioners from
the toy and game industry. Its purpose is to assess and promote implementation of the right to play
within the family, social and school environments. To do so, the Observatory will work on drawing
up a system of indicators on children’s games and playing as well as carrying out research on special
topics.
The first piece of research, recently concluded, was a study on the presence of playing at Spanish
primary schools, in which more than 500 schools ranging across every Spanish region participated by
completing a questionnaire. The research was aimed at finding answers to three questions: When
and where is playing present at school? What recreational resources are available? How is playing
reflected in educational projects and what experiences using play are being carried out?
Dale LeFevre
What is the point of playing New Games?
Play and find out: a practical games session
I was just recently asked this. My first thought is, if you have to ask, you’ll never know. This question
came from a person who had just taken part in a game and had been laughing and enjoying herself
with others in the group. I would contend that was at least a big part of the answer: to have fun and
have everyone be able to participate. That in itself would be enough.
However, there is more. In a recent study conducted by Sheffield Hallam University, children playing
New Games over a six-month period showed more stamina than those in a control group. Teachers
of the target group reported that cooperation was ‘Much better’ as a result of the programme.
Compared with a traditional games session, the New Games approach was better integrating
minority groups and children who were more overweight into their social group.
These findings were consistent with those of Mackett (2004) who showed that children who are
enjoying their physical activity were more willing to do it and for longer than children doing
traditional sporting games. The additional benefits of play for social interaction and friendliness have
long been reported anecdotally by teachers and other children’s work practitioners.
While the study did not measure the effect on obesity and bullying, it seems reasonable to assume
that 1) participants who were engaged in physical activity would suffer less from obesity and, 2)
those who relating to each other in friendly, fun ways would be less inclined to be aggressive to one
another.
People who normally are not involved in sport or play can do these games because even when there
is competition, the reward is playing.
A practical session will precede a brief discussion about the benefits of playing New Games.
Stuart Lester
The production of play time/space in schools: working out ways of being together
The title for this proposed paper is based on recent research carried out to evaluate the contribution
that S. Gloucestershire’s Outdoor Play and Learning programme has made to transforming play
times in Primary schools in the region. The final report should be available at the end of March and
has been produced by Stuart Lester, Dr Owain Jones and Wendy Russell – the title of the report is
yet to be confirmed. One (or more) of the research team will be delivering this paper.
The paper will explore the complex manner in which ‘playtime’ is produced in Primary schools,
calling into question ways in which this important period of the school day is largely held to have
instrumental value for educational or health benefits and how this may be translated into adult
practices that seek to ‘feed of children’s play for its own purposes’ through a series of promotions
and constraints on children’s use of time/space.
Drawing on findings from the recent evaluation of the South Gloucestershire Outdoor Play and
Learning programme (Lester, Jones, and Russell, 2011), the paper will consider how a programmed
intervention to improve playtime in schools disturbed dominant understandings, habitual practices
and the culture of ‘playtime’ and by doing so allows for the possibility of children and adults being
together in a space that becomes a little less ordered, more uncertain and thus a different
time/space that allows for a greater possibility of playful moments.
Karen Majors
Children’s play with imaginary friends: An investigation of purposes served
Parents and others may sometimes show concern when a child has an imaginary friend (IF),
particularly once they have started school, and older children and adolescents tend to keep their
imaginary friends a secret. Imaginary companions (ICs) or friends have certainly been a
misunderstood phenomenon. There has been surprisingly little information about how many
children have imaginary friends, what the imaginary friends are like and why children play with
them. The aims of this research were to explore the characteristics and purposes served by
imaginary companions (IFs) featuring in the lives of school aged children as this has rarely been
investigated.
Semi-structured interviews were carried out with eight children between the ages of five and eleven
years. A feature of the study was to explore all the imaginary friends, both current and previous, that
each child had had over time. The data was analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis
(IPA) to explore individual and cross case themes.
Whilst children acknowledged their imaginary status, the companions presented as real to the
children, and particular characteristics of the IFs and features of the child’s interaction with their
imaginary friends served to foster this illusion. Qualities and characteristics of animal and human
imaginary friends were mostly positive. All children were able to say why their imaginary friends
were important and special. Imaginary friends meeting emotional needs were more private in
contrast to those who were primarily playmates, or providing wish fulfillment and entertainment.
The imaginary companions of the eldest children were mostly unknown to others, or partially
concealed in games. This seemed to be in response to the anticipated responses of others.
Mary Clare Martin
A widening sphere? Elite children and opportunities for outdoor play, 1740-1870
Many histories of the Victorian girl stressed their repression and isolation from the outside world,
while autobiographers were often keen to illustrate the restrictive nature of their upbringing. Such
studies have only recently been challenged. This paper will analyse the experiences of girls from elite
or middle class backgrounds over the period 1740-1870, drawing on case studies from the London
hinterland, Scotland and Wales. It will argue, first that eighteenth century young women might be
more restricted than those living in the same geographical area in the nineteenth century. The paper
will also show the stamina, if not fitness, of many nineteenth century young women and girls, who
routinely walked long distances. It will also show how disabled young women might engage in active
pursuits, especially if their families had large gardens or grounds, and how there appeared to be
little gender differentiation in their descriptions of childhood activities. Comparisons will
demonstrate the limitations on the physical freedom of young males. The paper will thus challenge
the stereotype of the gendered nature of nineteenth century middle class girlhood, and of a more
limited access to outdoor recreation and space than in the previous century.
Tim McGinley
Neighbourhood planning game: enabling sustainable communities
The UK government, as part of a sweeping series of reforms is keen for citizen participation in local
decisions (BSN, 2011). Planning is one of the areas for reform, a key element of which is
neighbourhood planning. Neighbourhood planning ‘aims to give people greater ownership of plans
and policies that affect their local area’ (DCLG, 2011). The authors are concerned about the impact
that poorly managed neighbourhood plans could have on the sustainability of the communities. This
paper considers effective neighbourhood planning as an intensive stakeholder exercise which
requires a technological element in order to connect users in different locations and their diverse
requirements. Community engagement through technology offers an opportunity for behavioural
change of the participants (DiSalvo, 2010). It is intended that this behavioural change be geared
towards attitudes that impact the sustainability of a community.
This paper presents a methodology that can be used to develop a tool which will facilitate
behavioural change and sensible neighbourhood planning. By conducting a meta analysis of research
from multi stakeholder land use management games (D’Aquino et al, 2003) and collaborative
community mapping (Perkins, 2007) the authors aim to develop a collaborative regeneration game
designed to lower the barrier for participation in neighbourhood plans. The inclusive tool will use
game technology to simulate the impact of different behavioural and urban design patterns in the
built environment on community sustainability. Sustainability games such as the ‘SelfCormas
Experiment’ have focused on the game play tension that is created through the management of
scarce resources (D’Aquino et al, 2003). The tool would provide a synchronous multi agent platform
that allows people to understand; their own requirements, those of their urban environment and
other users’ to manage their own scarce resources.
References
BSN, (2011) What is Big Society? Big Society Network, Accessed 25th February 2011. URL http://thebigsociety.co.uk/what-is-big-society/
D'Aquino, P. Le Page, C. Bousquet, F. Bah, A (2003) Using Self-Designed Role-Playing Games and a
Multi-Agent System to Empower a Local Decision-Making Process for Land Use Management: The
SelfCormas Experiment in Senegal. Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation Vol. 6, no. 3
DiSalvo, C. Sengers, P. Brynjarsdottir (2010) Mapping the Landscape of Sustainable HCI. CHI '10
Proceedings of the 28th international conference on Human factors in computing systems. April 1015 2010, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
DCLG, (2011) Localism Bill: Neighbourhood plans and community right to build: Impact assessment.
Department for Communities and Local Government, DCLG Publications, January
Perkins, C. (2007). Community Mapping, The Cartographic Journal Vol. 44. Issue 2 pp. 127–137 ICA
Special Issue 2007.
Pascale Mormiche
Learning history and geography through playing cards in seventeenth and eighteenth century
France
Les princes français doivent connaître la géographie afin de comprendre l’histoire sainte, l’histoire
de France, l’art militaire… Dès le 17e siècle, ils disposent des géographes du roi, des graveurs et de
l’exemple des Jésuites qui leur fournissent des cartes à jouer et à poser sur un support
géographique. Ces cartes servent également à apprendre le blason, l’histoire… De nombreux jeux de
cartes très variés sont conservés. Le jeu est donc admis dans les éducations princières malgré sa
défense par l’Eglise catholique. Il est utilisé dans la première éducation (avant une dizaine d’années).
Un changement important intervient avec une politique de christianisation des mœurs où les jeux
sont abandonnés au début du XVIIIe siècle. Le labyrinthe des fables d’Esope dans le jardin de
Versailles est abandonné.
En parallèle, la matière géographie s’organise avec l’évolution épistémologique interne à cette
science qui se cherche de nouveaux supports. C’est ainsi qu’apparaissent les « découpures » (sorte
de puzzles), les cartes à colorier qui modifient complètement l’apprentissage de la géographie
princière. En dernier lieu, Madame de Genlis, gouverneur des princes d’Orléans à la fin du XVIIIe
siècle, construit un lieu d’éducation orienté géographiquement avec des cartes aux murs, au sol….
L’enseignement de la géographie par le jeu, par les supports visuels prend donc différents aspects et
avec l’argent dont disposent les éducateurs princiers, sont mis au point des outils qui furent diffusés
plus tard dans l’école publique.
Hilary Orpin, Beverley Salmon and Earlyn Francis
Adventurous play in a safe, exciting and inclusive environment
A practitioner led presentation about the work of Charlie Chaplin Adventure Playground. (CCAP) The
presentation will be led by Beverley Salmon and Earlyn Francis the Manager and Deputy Manager of
the Adventure playground and supported by Hilary Orpin.
The work for the playground is inspiring for two reasons: firstly the playground provides adventure
play for young people with disabilities and secondly the workers are dual trained in youth work and
play work. This presentation will document the work of the playground and explore the practical
challenges youth workers and play workers face in an adventure play setting. It will also
demonstrate the benefits of academic and practitioner partnerships by exploring the value of
student placements within CCAP.
Alan Powers
Through the Cardboard Proscenium: English toy theatre explained
Jo Saunders
Singing Playgrounds: the impact of the ‘singing virus’ in playground and classroom contexts
The National Singing Programme Sing Up was officially launched in November 2007 and a team from
the Institute of Education, University of London were appointed to undertake a research evaluation
of key elements of the programme. One of these key elements was the ‘Singing Playgrounds’
initiative, carried out by Ex Cathedra, in which expert vocal leaders modelled singing and playground
games in the play spaces of urban Primary schools. This research account describes the use of
singing within the playground context as a ‘singing virus’ and the subsequent impact on learning,
leadership, well being and behaviour. The ‘singing virus’ was observed to spread into the formal
learning context, encouraging peer to peer learning, positive pupil/teacher relationships, and
listening skills.
The National Singing Programme Sing Up was officially launched in November 2007 and a team from
the Institute of Education, University of London were appointed to undertake a research evaluation
of key elements of the programme. One of these key elements is the ‘Singing Playgrounds’ initiative,
carried out by Ex Cathedra, one of the UK’s leading choir and Early Music ensembles. ‘Singing
Playgrounds’ is an educational outreach programme designed to develop children’s musicianship
though singing games. Expert vocal leaders model singing and playground games to the older
children (termed ‘song leaders’) in the play spaces of urban Primary schools. In turn, the ‘song
leaders’ lead their peers in singing and clapping games in both playground and classroom contexts.
The pupils who participated in this long term intervention made significant progress in their singing
development and increased their mean sung vocal range by approximately three semitones. In
addition, the use of singing within the playground context had a positive impact on aspects of
learning, leadership, well-being and behaviour. Pupils were allocated specific roles and
responsibilities within the playground context that allowed them to practice skills that would
positively transfer to their interactions within the classroom setting. The ‘singing virus’ and
associated behaviours, was observed to spread into the formal learning context, encouraging peer to
peer learning, positive pupil/teacher relationships, and listening skills.
Adrian Seville
Learning through the Jeu de l’Oie during the Ancien Regime in France
The Jeu de l’Oie (Game of Goose, Gioco dell’Oca etc) is historically the most important spiral race
game ever devised. It has its roots in the 16th century Italy of Francesco de Medici but spread rapidly
in continental Europe, where it is still played, and arrived in England in 1597, when John Wolfe
registered it at Stationers' Hall in London. In its traditional form, it is a ‘game of life’ played with
double dice on a 63-space track. Although the game was regarded as a suitable diversion for a
Dauphin of France, the game had also a popular following and was regularly played for gambling
stakes by men in taverns.
The key development of the game took place in mid-17th century France, where educational variants
were devised to instruct and amuse the cadet class of young male aristocrats at their colleges,
principally in Paris. This began with variants designed to teach history and geography but other
curriculum subjects such as the arts of war and heraldry were soon added. Young girls could also
learn the art of conversation, the art of making a good marriage – and both sexes could benefit from
the games intended to teach religion and morals.
The presentation will illustrate examples of games in all these fields, showing how the well-known
numerical structure of the traditional game was often wittily carried over into the variant forms in
such a way as to add point to the information conveyed, so aiding retention and understanding.
Where the playing structure of the traditional game was adhered to, the play was lively and exciting,
contrasting sharply with the more pedestrian educational games developed in Georgian and
Victorian England. It may be that developers of modern educational games can benefit from these
observations.
John Smith
An ecological and multi-disciplinary approach to theorising play
This paper will examine several distinct paradigms for understanding play: 1. A primarily sociological
and constructionist position. 2. Cognitive-developmental models of the necessity of play. 3. Play
theorised from the perspective of evolutionary psychology. 4. Play and ecological psychology. These
perspectives on humans’ need for, or drive to, play will then be contexted within broad socialstructural formations (such as economic and technological opportunities and constraints). The
intended outcome is a mapping of the relationship between need and ‘new’ opportunity in the
ecology of play – taken in its widest sense. Put differently: How can the dimensions of need and
creativity, routinely attributed to play, be ontologically reconciled?
Heather Soanes
Child’s Voice: The impact of Guardian Angels
There is an ongoing debate between ‘giving children a say’ and actually empowering them by taking
notice of their viewpoints and insights. In my experience, if children obtain the trust from adults
around them, they frequently rise to the occasion and will accept the responsibility offered to them,
and in many cases surpass expectations. In the light of this it is therefore important to assess the
ways that schools could improve the effective involvement of children as the new millennium
unfolds.
My research investigates how my school provides decision and democratic power sharing
opportunities for children, within its day to day culture. I am involved in providing opportunities for
children to become well informed co-constructors of increasing holistic approaches to their
education. The school has developed an inclusive philosophical vision which connects education to
the social conditions and life that are constantly changing in the world and how the children react to
these situations. By developing experiences to practice and experiment roles of independence,
agency, negotiation, flexibility and reflection, where their contributions are deemed valid and
important, it is anticipated that pupils’ experiences could prepare them more appropriately for a
world ‘not yet known’.
This presentation will centre on our ‘Guardian Angels’ initiative who are Year 6 children who support
the younger Year 3 and 4 children in the playground.
I believe the findings of my research might appeal to a variety of professionals, who are also looking
to relocate 21st century education and improve the contributions children make.
Roger Stearn
Playing with toy soldiers: an aspect of British middle-class boyhood, circa 1870 to 1960
Memoirs, autobiographies and oral sources all tell of middle-class boys playing with toy soldiers.
There are also references in works of fiction, both for children and adults. These include books by
H.G.Wells, E,Nesbit, Richmal Crompton and Kingsley Amis.
Separate from academic life and publications there are numerous networks of enthusiasts, hobbyists
and dealers, with their own organizations and publications, including works of reference. As Asa
Briggs showed in his Victorian Things, these can be valuable sources for historians. In Britain today
there is a flourishing toy soldier collector community. While academics have mostly ignored toy
soldiers, they have been studied by collectors and dealers. The leading British expert is James Opie
(son of Iona and Peter Opie) who has published standard books on British toy soldiers. This paper
draws on his and other enthusiasts’ work.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries Germany was the leading producer and exporter of toys, with the
world’s largest toy company and largest toy factory. German toy exports included metal toy soldiers,
solid-cast, notably from the Dresden firm of Heyde. However, from 1893 Britain became the leading
toy-soldier manufacturer and exporter, due to the London firm of William Britain and its process of
hollow-casting, resulting in much more affordable figures, and ousting foreign competitors. Britains
manufactured a huge range of figures, and also artillery, vehicles and buildings, and maintained their
lead until the 1960s when metal toy-soldier production ended.
Play with toy soldiers, unlike many boys’ activities, was at home, in the house or garden, and could
be solitary or with friends. This paper considers the nature of play with toy soldiers.
Finally the paper considers the scanty academic literature on toy soldiers and suggests some
conclusions on significance, influence and outcomes.
Adam Steiner
‘Wheels of Change’ – Creating a positive cycle of health and exercise through play and sport in
fulfilment of the Olympic legacy
Highlighting the developmental links from childhood play to engagement with sport and maturation
into a healthy, active adult. I will begin by explaining the many health benefits of play (both mental
and physical) and how this can better dispose a child to sports participation. The challenge is to
ensure this trend continues into adulthood once the child has finished school as the drop-out rate
from sport is highest among teenage girls. We hope to show that developing these behavioural
attitudes in play and school sport will lead to a positive outcome for the Olympic legacy targets to
drive up engagement with sport and create new generations of UK athletes.
Ina Zweiniger-Bargielowska
The Royal Family’s Campaign for Playing Fields and Playgrounds in the 20th Century
This paper will discuss the royal family's involvement in establishing playing fields and play grounds
since the 1920s. This neglected aspect of the modern 'welfare monarchy', in Frank Prochaska's
phrase, can be traced back to 1925 when George VI, as Duke of York, initiated and assumed the
presidency of the National Playing Fields Association. George V subsequently became patron of the
association and the King George Jubilee Trust of 1935 provided further funding for sports and
outdoor recreation among youth. Following his death, a memorial fund raiser resulted in the
creation of the King George Field's Foundation in 1936 which ultimately helped to establish 471
playing fields across Britain by the mid-1960s. These charities collaborated closely and the National
Playing Fields Association, recently renamed Fields in Trust, still exists. The Duke of Edinburgh has
served as president since 1949 and a new initiative, the Queen Elizabeth II Fields Challenge will mark
the occasion of the Diamond Jubilee to launch a new campaign to protect outdoor recreational
spaces throughout the country.
List of Speakers
Francis Barton
University of Gloucestershire
fbarton@glos.ac.uk
Francis Barton is a lecturer in Playwork and Social Care at the University of Gloucestershire. His
academic interests include behavioural ecology, psychologies of play, pragmatism, phenomenology
and philosophy of mind. Francis is planning a piece of research into children's playful use of public
space and its impact on the wider community.
Kevin Brehony
Roehampton University
kevinjb1@me.com
Kevin Brehony is Froebel Professor of Early Childhood Studies and Director of the Early Childhood
Research Centre at Froebel College, Roehampton University. He is a Trustee of the National Froebel
Foundation, a member of the Froebel Research Committee and President of the International
Froebel Society. His disciplinary background covers Sociology, History, Social Policy and Social
Theory.
David Chadwick
University of Greenwich
D.R.Chadwick@gre.ac.uk
David Chadwick is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Information Systems and Digital Media at
the University of Greenwich. His research interests include educational methods and tools for
teaching security issues.
Sheryl Clark
University of Greenwich
cs72@greenwich.ac.uk
Dr Sheryl Clark is Research Fellow in the Centre for the Study of Play and Recreation as well as the
Natural Learning and Environments Project in the School of Education, University of Greenwich. Her
research interests include gender, sport and identity and the intersections between the sociology of
sport and education.
Hattie Coppard
Snug and Outdoors
hattie@snugandoutdoor.co.uk
Hattie Coppard is the Director of Snug & Outdoor, a design company that provides innovative play
areas for schools, local authorities, housing schemes and charities.
Keith Cranwell
University of Greenwich
ck42@greenwich.ac.uk
Keith Cranwell is Head of the Department of Education and Community Studies in the School of
Education at the University of Greenwich and co-director of the Centre for the Study of Play and
Recreation.
David Ellis
Balliol College Oxford
davidinwrofy@gmail.com
David Ellis is studying for an M.St. in Modern British and European History in the Faculty of History at
Oxford.
Perry Else
Sheffield Hallam University/IPA EWNI
perry.else@virgin.net
Perry Else is course leader for BA Hons Playwork at Sheffield Hallam University. He has extensive
knowledge of play theory, contributing to national policy agendas and has recently written The
Value of Play (2008).
Tim Gill
Rethinking Childhood
tim@rethinkingchildhood.com
Tim Gill is an independent researcher, writer and consultant. He is one of the UK's leading thinkers
on childhood and an effective advocate for change. His work focuses on children's play and free
time. He has recently written ‘No Fear: Growing up in a risk averse society’ (2007).
Liz Jarvis
Bush Hill Park Primary School
lizjarvis@macunlimited.net
Liz Jarvis is a classroom teacher in the ‘three form entry’ Reception Unit of the Foundation Stage at
Bush Hill Park Primary School, Enfield, North London. She teaches continuous development of
Learning through Play as set out in the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum.
Gonzalo Jover
Universidad Complutense
gjover@edu.ucm.es
GonzaloJover is Professor of Education in the Facultad de Educación, Universidad Complutense,
Madrid (Spain) and Director of the Observatory of Children’s Play.
Dale Lefevre
New Games Ltd.
dale@inewgames.com
Dale N. Le Fevre started working with the non-profit New Games Foundation in 1975 as a volunteer.
By the start of 1976 he was office manager and Associate Director. In 1977 Dale formed his own
project, Play Express, which took New Games into schools and since then he has worked with
businesses, schools and other organisations in disseminating the physical, social and academic
benefits of new games. He has produced a number of dvds and other resources on New Games and
these can be accessed on the website: http://www.inewgames.com/.
Stuart Lester
University of Gloucestershire
slester@glos.ac.uk
Stuart Lester is a Senior Lecturer in Playwork at the University of Gloucestershire and an
independent playwork trainer and adviser. He has worked for over twenty years as a playwork
practitioner, with a particular focus on adventure playgrounds and outdoor play. Recent publications
include ‘Play, naturally’ – a review of children’s playful relationship with natural spaces (with Martin
Maudsley).
Karen Majors
Institute of Education
k.majors@ioe.ac.uk
Dr Karen Majors is Assistant Programme Director of Professional Educational Psychology Training at
the Institute of Education. Her PhD thesis was titled 'Children's Imaginary Companions and the
Purposes They Serve: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis'.
Mary Clare Martin
mchmartin@greenwich.ac.uk
University of Greenwich
Dr Mary Clare Martin is a social historian specialising in the history of childhood, youth movements
and social welfare, c 1740-1950. She has developed a number of curriculum areas on the multidisciplinary Childhood and Education Studies degrees such as adolescence in historical and global
context, the representation of childhood in literature for adults and children, and the history of
educational ideas and of equal opportunity issues.
She is co-director of the Centre for the Study of Play and Recreation.
Tim McGinley
University of Reading
t.mcginley@pgr.reading.ac.uk
Tim McGinley originally trained as an architect and went on to do is doctorate at the University of
Reading’s TSBE ENGD Centre funded by Capgemini. He is currently developing a new framework for
sustainable community development. Tim is also an experienced educator, and seeks to inspire and
learn from all those around him.
Pascale Mormiche
Université Cergy Pontoise
pascale.mormiche@free.fr
Pascale Mormiche is Professor in IUFM in France at the School of Education, Université Cergy
Pontoise. Her recent research concerns the education of the royal French princes between the 17th
and 18th Centuries.
Hilary Orpin, Beverley Salmon and Earlyn Francis
The Charlie Chaplin Adventure Playground
h.orpin@gre.ac.uk
Hilary Orpin has been a professionally qualified Youth and Community worker for over ten years and
has worked across London and nationally on a variety of different projects including youth arts,
youth centres, young offending institutes, motor offending projects and alternative curriculum.
The majority of Hilary’s youth work experience has been with disaffected and excluded young
people. This has involved designing and managing informal education programmes or alternative
curriculum programmes. Hilary has worked in partnership with both the voluntary and statutory
youth service, art galleries, theatres, FE Colleges, local businesses and football clubs to design
informal education projects which use drama, music, sport, ICT, work based learning, basic skills and
GCSE’s to re-engage young people.
Alan Powers
University of Greenwich
A.powers@gre.ac.uk
Alan Powers took a degree and PhD in History of Art at Cambridge, and has worked in architectural
preservation and as a freelance author and lecturer, publishing books on architecture, art and
design. He is a joint editor of the journal Twentieth Century Architecture for the Twentieth Century
Society, and Chairman of Pollock's Toy Museum in central London.
Jo Saunders
Institute of Education
j.saunders@ioe.ac.uk
Jo Saunders is a Research Officer in the Faculty of Children and Learning, Department of Arts and
Humanities at the Institute of Education.
Adrian Seville
Tudely House
Adrian.Seville@btopenworld.com
Professor Adrian Seville is an independent board games historian and collector, who specialises in
research on the Game of Goose and its many variants throughout Europe. He has a particular
interest in cartographic games and assisted the Department for Culture Media and Sport as an
independent advisor regarding the export of the King George III cabinet of dissected maps,
subsequently purchased by the Art Fund.
From 1982 to 2001, he was Academic Registrar of City University, London. He then took early
retirement, becoming a visiting professor in higher education administration, with continuing
consultancy responsibilities. He was educated at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield, and
then studied Physics at Trinity Hall Cambridge, moving on to a PhD at the University of Edinburgh
before joining the academic staff of City University. Adrian lives in Chislehurst, Kent, where he is
looked after by his four Burmese cats.
John Smith
University of Greenwich
sj50@greenwich.ac.uk
Dr John Smith is Head of Ed Studies in the School of Education, University of Greenwich.
Heather Soanes
University of Greenwich
hsoanes@bedonwell-jun.bexley.sch.uk
Heather Soanes is an Education Doctorate Student at the University of Greenwich and teaches at
Bedonwell Junior School where she has been implementing the Guardian Angels Project.
Roger Stearn
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
susan.nmn.miller@googlemail.com
Roger Stearn read modern history at Merton College, Oxford, obtained his Ph.D from KCL and was
Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. Before retirement he was a Research Editor on the Oxford
Dictionary of National Biography in-house team at Oxford, commissioning and editing articles from
contributors worldwide, as well as writing articles himself; since retirement he was an honorary
Research Associate of ODNB. His current research interest is the campaign in Britain before the First
World War for compulsory military training and the opposition to it, on which he has published
articles.
Adam Steiner
Association of Play Industries
Adam@sportsandplay.com
Adam Steiner is a Public Development Officer with the Association of Play Industries.
Ina Zweiniger-Bargielowska
University of Illinois
inazb@uic.edu
Professor Ina Zweiniger-Bargielowska is Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of History at
the University of Illinois, Chicago.