Further Perspectives on Researching Play from a Playwork Perspective

Pete King is currently programme director for the MA Childhood Studies and MA Developmental and Therapeutic Play programmes at Swansea University. Pete’s research, including joint research with Shelly, has been published both nationally and internationally in journals and published books. Pete’s recent publications include the co-authored ‘The Play Cycle: Theory, Research and Application’ with Gordon Sturrock. Shelly Newstead is the Managing Director of Common Threads, a social enterprise which develops playwork theory and practice internationally – www.commonthreads.org.uk. Shelly has worked in the playwork field for more than thirty years as a practitioner, trainer, author, editor, publisher and researcher, currently an Adjunct Research Fellow at Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia. She is the Managing Editor of International Journal of Playwork Practice and the Series Editor for the Routledge Advances in Playwork Research series. Shelly is also the President of the International Council for Children’s Play (ICCP).

Introduction. 1. Playwork in prisons: an exploratory case study. 2. Using Playwork Perspectives and Ethnographic Research To Move Towards an Understanding of Autistic Play Culture. 3. Techniques and methodologies for undertaking research from a playwork perspective in the subject area of toys and gender. 4. Developing a playwork perspective from Dutch research experience. 5. The Power of Stories: Using Narrative Methods in Playwork Research. 6. Imagining Playwork using Sociological Perspectives from Mills, Foucault and Gordon. 7. Dancing with the devil or a means to fulfil potential? Enumeration and playwork. Conclusion.