Play - Professionals learn the value of play

Play Shaper training is liberating local authorities. Transport planners are designing man-made puddles in pathways for children to splash in, while health professionals are creating childhood obesity strategies based on the virtues of active play.

These are some of the results of the pilot sessions of Play England's national programme to get everyone thinking about the value of play.

The programme is aimed at all professionals with a stake in the spaces where children grow up, such as police, housing, transport and health professionals. Crucially, it is aimed at senior figures and local politicians, as they are the ones holding the purse strings. The aim is to make them appreciate the benefits of play and how it supports their role in creating child-friendly communities.

Tailored training

Led by Play England, the training is being delivered in partnership with the sector skills council Skills-Active and Playwork Partnership, an organisation based at the University of Gloucestershire, which has led the design of the programme.

From this month until March 2011 every local authority can apply for a day of "cross-professional training," which will be tailored to meet the needs of children in that area.

"This is not playwork training. It is training in the value of play," says Catherine Prisk, Play England's assistant director. "We've calculated that by investing in play you can contribute to around 50 of the national indicators that local authorities' performances are measured by."

Prisk highlights an example from the pilots. "In Sheffield the local priorities were obesity and community cohesion. In that case we looked at encouraging more active play and journeys for children," she says. "We also emphasised that consulting with children and families on play spaces makes families closer, brings communities together and gives everyone a stake in where they live."

Educating senior figures with political sway is an important way to ingrain play into the mindsets of councils, underpinned by last year's £235m national play strategy.

"For too long we have excluded children's needs from a wide range of public realm policy issues and simply seen children in public space as a problem that has to be managed," says Lindsay Newton, who leads on play for the Association of Directors of Children's Services.

He says local authorities and children's trusts must use the programme to get the most out of the play strategy "so that more children and families can have more fun, be more active, more often".

Catalyst for change

The one-day sessions are endorsed by SkillsActive, which ensures trainers meet a certain standard. "It reinforces the importance of play as people are learning about it in a professional way," says SkillsActive programme manager Tanny Stobart.

But can attitudes change in a day? "We see it as a catalyst to start the process of change," says Claire Mills, Play Shaper training manager at Playwork Partnerships. "People make connections and get excited about the creative potential play affords."

The average session will include identifying local priorities and going over statutory guidance for children's trusts to ensure agencies work together. But, according to Play England, the real "light-bulb moment" is when everyone imagines a world without play and realises the implications such a place would have on mental and physical health, independence, creativity and wellbeing.

"That's when people realise that play is not just nice, but an essential right for all children," says Prisk.

PLAY TAKES SHAPE - How professionals in Cornwall came together to create change

Cornwall was one of four local authorities that piloted the Play Shaper training in July. This was the second phase of the pilots after nine councils tested the training during the first three months of the year.

Jo Howard, play pathfinder lead for Cornwall, says it was essential that the programme attracted senior figures within the council, such as strategic leads and directors in order to achieve real change.

"High-quality housing with good play space is a priority for us and to ensure we make that happen we need political backing," she says. "It is the politicians who sit on the housing committees, so if they really understand the importance of play they won't accept second-rate housing," she explains.

The training session in Cornwall brought together a number of professionals who may not have previously considered play to be their responsibility, such as those working in highways and transport, housing planners and police.

Howard says they all found common ground through play: "They realised they all care about children's development and the importance of having space to play."

There have already been some promising outcomes. Playworkers are more involved in discussions across the whole council, local police have pledged to talk more about the value of play and make it part of their vocabulary, and highway developers are talking to play professionals to ensure any new roads do not threaten the safety of children playing or walking to their local park.