Exploring Extreme Weather and Recess Policies, Practices, and Procedures in the Canadian Context

Brenton L. G. Button () and Gina Martin
Additional contact information
Brenton L. G. Button: Faculty of Education, University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, MB R3B 2E9, Canada
Gina Martin: Faculty of Health Disciplines, Athabasca University, Athabasca, AB T9S 3A3, Canada

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to explore the different policies, practices, and procedures that are used on weather and recess in the Canadian context. Fifty school websites were examined, and ten key informants were interviewed. Policies, practices, and procedures from school websites were downloaded, and interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using a qualitative content analysis. Fourteen schools had an outwardly facing policy, practice, or procedure for weather and recess. Cold temperatures were the most often cited reason for modifying recess to be indoors, with temperatures ranging from −20 to −40 for complete indoor recess. Precipitation was only found in four online documents but was mentioned as a reason to modify recess by all key informants. Additionally, key informants discussed variability in how recess policies, practices, and procedures were followed. The findings of this study illustrate inconsistencies in both formal and informal school weather and recess policies. With outdoor recess providing numerous opportunities to improve various domains of well-being, it is pertinent to understand the conditions on which it is being modified.

Keywords: recess; policy; well-being; weather; child (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/1/814/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/1/814/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:1:p:814-:d:1022303

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().