Not always fun: older children's play worlds in Australian outside school hours care

Abstract

Outside school hours care (OSHC) is an important site of play and leisure for large numbers of primary school-age Australian children. Of the children who attend OSHC, older children (aged 9-12) are frequently constructed as being more difficult to work with than other age groups. The 'difficult older child' seems to be a construction founded on adult understanding of developmental theory. This small, qualitative research project worked with a group of nine older children as co-researchers, and used post-structural theory to seek new understandings of how older children experienced playwork in Australian OSHC. The research revealed that some older children found themselves in environments wh..