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Abstract

School playtime exists in varying forms across the world, and there is an extensive evidence-base pointing to its beneficial effects on children. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) recognises these benefits and provides clear guidance to international organisations, including schools, on protecting children’s right to play. However, legislative and societal pressures have led to teacher practices which facilitate the erosion of school playtime. Teachers’ beliefs and their practices are considered to be interlinked and therefore the aim of this systematic literature review is to consolidate existing research on teachers’ views about playtime and consider how these might impact upon children’s access to their play rights in the context of school playtime. This review employs a framework synthesis approach to explore teachers’ views about school playtime. A framework based upon accepted play theory is utilised as an initial model. Seven papers meeting inclusion criteria are considered, with qualitative aspects analysed in order to gain an in-depth understanding of teachers’ views. Findings suggest that teachers largely perceive school playtime as having a range of benefits for children within the domains of cognitive, social, emotional and physical development. These include increased attention, development of friendships, emotional wellbeing and improved physical health. In addition, teachers perceive benefits to themselves, and place value on playtime for providing opportunities for free, undirected play. In conflict with these views, teachers also consider the withdrawal of playtime to be an acceptable practice and an effective means of improving behaviour and learning outcomes. Limitations of the review, implications for policy and practice and directions for future research are considered. Overall, this review indicates that teachers perceive school playtime in a positive light and place significant value on it for a wide range of reasons.

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