Open AccessHow have adventure playgrounds in the United Kingdom adapted post-March Lockdown in 2020?
Author(s) -
Pete King
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
international journal of playwork practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2689-9124
DOI - 10.25035/ijpp.02.01.05
Subject(s) - adventure , thematic analysis , social distance , service (business) , covid-19 , psychology , sociology , qualitative research , medicine , history , business , social science , marketing , disease , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty) , art history
Adventure playgrounds have been a feature in the United Kingdom since the 1950s. Their growth and development was underpinned by ‘thinking together’, a concept in the Communities of Practice (CoP) approach. In March 2020, the United Kingdom (UK) went into lockdown. This study aimed to find out how adventure playgrounds responded to the Covid-19 situation when they reopened in July 2020. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 18 adventure playground staff from 14 adventure playgrounds. Thematic analysis of the data constructed themes and sub-themes within four main headings: preparation for opening; reduction; targeted service and play behaviour. The results showed how the adventure playgrounds had to re-organise the provision with a reduction in the number of children and young people attending, moving to a more closed-access bookable provision and implementing new policies and procedures to meet the demands of social distancing. This paper reports on the findings of this study and reflects on how the CoP approach has been a feature of the post Covid response of these adventure playgrounds.