Because we are so overprotective, children’s opportunities to engage in risky play in our society have declined sharply in recent decades. And yet, while playing, children are naturally drawn to challenges. They spontaneously participate in activities that test their boundaries and offer new experiences. How do you deal with this as a professional supervisor?
Conflicting interests
In his dissertation, ‘That We Get More Trust, We Just Want So Much More. Professional Attitudes and Children’s Practices Enhancing Risky Play: Towards a Model of Influencing Factors’, Martin van Rooijen examined the sometimes conflicting interests of different stakeholders in facilitating risky play in after-school childcare. These include professionals, playing children, parents, and the organisation. He designed a model in which each of them plays a role as a potential agent of change. The model can be used to identify factors that influence Dutch professionals who supervise children’s risky play.
Martin van Rooijen conducted qualitative field research at seven Dutch after-school childcare institutions to verify the factors in the model in practice. This will lead to a better understanding of how children experience opportunities for risky play and enable new and improved approaches to policy and practice. The reported results suggest that the outdoor environment needs more attention, that children need to be taken seriously in their risky play, and that their supervisors need support in exercising their autonomy to make more nuanced risk assessments.
About Martin van Rooijen
Martin van Rooijen (1966) worked as a manager in after-school care, as a community worker for young people in disadvantaged neighbourhoods, and as a playground worker and coordinator at ‘adventure playgrounds’ in the city of Utrecht. He graduated summa cum laude with a master’s degree in educational theory from the Institute for Ecological Pedagogy and combined his work with a part-time PhD project at the University of Humanistic Studies. He was involved in Dutch networks focused on outdoor play and children’s play rights and built an international network on risky play. Over the past three years, he has shared his vision of risky play for children by training professionals, informing parents, conducting research, and facilitating risky play for children.
Symposium on 25 September
On Wednesday 25 September, the Risky Play symposium will take place in Utrecht, following the doctoral research. The symposium will be held in the Lunetten neighbourhood, in and around Fort Luna Playground, which is home to De Rommelspeeltuin. More information is available at www.deblauweton.nl.