’Active and safe break’

Preliminary results of SAS breaktime study in Turku

BREAKTIME ACTIVITIES

Some physical activity was mentioned in 130 of 228 stories.

Physical activities are an important part of kids’ breaks. They are mostly GROUP activities and very rarely individual activities.

Conclusion: breaktime activities have both a physical and a social function. According to Pellegrini and Blatcford (2006), breaktime games are an important way of forming new peer groups and maintaining existing ones.

Boys are more keen to playing ball games; girls’ favor other kinds of activities.

*some kids didn’t mention their gender.

Activity Boys Girls All

Ball games (football, basketball…)

39 11 54*

Team games with certain rules (chasing, hide and seek etc.)

10 13 23

Other physical activities with schoolmates (running, skipping, winter play etc.)

15 25 42*

Many of previous categories mentioned

6 3 9

Individual physical activities

1 1 2

Total 71 54 130*

ATTITUDES TOWARDS BREAKTIME ACTIVITIES

1. ’Enjoyers’

• Like to play with others• Feel competent at physical activities• Get along with others• Others usually take them along

2. ’Disappointed’

• Are eager to play with others, BUT…• …their activities are interrupted because of

bullying, arguments with friends etc.• This can lead to withdrawal from activities.• Can be coincidental or more systematic

3. ’Outsiders’

• Are often alone, watching others play• Can be actively rejected by others…• …or simply too shy to go to others.• Usually suffer from being outside others’ activities.

4. ’Reluctant’

• Others would usually take them along, but they…• … often feel that breaktime activities are always the

same and therefore boring• Can also be only temporarily ’low-spirited’ unwilling to

participate games

EXPRESSIONS OF SOCIAL STATUS IN BREAKTIME STORIES

’High social status’

1) Winning, playing well

”He scored 6 times and felt like a champion…”

2) Having friends; belonging to a group

”They played football and had so much fun…”

3) Being the one to start games

”He went to the others and said let’s go and play…”

4) Helping other kids

”She saw a small girl fall and went for help…”

’Low social status’

1) Being rejected by others

”She just sat there watching the others play and have fun…”

2) Being bullied

”They said as always: No, of course you can’t play with us, you’re a loser…”

3) ’The best moment of a rejected kid’: descriptions of a different break

”He’s usually always alone/bullied, but THIS break was something different for him…”

HOW HAVE KIDS USED THE WORD ’FRIEND’ IN BREAKTIME STORIES?

Positive Having friends to play with (19)

Having friends to talk to (11)

Being happy to have friends in the first place (5)

Having many friends/a group of friends (5)

Having a very best friend (5)

Making friends with new people (4)

NB. This concerns only the stories with the word ’friend’. In most stories, the company of others is mentioned, but it’s also been expressed by ’we’, ’us’, ’they’ or by a person’s name.

NegativeNot having any friends (4)

Friends don’t want to be with them (4)

Being lonely when own best friend isn’t there (5)

Having a fight wiht a friend (4)

Wanting to have new friends (2)

BULLYING IS A CHALLENGE FOR BREAKTIME SAFETYDifferent forms of bullying in the stories (n=228)

1) Violence and other physical bullying• Fighting, hitting,shoving (24)• Stealing or destroying someone’s property (2)• Threatening to hurt: ’If you tell someone about this…’ (15)

2) Verbal bullying• Calling names, mocking (28)• Gossip, talking behind someones’ back (6)

3) Indirect bullying• Rejection: ”Invisible kids” (37)• Staring, mimicing, making faces… (3)

Other issues about breaktime bullying mentioned in the stories:

- Being afraid to tell anyone (grown-up) about bullying because of the possible consequences- Not going to school or wanting to go to another school because of the bullying- Seeing someone else being bullied but not having the courage to intervene

CAN THEY TURN TO ADULTS IF IT’S UNSAFE AT BREAKS?

Descriptions of getting (or not getting) help from adults in the stories…

1) Turning to an adult can solve a difficult situation”The teacher asked all the bullies to come inside. She said: This has got to end. After that, Laura has’nt been

bullied any longer.”

2) Adults can’t always be trusted”When Laura told her teacher about the bullying, teacher just said ’it happens’ and did nothing.”

3) There’s no use in telling adults about difficulties with other kids

”She couldn’t tell anyone about what happened, because the bullies would know and it would only make the situation worse.”

Conclusion: The presence of adults increases the feel of safety at breaks. Thus, adults need to be alert about what’s going on. Bullying isn’t always easy to see. Someone can be scared or hurt even if they don’t say it.

SPENDING BREAKS OUTSIDE

Good things about it• Fresh air, lots of space for different kinds of

activities

• Cheering up for next lesson

• Increasing the level of physical activity

• A chance to socialize in a way that suits best (with a big or a smaller group, with a best friend etc.)

• Experiences of social competence, developing social skills

Not so good things about it• The school surroundings are dull and offer

few possibilities for activity

• There are too little equipment for activities (footballs, skipping ropes, climbing frames…)

• The weather is sometimes bad (cold, rainy…)

• Many chances for bad behavior unnoticed by adults (bullying, violence etc.)

• Are there chances for individual activities?

CONCLUSIONS

• Most kids seem to enjoy breaks – the chance to play and spend time with others

• How to increase breaktime activity level?• To recognise the least active kids / the kids who spend most of the breaks by themselves – and why is it so?• To recognise how kids’ peer group interaction works and what kind of roles they have – are there some

problematic matters in their interaction?• To organise some breaktime activities by adults so, that everyone could participate• To aquire sufficient equipment • To offer more options – also something that could be done alone

• How to increase the feel of safety?• To have sufficient amount of breaktime supervision by adults• To be alert about kids’ behaviour – what is bullying, what is only a game?• To encourage kids to fair play and to take care of each other when needed.