Expectations and Assumptions: Examining the Influence of Staff Culture on a Novel School-Based Intervention to Enable Risky Play for Children with Disabilities

Patricia Grady-Dominguez, Jo Ragen, Julia Sterman, Grace Spencer, Paul Tranter, Michelle Villeneuve and Anita Bundy
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Patricia Grady-Dominguez: Department of Occupational Therapy, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80528, USA
Jo Ragen: Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW 2006, Australia
Julia Sterman: Department of Occupational Therapy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
Grace Spencer: Faculty of Health, Education, Medicine and Social Care, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge CB1 1PT, UK
Paul Tranter: School of Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
Michelle Villeneuve: Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW 2006, Australia
Anita Bundy: Department of Occupational Therapy, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80528, USA

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 3, 1-20

Abstract: Risky play is challenging, exciting play with the possibility of physical, social, or emotional harm. Through risky play, children learn, develop, and experience wellbeing. Children with disabilities have fewer opportunities than their typically developing peers to engage in this beneficial type of play. Our team designed a novel, school-based intervention to address this disparity; however, our intervention yielded unexpected quantitative results. In the present study, we qualitatively examined divergent results at two of the five schools that participated in the intervention. Specifically, we aimed to explore how staff culture (i.e., shared beliefs, values, and practices) influenced the intervention. To explore this relationship, we employed a retrospective, qualitative, multiple case study. We used thematic analysis of evaluative interviews with staff members to elucidate the cultures at each school. Then, we used cross-case analysis to understand the relationships between aspects of staff culture and the intervention’s implementation and results. We found that staff cultures around play, risk, disability influenced the way, and the extent to which, staff were willing to let go and allowed children to engage in risky play. Adults’ beliefs about the purpose of play and recess, as well as their expectations for children with disabilities, particularly influenced the intervention. Furthermore, when the assumptions of the intervention and the staff culture did not align, the intervention could not succeed. The results of this study highlight the importance of (1) evaluating each schools’ unique staff culture before implementing play-focused interventions and (2) tailoring interventions to meet the needs of individual schools.

Keywords: disabilities; play; risky play; school culture; staff culture; teacher perceptions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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