|
By Penny Wilson and Joan Almon
When adventure playgrounds began in London after World War II they were staffed by “wardens.” They kept the keys for the tool sheds, which held the building materials and bits and pieces that the children needed for their playing. This role rapidly developed as the wardens discovered the wonder of play and became advocates for children's play. They gathered materials and local support and facilitated the play processes of the children. Gradually the wardens became “play leaders” and then “playworkers,” because they understood that they must not be leading the play of children — rather they should be working with play.
The term playwork is a deliberate oxymoron. It is a craft filled with paradoxes, for in an ideal world playworkers would not need to exist. Across Europe and in Japan playworkers manage the spaces for children’s play, but their work needs to be as invisible and unobtrusive as possible. The ideal playworker leaves the children free to play but intervenes in carefully measured ways to support the play process. She is aware of her own playfulness, but does not impose it upon the children. She must necessarily be devoted to the playing of the children, but shun the popular role of Pied Piper. Play is the children’s business, and they need time and space to enter into it.
Playwork in the United Kingdom has become a respected profession with courses, literature and research. Today there are thousands of trained playworkers who have earned vocational certificates, bachelors or masters degrees, or even a doctorate. In the United States, several universities and organizations are promoting playwork via courses and workshops. Among them are: The Alliance for Childhood, KaBOOM!, the International Play Association, Sarah Lawrence College, City University of New York, Bloomsburg University, and North Carolina State University. It is hoped that professional education programs will begin within a few years.
Penny Wilson played in rock-pools by the sea as a child. She studied to be an illustrator, but she discovered playwork, and ran one of London’s inclusive Adventure Playgrounds for many years. She now works for the Play Association Tower Hamlets as the Inclusion Worker, trying to create opportunities for all children to play freely together in one of the busiest, most crowded parts of London. She also works closely with the Alliance for Childhood to establish playwork in the United States.
Joan Almon had a playful childhood and went on to become a Waldorf preschool/kindergarten teacher. Since 1999 she has been chair of the U.S. Alliance for Childhood, a coalition of childhood advocates whose major focus at the moment is the restoration of play to children’s lives, including establishing the profession of playwork in the U.S.
|