Playwork in Practice: Applying the Playwork Lens Across the Children's Workforce - Hardcover

by Ali Wood (Author), Julia Sexton (Author), Jacky Kilvington (Author)

Playwork in Practice introduces the ways that playwork can be used across the children's workforce, including carers, qualified teachers, parents and other adults. You will learn the theoretical and practical aspects of the playwork approach supported by a wealth of research-evidence, this book is for anyone studying playwork or looking to use it in their own practice.

The chapters focus on the following areas where the playwork approach can be applied: behaviour, adult expectations, relationships and inclusion, space, environment and outdoors, age, risk, and resilience, emotions and resilience, health, well-being and gender. Using a reflexive reflective approach, the book offers vivid descriptions of interactions between children and adults in a range of different circumstances and analyses these interactions critically. Each chapter includes a real-life story with analysis based on the authors conversations with carers, playworkers, parents and other adults. The chapters also include reflective questions.

Author Biography

Ali Wood is a freelance playwork consultant. She is currently a director of The Youth Opportunities Board Solihull, has co-managed Meriden Adventure Playground for the last several years and is a trustee of The Playwork Foundation. She has researched and written about all of these endeavours and both trained and assessed related qualifications. She is co-author, with Jacky Kilvington, of Reflective Playwork (Bloomsbury, 2018) and Gender, Sex and Children's Play (Bloomsbury, 2016).

Julia Sexton is Senior Lecturer in Childhood Studies at Sheffield Hallam University, UK. She is a trustee of Pitsmoor Adventure Playground and The Playwork Foundation. She has been involved in playwork for over 35 years, working in various play settings including playschemes, after school clubs, community projects, adventure playgrounds as well as being a playwork trainer and assessor. She has been a primary school teacher, a carer, a family support worker and worked in Special Education.

Jacky Kilvington (now retired) was originally an art teacher in school and a part-qualified, part-time youth worker. She also worked for community recreation as a playworker on holiday playschemes. Subsequently she developed a holiday club for the children of college students and ran an afterschool club. Throughout her career she has worked as a playwork consultant and has designed, written, delivered and assessed material for many of the national playwork qualification providers. She is co-author, with Ali Wood, of Reflective Playwork (Bloomsbury, 2018) and Gender, Sex and Children's Play (Bloomsbury, 2016).