ABSTRACT

The basic contention of this study is that risk can be regarded as a term of positive educational significance, depending upon the level of reflectivity we bring to bear upon playground activity. At one level, there are the risks that children experience which, if left unattended, may lead to serious injury. At a second level, we can think about the nature of our interest in the risks that children take and see 'nsk" as a term of our pedagogical relation to children. In doing so, we can put risk at the centre of our reflections on the course of children's playground activity. Then, at a third level of reflection, there are the measured responses we make to the riskiness of children's activity-responses which are intended to help children yet still allow them the latitude to find things out for themselves. These levels at which we can reflect upon the riskiness of children's playground activity show the extent to which we can be personally and practically responsive to the risks that children might take.

The divisions of the study conform to these three levels of reflection. In the first section, which includes Chapters Two and Three, the playground is defined as a place of risk and as a place where one might attend to the meaning of risk in children's lives. The second section of the study, including Chapters Four to Six, shows how to be responsive to the risks of the playground. Key interactions with children are understood in terms of the various ways they can be challenged to take risks and our own ways of encountering the risks of the playground with them. The third section of the study, including Chapters Seven to Ten, serves to put the descriptions of risky playground situations into an educational framework. The interactions that have been considered so far are now described in terms of being in practice with children on playgrounds and seeing the practical consequences of what one does with children on playgrounds. In particular, the practical consequences of this pedagogy of risk are discussed in terms that make sense of the more physical dimensions of the school curriculum.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract

Acknowledgements

I. Introduction 1

The Riskiness of the Playground 3

Defining Risk 8

The Structure of the Study 13

The Place of Risk 16

The Silence of Risk 18

The Atmosphere of Risk 19

The Challenge of Risk 20

The Encounter with Risk 22

The Practice of Risk 24

The Possibility of Risk 25

Pedagogical Considerations 26

Pedagogical Description 28

Pedagogical Method 29

Pedagogical Theory 31

A. AN AWARENESS OF RISK 33

II. The Place of Risk 34

The Safety of the Playground 39

The Supervision of Children 46

The Observation of Children 49

Risky Situations 54

III. The Silence of Risk 61

An Approach of Silence 62

A Silent Procedure 69

The Unspoken Ground 73

Reminiscence 75

Good Memories 79

A Silent Trust 83

B. RESPONSIVENESS TO RISK 86

IV. The Atmosphere of Risk 87

The Texture of Risk 88

Modes of Presence 95

Pedagogic Presence 103

Playground Atmosphere 109

V. The Challenge of Risk 112

The Dare 113

Encouragement 119

Ways Out 127

Limits of Challenge 132

VI. The Encounter With Risk 137

Apprehension 1~8

Becoming Mindful 144

Sensing Danger 149

Letting Go 157

C. THE EDUCATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE OF RISK 159

VII. The Practice of Risk 160

Tricks 161

Repetition 167

Practice 172

Being in Practice 177

VIII. The Possibility of Risk 181

The Playing Field 181

Christine 183

Gerrard 184

Paco 185

Matthew 186

Dorian 187

Beyond the Playground 190

IX. Conclusion 194

Practical Ways of Acting 196

Towards a Curriculum of Risk 201

X. Ten Theses 206

Bibliography 207

© Max van Manen, 2002
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