IPA Brasil ‘discovered’ PARS at the first PARS Online Conference in late 2020. Since then, we have formally trained three board members and one staff member in PARS; have translated initial PARS materials to Portuguese; have introduced the model to key stakeholders in the organisation; are testing ways to incorporate it in our training program and developing a roll-out plan to fit the Brazilian context.
In 2004, a large national research project that I led while working at Unilever revealed that only 14% of Brazilian parents of children aged 6-12 spontaneously recognised play as a critical ally in their children’s development. Almost 10 years later, another national survey showed that only 19% of Brazilian parents believed that playing/going for walks was important for the healthy development of children aged
0- 3 years. Although awareness about play has likely grown over the years, there is certainly still woefully little appreciation of the value of children’s play among parents and professionals who interact directly with children in Brazil.
IPA Brasil has been working hard to change this through the development and provision of workshops and courses designed to inform and enable adults to facilitate free play for children and adolescents. The organisation has been recognised with several awards
To begin, there is no word for ‘playwork’ in Portuguese and no recognised profession in Brazil that contemplates this role. To develop our courses and approach, we proudly borrowed and gratefully learned from the experience and literature of the national play organisations in the UK and adopted similar principles. However, over the years, we have found that existing playwork definitions and principles seem to lead many playworkers to get sucked down the rabbit hole of focusing their attention on the act of play: defining it, describing it, analysing it, measuring it, evaluating it, discussing it, etc. Consciously or unconsciously, this results in playworkers only minimally reflecting on their own actions and sometimes almost forgetting about the
PARS presents a fresh, clear way of thinking about what we do as playworkers. PARS at the same time expands and focuses our work. PARS practitioners envision spaces where children can do what they want to do, not play spaces. This is an apparently subtle, but – in our view – incredibly important and meaningful difference. The PARS model of playwork practice is explicitly based on the philosophy of
Importantly, for us at IPA Brasil, given the intense demand of early childhood educators, teachers and social workers for training about play, the PARS model can be embraced and applied by all professionals who interact with children as a complementary practice to their other professional activities. Looking forward, I suggest that playwork
In 2004, a large national research project that I led while working at Unilever revealed that only 14% of Brazilian parents of children aged 6-12 spontaneously recognised play as a critical ally in their children’s development. Almost 10 years later, another national survey showed that only 19% of Brazilian parents believed that playing/going for walks was important for the healthy development of children aged
0- 3 years. Although awareness about play has likely grown over the years, there is certainly still woefully little appreciation of the value of children’s play among parents and professionals who interact directly with children in Brazil.
IPA Brasil has been working hard to change this through the development and provision of workshops and courses designed to inform and enable adults to facilitate free play for children and adolescents. The organisation has been recognised with several awards
for its advocacy and training programs and is now actively sought out for training services by individuals, organisations and governmental and non-governmental agencies across Brasil. Over the last decade, we have delivered training about free play directly to more than 27,000
people. Yet despite this considerable experience and our continuous search for external best practices, references and models, to our frustration, until we discovered PARS, we had never been able to articulate satisfactorily and effectively two critical things:
• a universal philosophy to underpin playwork and
• the actual practice of playworkers.
Discovering PARS was a wonderful “Aha” moment! We are convinced that it is the missing link for further establishing playwork in Brazil as a
Discovering PARS was a wonderful “Aha” moment! We are convinced that it is the missing link for further establishing playwork in Brazil as a
relevant, unique, professional form of adult practice with children. I’ll briefly illustrate how and why this is the case based on our experience.
To begin, there is no word for ‘playwork’ in Portuguese and no recognised profession in Brazil that contemplates this role. To develop our courses and approach, we proudly borrowed and gratefully learned from the experience and literature of the national play organisations in the UK and adopted similar principles. However, over the years, we have found that existing playwork definitions and principles seem to lead many playworkers to get sucked down the rabbit hole of focusing their attention on the act of play: defining it, describing it, analysing it, measuring it, evaluating it, discussing it, etc. Consciously or unconsciously, this results in playworkers only minimally reflecting on their own actions and sometimes almost forgetting about the
child or children playing, and the unique nature of each individual child. As an organisation, we struggle to ensure that our trainees, in their enthusiasm, don’t lose sight of the fact that we are all working on behalf of children – first and foremost – and not play in and of itself.
PARS presents a fresh, clear way of thinking about what we do as playworkers. PARS at the same time expands and focuses our work. PARS practitioners envision spaces where children can do what they want to do, not play spaces. This is an apparently subtle, but – in our view – incredibly important and meaningful difference. The PARS model of playwork practice is explicitly based on the philosophy of
‘childism’ (Wall, 2007, 2022). This describes how adults “take the perspective of the experiences and concerns of childhood” (Wall, 2007, p. 52) when interacting with children. In other words, it asks playworkers to continually try and put themselves in children’s shoes before acting – recognising the intrinsic, unique and different needs and experiences of
children to adults.
PARS therefore creates a different range of interactions and responses from other professional approaches to working with children, because PARS practitioners are constantly questioning whether it is necessary or
possible to prioritise children’s perspectives and knowledge rather than their own. Childism also provides a common basis – or starting point – from which playworkers can explore and evaluate their own actions and discuss their experiences with others that keeps children themselves front and centre.
Incorporating philosophy, theories, techniques and methods, PARS articulates the actual practice of the playworker. Our experience in Brazil is that playworkers frequently feel themselves cloaked in guilt for not
being 'invisible' and frustrated as their role of providing support for and considering the safety of children is not recognised or seen as essential. The PARS model unapologetically contemplates adults and explicitly describes how playworkers may determine ‘necessary’ and
‘unnecessary’ interventions or adulteration in any given situation (Newstead, 2021c, pp. 8–10). In so doing, the model helps alleviate playworkers’ guilt and frustrations and empowers them to provide opportunities for children to play freely in any number of contexts.
Importantly, for us at IPA Brasil, given the intense demand of early childhood educators, teachers and social workers for training about play, the PARS model can be embraced and applied by all professionals who interact with children as a complementary practice to their other professional activities. Looking forward, I suggest that playwork
practitioners may best serve their own profession (and children) by embracing the PARS model as a breakthrough iteration of their craft – one that enables all practitioners, regardless of their background, to articulate, evaluate and further develop their own practice and learn
from others. It offers us a language that values our work and facilitates sharing experiences across geographies and cultures, locally and internationally, in a meaningful and relevant way.
In conclusion, at IPA Brasil we see PARS as a very important way to further up-skill a generally undervalued workforce and enable the continued development of a vibrant, influential national and international PARS community of practice – one that provides the opportunity for more children to engage in more everyday child-led play everywhere.
In conclusion, at IPA Brasil we see PARS as a very important way to further up-skill a generally undervalued workforce and enable the continued development of a vibrant, influential national and international PARS community of practice – one that provides the opportunity for more children to engage in more everyday child-led play everywhere.