City of Leeds: Play Sufficiency, Trailblazers

This is an abridged version of a fuller interview hosted on our website with Karen (Active Leeds and Jen (Child Friendly Leeds) who led on Leeds First Play Sufficiency Assessment.

Ben: It sounds like multiple experiences and associations were coalescing toward play as an innovative response. It must have been exciting and frustrating in equal measure. Play sufficiency as an organising principle can help focus policy, strategy, action and people, but how did you get on board, there is no compulsion to in England in the same way there is in Scotland and Wales.

?Jen: As lockdown restrictions eased, and as a part of our experiences of it, we were even more motivated to champion play and find a way to affect change. Emma Bearman connected our experiences with Ludicology's work, leading to a meeting to discuss the principle of play sufficiency, its assessment, benefits, and how it would support us in affecting change. The concept of play sufficiency is simple, more children playing more of the time who are satisfied with the opportunities available to them. However, the practices involved in that process encompass complex assessments and partnership practices and require collective and multi-disciplinary responses. Play sufficiency is about more than parks and playgrounds. It was clear that working toward satisfactory opportunities for play would include highways, health services, education, housing, and planning. It demanded a holistic, transformational change. Meetings with Ludicology solidified our commitment to this approach. We needed a proper, systems change approach that would bring partners and key stakeholders together, which would generate the place-based research evidence needed to identify need and support the development of recommendations and action plans. So, we went with a clear rationale and proposal to commission Ludicology's Knowledge Transfer, Play Sufficiency package and were successful in gaining funding for Leeds' first Play Sufficiency assessment.

Ben: We were so pleased to be able to work with you. Meeting with you two, Naomi and Emma in those early exploratory meetings, your motivation and eagerness to learn and influence was tangible. It's been a great process too, certainly from our perspective, how’s it been from yours?

Jen: It’s certainly been a journey marked by challenges and triumphs. From putting in the funding bid, to the Get Set Leeds Local Fund, to forming an implementation team and navigating the complexities of the emerging play-sufficiency partnership. We’ve had to cope with disruptions due to COVID-19, but have also been able to build an understanding of the specific context of play for the priority areas and develop some wonderful relationships with most commonly willing and supporting partners. We were lucky that in the earliest months when we were still presenting the concept/assessment to people, hoping they would be happy to help in one way or another, we had some early adopters. Sarah Priestley (Culture Programmes, Leeds City Council), Sally Hall in Public Health and colleagues in Strategic Planning got it right from the beginning and have worked tirelessly to bring play sufficiency to the forefront in any engagements with partners they have had.

Karen: Our work with Ludicology provided the resources and support needed to implement a play sufficiency assessment, detailed methodology, quantitative play satisfaction survey, qualitative research workshop, research tools and session plans, project action plan etc. The play sufficiency assessment though is done by us, or more accurately by the Play Sufficiency Implementation team. That team consists of core members from Active Leeds and Naomi from Fall into Place.

Jen: As we delved into the tasks of phase one, our understanding of play sufficiency grew. We engaged in three parallel processes during this period, policy analysis, aiming to develop a clear understanding of the place of play in strategy, policy and initiative across the city council. Mass participation in play satisfaction surveys for parents and children across our six priority areas to help us understand some of the broad contributory factors of play sufficiency and to identify variations on a locality basis in play sufficiency. The survey results helped us identify target areas for the qualitative research. Finally, we worked really hard to try and bring together professionals from across the city council to form a play sufficiency partnership. This was an incredibly intense work period, but we developed a comprehensive understanding of the policy context and factors contributing to play sufficiency.

Karen: The play satisfaction surveys helped us gain a picture of locality satisfaction levels this helped us to identify specific schools in each of the priority areas to target for qualitative research with children. The catchment of these schools aligns with the postcodes registering various degrees of satisfaction. We identified six schools across six priority areas for research and approached them, hoping to engage them in the project. It was crucial to target a range of localities with different satisfaction rates. Where things seem to be working well, qualitative research can help us determine what specifically contributes to higher satisfaction levels. The same is true for localities with lower satisfaction levels. Surveys help us pinpoint areas for qualitative research, and qualitative research helps us identify factors contributing to increased satisfaction with opportunities for play and which factors appear detrimental to levels of play sufficiency.

Ben: The research workshops with children were only one aspect of the community research though, what else did you do?

?Karen: We did focus groups with parents and carers and focus groups with practitioners who provided services within the community. In total, we conducted research with seven primary schools, two alternative education settings, and one high school. Over 50 hours were spent listening to children. We also held six parent focus groups and five practitioner focus groups. We also did community spatial audits, so we had a really good understanding of the environment. This really helped us empathise in conversations with children, parents and carers and practitioners. We had enough of an understanding of the environment that when people spoke of a place positively or negatively, we were able to use that knowledge to dig deeper into the topic/or issue. It has also meant we can think in detailed and specific ways about what kinds of responses adaptations or interventions might work in any particular context. That last point is the real benefit of hyper-local research like this, you get a real feel for what might work where and for whom, what might be needed to create conditions that support play sufficiency.

The revelations from our qualitative research with children were profound. Discussing play sheds light on its intricate ties with various facets of their lives. From poverty, community layout, traffic dynamics, and school experiences, to housing development, health, and well-being, the interconnectedness was evident. It shed light on children's real lived experiences and surfaced things unknown before the research such as caring responsibilities, and the permissions and constraints to play and roam, as it turns out, play is a linchpin, a central tenet around which multiple policy domains can rally.

Mike: It sounds like even before you have completed your first assessment you are saying that it has begun to have an influence. Can you give any examples?

Karen: The development of the play sufficiency partnership was challenging to initiate but was well worth it. Once started, and as people began to engage, new opportunities arose. In one locality, partners were already seeking funding for some play provision for children. As a result of their involvement with the process, they began to think differently. This led to us collaborating with them to adapt their plans somewhat. We were able to be the link and share the insight that children, front-line practitioners and parents had shared, to help shape how the money for the new play space is utilised to best meet the needs of the community. They are now in the second stage of significant funding that likely better reflects children's desires than their initial plans. This was work we hadn't planned to be involved in, but when research presents such an opportunity, it's hard to decline. So, while planning and Gantt charts are valuable and key to successfully implementing our full assessment, it is essential to seize opportunities as they arise. This approach is key to play sufficiency's success because local groups working in communities need to see the relevance, as do policyholders and the wider city council.

Jen: Ah, that’s a perfect link to this example. When we began the process, as I said I was working with Active Leeds. Through the play sufficiency assessment, we engaged partners and conducted primary research in communities. As a result of their involvement in the play sufficiency partnership and seeing the assessment process unfold and the evidence it’s generated, the value of play was really reinforced as a legitimate outcome (Ben and Mike – feel free to add better wording for what I’m trying to say!). Cllr Fiona Venner (Executive member for Children Social Care and Partnerships ) is a passionate advocate for play and Play Sufficiency. The Children and Families leadership team recognised the need and value in prioritising the recruitment of a Play Strategy Officer in the Child Friendly Leeds team to embed play in strategic plans, policy and practice; to develop our award-winning play street initiative; to coordinate play enabling grants and to review our existing Leeds Commitment to play. The job description emphasizes a continued focus on Play Sufficiency. I am now the play strategy lead for Child-Friendly Leeds, a position that may not have existed without our dedication to the play sufficiency process. Play also came out as a strong priority to children and families through a city-wide consultation to find out what would make Leeds a better city for them grow up in. Their feedback was grouped together to form our 12 wishes: Wish number 2 is all about children having safe spaces to play. We’re delighted that this is now also a priority in the refreshed Children and Young People’s Plan.

?Karen: Engaging individuals in the play sufficiency partnership and the associated training has been foundational. It has significantly promoted play sufficiency and fostered understanding across professional domains and policy portfolios. Early adopters in children and young people's services and health have been instrumental. These officers quickly recognized a gap in our overarching children and young people's plans and health and well-being plans, which previously said little about children's play. Now, they do. Those officers who received training then extend their networks and champion play sufficiency. It's still early days, but we're already observing changes.

?Jen: Because we were researching with children in communities, we influenced the type of equipment installed in a local park. It was really powerful to have the voice of young people articulating the type of provision they wanted and what was really important to them. Parks and Countryside took this feedback from children onboard and pushed the boundaries to what might usually be in a local park in this type of area. This experience highlights the importance of challenging established mindsets. Officers have acknowledged this approach as a success.

?Karen: Once people understand the principle and the data we've generated, they often have an "aha" moment. They begin to see the relevance of their work and how the data can inform it. For instance, a housing manager recognised that small shifts in practices could make spaces around high-rise accommodations more inviting for children to play. She's now advocating for these changes across various housing and planning meetings, bringing a fresh perspective to the process. This shift underscores how play is everyone's responsibility. When there are advocates and champions across policy domains, more can be achieved than when play is solely seen as a task for the children and young people's team.

?Jen: One of the things about play sufficiency is that it has its own lexicon. It comes with a set of conceptual tools or frameworks. It adopts a specific construct of childhood, play, and spatial justice. All these elements form a play sufficiency narrative that differs from the dominant box in which children and play typically reside. The essence of play sufficiency is partnership, it fosters collaboration and drives positive change. Reflecting on our early days, rallying support for play sufficiency was an uphill battle. But having built support in some really key departments and as understanding deepens, people have really started to get on board, they can see the potential, and it’s exciting. We're starting to grasp the range of factors across various policy domains that influence children's and families' experiences of play. This understanding helps us determine what conditions we might want to create in neighbourhoods to improve the play experience. When we talk to the officer responsible for the city's ambition, who is brilliant, by the way, we can reel off quotes from children or parents in different localities that speak to their experience. This approach elevates play from being something often overlooked to something of strategic importance. It's crucial for people working at the policy and strategy level to see how this is relevant to affecting change and how it can manifest at the policy and strategy level.

Check out the full article here: https://ludicology.com/store-room/city-of-leeds-play-sufficiency-trailblazers/