Post-COVID should children have more time to play or more time at school?

Experts urge government to take more holistic approach to children’s lives and wellbeing in light of COVID

CREDIT: This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared on The Guardian

Education experts and child psychologists have raised the alarm about the creeping ‘scholarisation of childhood’, as evidence grows that free play both at school and at home is being eroded in favour of academic, sporting and cultural activities.

Experts are concerned that children in the UK are losing unstructured play time during the school day, with shorter lunch breaks filled with supervised educational activities. Once school has finished, homework and extracurricular pursuits are further eating into free time. They are calling on the government to take advantage of the pause created by the pandemic to think afresh about childhood beyond the narrow lens of academic attainment, and bring a halt to the increasing ‘schoolification’ of young lives.

“Huge numbers of children have had a miserable year,” said Tim Gill, author and advocate for children’s play. “I hope one of the things the pandemic might prompt is a step back to allow a holistic look at children’s lives and wellbeing.” The British Children’s Play Survey showed that today’s youngsters are having to wait longer before they are allowed to play outside on their own – they are typically age 11, while their parents were two years younger – and often engage in less adventurous play than previous generations.

Meanwhile, debate continues to rage about measures to support children’s recovery following the pandemic disruption. While the government’s focus is on academic catchup, extended school days and shorter holidays, child psychologists have called for ‘a summer of play’ to protect children’s mental health.

“The loss of play is incredibly serious,” warned Dr Naomi Lott, an expert on the right to play at the University of Nottingham, “it has such wide-ranging impacts on children. Because play is viewed as frivolous we forget all the benefits – which have a long-term effect on children and society as a whole.”

Research by the UCL Institute of Education has shown that school breaktimes have been curtailed over the years and are as much as an hour shorter than they were two decades ago, often filled with a range of organised activities, further limiting free play.

Hackney New school, a secondary in east London, recently attracted national interest after it introduced chess clubs, poetry recitals and quizzes during the lunch break to reduce bullying. “It’s long been my belief that we could be doing more for pupils while they are on their breaks,” headteacher Charlotte Whelan told the BBC. “So often you see them aimlessly wandering the playground. We want every second at school to count.”

Better balance needed

Former headteacher and Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw said school breaktimes had decreased as a performance culture took over in schools and, he called for a better balance. “I’m not criticising the performance culture, but these are young people growing up, preparing for the big wide world. They need to learn how to mix with each other and become more mature by mixing.”

Experts say other examples of the ‘schoolification of childhood’ include: breakfast and after-school clubs, which help working parents but extend the school day into once free time, the growing importance of homework – even in primary schools – the pressure to get very young children ‘school-ready’ and the advent of the ’back-seat generation’ who are picked up from school and ferried to activities.

“Children’s breaktimes at school have decreased, the age they are allowed without supervision has increased, and the focus after a year of having their social play restricted is on ‘academic catchup’,” Helen Dodd, a professor of child psychology at the University of Reading, pointed out. “This scholarisation of childhood, and the increase in time children spend in adult-led activities, decreases children’s time spent playing, removes opportunities for independence, and denies them the simple joys and freedoms of childhood.

“Brian Sutton-Smith famously said that the opposite of play is depression and yet, in the face of rising rates of mental health problems, we continue to neglect the value of play.”

According to senior educational psychologist, Dr Melernie Meheux, “Reduced opportunities for play, and a heavy focus on structured/formal learning both at home and at school, place unnecessary pressure on children and families. Parents can feel pressure for their children to perform and achieve, as can children, which, in the long term, can affect children’s sense of self, confidence and willingness to take risks.”

Free time needed

One mother, whose nine-year-old has a packed extra-curricular schedule of piano, choir, football, ballet, modern dance and swimming, described waking up in the middle of the night worried that she hadn’t given her daughter the chance to learn a language.

“We’ve tried to keep one afternoon absolutely free, but she’s already protesting that she doesn’t have any free time. She just wants time to herself. It’s been something that lockdown has given her, which has been great.” Now, however, schools have fully reopened and the activities have kicked in once again.

“Learning is important,” said Dr Meheux. “However, without opportunities to play and engage with friends and family, children won’t have the capacity to engage with learning and thus achieve their full potential.”

Asked to respond, a Department for Education spokesperson cited the government’s £1.7bn catchup funding, including £950m to support pupils’ mental health, plus its sport and activity action plan. “We know young people have faced unprecedented challenges over the past year, including with wellbeing and development, and so support for pupil mental and physical health is a vital part of the recovery.”

“It’s pretty miserable being a child,” says Tim Gill, whose book, No Fear, has been described as a handbook for the movement for freer, riskier play. “No-one is paying much attention to whether you are happy or healthy – they are just concerned about your grades.

“The almost prison-like oversight of children’s time is really worrying – and not just in school. Wherever you look, you can see that, from the point of view of children and young people, their lives have become more and more overseen, with less time and space to call their own.”