Making the Case for Play: Gathering the Evidence
- Published 1st Feb 2002
- Category: Food, Play and School Inclusion
The review presented here was undertaken by the New Policy Institute throughout the Summer and early Autumn of 2001. This project is part of the Children’s Play Council’s work for the DCMS which is primarily aimed at establishing how play and play initiatives can help to support wider government policies and objectives.
The objectives of the review were to:
- Assess the published data relating to the UK’s progress in meeting Article 31(2) of the UN Convention on the rights of the Child, regarding the rights of children and young people and the provision of opportunities for their cultural, artistic, recreational and leisure activities
- Create an up-to-date record of the evidence that exists to substantiate the arguments for play, on the basis of a wide-ranging review of the literature
- Establish an initial consensus on the benefits of play and the value of play provision than can link specialists, both practitioners and researchers, and non-specialists, including civil servants both within the DCMS and elsewhere in the government.
- Identify a small number of exemplar play projects that have been developed to support the Government’s policy objectives.
About this report
This report was funded by the Children's Play Council and written by Issy Cole-Hamilton, Andrew Harrop and Cathy Street . The facts presented and views expressed in this report are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the funder.