“The ‘extraordinary’ in children’s play is actually in the ordinary and the everyday.”
Almost all children are naturally ‘in-tune’ with the opportunities around them, so in that sense one of the key roles of the adult is to give children time and space for them to make the best use of that natural ability. Keeping an eye on those who seem to be struggling with making that connection, temporarily or more often, would be a close second.
Marc Armitage grew up in a large city in East Yorkshire UK. As life can do, he was guided on a different path, a happy accident, into playwork. Marc’s family was unemployed during the Thatcher years in the UK and a temporary one-year job came up. Without fully understanding what the role entailed, but eager to bring in a wage for the household, Marc began- and as they say, the rest is history- but of course, within that was much personal learning and growth, study and travel.
Marc has lived experience, working with children and families in different settings, since that first job in the early 1980s.
Time and a connection to one another are among the core parts of making play possible, Marc believes. This and spaces, environments that encourage and allow play to flow.
We spoke with Marc, to learn more about his life and learnings, thus far:
“I have deep memories of my playlife among friends and peers and those memories influence my work every day.”
Can you recollect your earliest memory?
Yes! I have a distinct memory of being in a big box sitting on some huge rolls of something. When I first told my mother this, she was a bit shocked. She said, ‘Surely you don’t’ remember that!’ Apparently, we had some relatives that owned a pub in the city. When they moved to somewhere new, they took everything, including the pub carpets, with them. What I can remember was apparently me sat on the rolled-up carpets inside a big removal lorry. I would have been four at the time.
What did you want to be when you were a youngster?
I don’t remember having any particular ambitions as a kid, but I think it was accepted that I would become an engineer like my dad. I did begin engineering training on leaving school, but it wasn’t really for me.
What does your role as a ‘playworking consultant’ involve?
The term is ‘Playwork’ and ‘Playworking’, which is an actual professional group with its own set of university level qualifications. As an advocate and consultant my role is mainly in demonstrating to people the advantages of Playwork as a style of working for and with children and young people.
In what ways do you see and experience play improving the lives of children and families?
Play is one of those things that is difficult to pin down in terms of what it is and what it does. Huge claims are made that it has ‘this’ purpose and contributes to ‘that aim’, yet the research base for many of these claims is painfully thin.
“One of the things strongly supported by the research, however, is that playing creates a sense of happiness and brings people together. I see that as more than a valued reason for setting time aside to play.”"
What insights do you glean from children? What is it like to work with children?
Children surprise me all the time! And every time that happens, I tell myself I should not have been surprised. If I had to pick one thing, though, I would say that I am constantly reminded of how capable children are at dealing with their own lives. Working ‘with’ is very different to working ‘for’, and it must be acknowledged that not all adults are capable of this. Working with is a much more equitable and realistic style of being a part of children’s lives.
What role do you think play should have in early years education? What role should play have in the lives of children and young people?
Again, this is a tricky one as the evidence for play in term of learning is not as strong as people might wish. However, one strongly supported facet is that it provides a holistic link to learning – meaning that it enables very disparate ideas and experiences to be combined into a whole. In that sense, play may be more about consolidating what has already been learnt than it is about learning per se. That requires time for it to work and so I would suggest that having adequate time to play in a learning context provides an opportunity for children and young people to make sense of what they are learning.
You began your professional career as a playworker in the early 1980s. What was the perception of play then? Do you think play has changed, or moreover, has the way society views play changed?
As the great and good playlorists Iona and Peter Opie pointed out in the 1960s, play stays the same and continuously changes. This apparent contradiction recognises that cultural changes affect the way we play even though the essence of play remains the same. For example, children rarely play the ‘cowboys and Indians’ games prompted by the silver screen of the past, but there are still plenty of shoot ‘em up goody vs baddy games being played today except using the characters and storylines of todays big cinema hits.
We have often read about ‘play being the work of childhood’. What do you think about play being linked to the concept of work? How does this alter the connotations around play? Do you think it is used in a bid for play to be taken more seriously?
I have a paper about this on my website. And the answer is, I don’t think a lot about it! Work has a purpose, play does not – it is one of the key defining features that makes play ‘play’. Play cannot be work, therefore, any attempts to make this link simply diminish what play is. I agree that one of the reasons people make this link is to increase the seriousness of play, and I get that. The only problem with this view is that it actually has the reverse effect because it says play has no worth unless it is work.
What links do you draw between philosophy and play?
I have to be careful with this one because I am actually working on a gig at the moment that is specifically about the link between playing and philosophy. What I would say is that philosophy is a thing you do – it is not a dry theoretical topic; and because children ‘do’ they philosophise every day.
Play is around us all the time, but we sometimes do not engage with it or take the opportunity to. In what ways does play benefit us, throughout the generations?
The philosopher John Wall describes play as ‘being around us all the time but only becoming real when we engage with it’. Yet whereas children seem to find it easy to playfully engage in this way, adults struggle. It may be an increasing sense of being observed and an ‘embarrassment factor’ that leads to this yet the sense of being in a make-believe ‘not-real’ world while playing is one in which mistakes have no real consequences and so is something that benefits adults as much as children. Playing is a time in which we can experiment and leave the pressures of the ‘real-world’ behind.
In the modern western world, children can sometimes use screens and digital interaction from a young age as a form of play. What balance should families aim for, when it concerns different types of play?
The important word here is ‘and’. There is nothing wrong with digital play or using screens as long as that is not all that children are doing. If we had someone playing on the swings all day every day and little else, I would be concerned about that just as much. So, as you say, this is a question of balance rather than an outright ban.
In 2002 you became the first recipient of the Widdowson PhD. Bursary in Culture and Folklore at the University of Sheffield. What research were you involved in? What were the highlights?
My study was about the relationship between playing children, the playground, and the classroom in primary schools. As a result, I visited school playgrounds in fifteen different countries, including the United States, France, and Japan. Probably the biggest take away from that was that the built environment significantly affected what was played there; but as schools around the world are actually very similar, the playing that takes place on school playgrounds is also remarkable similar across the globe.
“One other key point was that schools with the least time set aside for autonomous playing during the school day tended to have poorer educational results than schools with longer playtimes.”
How does play help us understand the social world, our emotional inner world?
Play IS the social world. Although we may play singularly occasionally, the real power of play is in the social aspects of it.
“Playing with others not only involves sharing physical materials and space but also sharing what is in our mind.”
What role does risk have in child’s play?
All aspects of life have risks associated with it, and not physical risks either – social and emotional risks are just as significant. So, in that context, risk is always present, and it is not going to go away.
In what ways can we/should we create opportunities for play?
Time and space are the biggest needs for children in this context, I think. So, in that respect that’s where our role as adults should figure highly. The opportunities come from the combination of time and space.
Childhood creativity. In what ways can we enhance the play environment?
This is a huge question that would take pages to cover! Yet if I had to pick one thing out, I would say plan for constant change. We adults become very comfortable with our spaces and like them ‘just so’ yet what children are looking for are constant new challenges and experiences.
Public play spaces/playgroups. In what ways can they be made more inviting and welcoming for families and community members?
The single most significant factor in whether a public playspace is well used or not is where it is. Smaller spaces, close to home, and away from traffic are much more popular with children and families than larger, destination playgrounds that you have to get to in a car. So, build ‘em small and close.
What intrigues you and keeps you curious about play?
I am, in JRR Tolkien’s words, ‘a painter of leaves.’ You’ll have to look it up!
You do many tours and talks with children, schools and the likes. What draws you to this platform? What do you enjoy most about this type of medium and interaction?
Talking to people about the realities of play is not enough – they need to see it in action as well. Touring with PD gigs gives an opportunity to do that with video and photos. It is simply the most effective way to get the message across to large numbers of people but in a comfortable format. In September, for example, I will be in Tasmania running a whole series of smaller gigs, but together they will amount to around 1,000 people. That’s why I do it this way.
You are a keynote speaker at the upcoming Playgroup Conference. What do you hope to share, inspire, highlight?
Well, that would be telling! You will just have to come along and find out!
Learn more about Marc’s Playwork here
Article by Sinead Halliday