Statistics
There are so many incredible statistics about the power of play. Some of our favourite statistics focusing on education, learning and employment have been sourced from Playground Ideas’ brilliant research review: The Case for Play. Their review, focusing on disadvantaged children and families across the world, found that where play-based learning initiatives were implemented:
- Average monthly earnings increased by 42% over 20 years compared to other children
- Participants achieved 44% higher school graduation rate while the percentage with bachelor degrees increased by 17%
- The individual and social economic benefit was $244,812 per participant over 40 years
- Participants achieved an employment rate 7 times higher than expected based on their level of educational attainment
Indeed, at a return of nearly $8 per $1 invested in play-based interventions for children born into poverty (World Bank, World Development Report 2015) – play should be at the heart of every humanitarian and international development strategy.
On a day to day level, play also has a huge impact on teaching and children’s learning and development. Our own research has found that in primary schools where we implement playground and play-based learning programmes:
- 43% reported a decrease in anti-social behaviour
- 100% of schools noted a reduction in student absenteeism
- 74% of children gave ‘the playground‘ as the reason to attend school
- 98% of schools saw a significant increase in enrolment
- 85% of children learnt new skills
- 83% of teachers saw improvements in children’s behaviour and concentration during classes
And in Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres:
- 71% of ECD centres saw an increase in children’s social skills
- 57% of ECD centres saw a increase in children’s physical skills
Over the next few years we look forward to further developing our Monitoring & Evaluation systems to better understand the long-term impact and benefit of play on the lives of disadvantaged children.
