Further Perspectives on Researching Play from a Playwork Perspective

Building on the success of the first volume of Researching Play from a Playwork Perspective, this book further develops the crucial research of playwork as an emerging and unique discipline.

The first volume explored how an understanding of playwork theory and practice can inform research into children’s play. From the seven contributors, four common themes to researching play from a playwork perspective were identified: rights-based; process, critical reflection and playfulness. This second volume aims to explore these four factors from two angles. The first considers how four more playworkers have researched play in four different contexts: prison, gender and toys, in Dutch play provision, and in the area of autism. In the second part of the book, the four pillars of playwork research are explored by academics from other disciplines with an interest in playwork research.

This will be of great interest to researchers and upper-level students in the fields of playwork, childcare, early years, education, psychology and children’s rights. It will also appeal to practitioners in a wide variety of professional contexts, including childcare and therapy.

Pete King is currently programme director for the MA Childhood Studies and MA Developmental and Therapeutic Play programmes at Swansea University. Pete’s research, including joint research with Shelly, has been published both nationally and internationally in journals and published books. Pete’s recent publications include the co-authored ‘The Play Cycle: Theory, Research and Application’ with Gordon Sturrock.

Shelly Newstead is the Managing Director of Common Threads, a social enterprise which develops playwork theory and practice internationally – www.commonthreads.org.uk. Shelly has worked in the playwork field for more than thirty years as a practitioner, trainer, author, editor, publisher and researcher, currently an Adjunct Research Fellow at Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia. She is the Managing Editor of International Journal of Playwork Practice and the Series Editor for the Routledge Advances in Playwork Research series. Shelly is also the President of the International Council for Children’s Play (ICCP).