Our 2nd Seminar was child's play!

20 Nov 2019

Dr. Annie Cummins presented a paper that draws on findings from her ethnographic study of children's experience of play in after-school settings in Ireland.

Annie discussed the fact that play is an essential component of middle childhood and, therefore, should be considered a core factor for developing quality school-age childcare. Building on Hendricks' fields of relationship model, the paper shows that children's play cultures are influenced by changing constructs of childhood, dominant ideologies about play, inter-generational power structures, availability of play equipment, potential play partners and personal abilities and preferences.