Children\s Empowerment in Play and Nothing to Do - Literature review Example

Name : xxxxxx Tutor : xxxxxxx Title : Article review Institution : xxxxxxx @2010 Article review Any given article has a given prevalent focal topic of consideration. To get to decipher all this, a thorough review of the article will come in handy. The review ought to be done with an understanding of the end result and the goal in mind. The target keeps everything running with an ultimate end result in clear view. This paper shall endeavor to give an understanding of two articles by elucidating the strong points outlined separately with the strong points being brought out in an outright manner. The author’s viewpoint shall also be substantiated so that an actual feel from the writer’s perspective is grasped. This outlay of information is very significant and requires utmost concentration to ensure that what is given as the review findings is generally acceptable and integrated. Thus, a series of efforts need to be put in as well as due concentration. The articles under scrutiny are Children’s empowerment in play by Natalie Canning and Nothing to do: The impact of poverty on pupils learning identities within out-of-school activities by Yolande Muschamp, Kate Bullock, Tess Ridge and Felicity Wikeley. To kick start the whole review the focus shall be put on the article by Natalie Canning. In this particular article on Children’s empowerment in play, the focus is the level of independence and responsibility that can be demonstrated by children in their various play encounters. It underscores the importance of empowerment in the various undertakings by children as they interact and even associate with each other, whether in large groups or smaller ones. It outlines the various game discourses that are intertwined and integrated in the diverse children’s play scoreboards (Canning 2007, p. 228). The importance of the different game contexts is also elucidated. This, the author reiterates, is in terms of the benefits realized especially on the children’s social, emotional and mental development as a result of these expeditious play excurses. She goes a step further to indicate the need for adult non-involvement in the children’s plays and interactions so as to enhance independence and self-growth and actualization. It is stern in ensuring that the growth of the child is holistic and all rounded without a leniency on one end (Canning 2007, p. 231). The significance of varied social relationships in personal growth quest is also cemented in this artistic piece with the special touch of reliable statistics. The author also skillfully brings the role of adult involvement into the limelight by highlighting the adult agenda in the play scenario and how disempowering this could prove to be. The key things that are put to light by this article are social development, child autonomy in play exquisites, child empowerment and resultant emotional development. It is indeed true and unwaveringly significant that play is highly essential in the general growth and development of a child. Play gets to expose the child into taking responsibilities, interacting with others in a considerably meaningful manner and in taking ad hoc decisions as the game continues. Canning states that this endeavor could actually be reached through the justified and responsible involvement of the practitioners. The article concretizes the need for the various play processions in the general well being of the child. By defining play as an incisive investigation and deliberate indulgence into unraveling new ways of carrying out activities and coming up with imaginative problem-handling skills, Canning shows the broadness of play in a child’s life. The research by Canning is banked on the fact that play is indispensably necessary in a child’s life and carries a lot of weight in his or her development. Therefore, the need to evaluate this very needful very highly neglected part of the child’s life becomes unwarrantedly outright. The research endeavors to bring out undisputable truths about play and its part in a child’s life with due consideration of the immediate environment to them. All that everyone does is brought to light and therefore, this remarkably marks the situational backdrop of game involvement by many. The effort put in by the author clearly demonstrates that a child who doesn’t engage in play ends up being extremely dull and repulsive to the rest as they end up lacking the needful exposure. It thus only becomes tantamount that adequate consideration be put onto demystifying this core part of a child’s growth and development. The engagement by people from all quarters on this research is firmly founded on the premise that for remarkable and commended upbringing sufficient play should be allowed to take due course in the children’s lives. Every good parent ought to understand this so that any unforeseen repercussions do to take their course. The research is aimed at bringing a basic appreciation of play among the upcoming members of the society in the form of children. It is based at the pinnacle on the precept of the empowerment and betterment of any ordinary child through the gradual advancement realized through well coordinated play among the children as they intermingle. The research is also aimed at explaining the various views on the play among children as it is undertaken. As light is shone on the pillars of good play with its benefits among the participants, then an insightful check on the processional analytical view of play is converged in the need for set precautions for safety and general goodwill among the play proponents. This particular research was envisioned to be realized through various means and ways. In this facet, it was seen fit to begin with observation in which case the children were to be observed as they engaged in the various games and then the necessary conclusions drawn as from the way they display their command of the very engagement. These conclusions are in turn used in making deductions that form the basis for the necessary analysis. Having observed and respectively and accordingly concluded, the article indicates that examination of the actual discourses then follows. The examination is actually a continuation of the observation but in this case, the intrinsic potential of the participants in the games is evaluated. The children’s propensity in executing their learnt skills and tactics of survival are found necessary I highlighting the outcome of the discourse examination. The knowledge base and the ideology established is scrutinized to attain the actual contribution of the games that the children shall have taken part in. In addition to these, the author still considers one-on-one interaction to be very vital and thereby, very viable in this utility. All these modes of garnering information were to form the firm basis for resolving the mystery at hand with respect to the children and their play indulgences. The research indicated, in deduction that children indeed do need to play and indulge in various games. These were found to be extremely useful in the holistic development and formation of the children. The children get to know how to responsibly interact and deal with issues. With a hands-off engagement of the adults, the children get to understand how best to interrelate, and thus promoting interdependence. It was also observed that children, though they need guidance, need to spend some alone with a prototype of the society in their disposal. This sharpens their coordination skills and abilities with the main focus on the maturity and reasoning capability. The research did indicate that unity among children is mainly enhanced as they get involved in games. The author concluded that play enables the young people to get into a pursuit for the need of unity and cooperation. They get to develop as they explore the various contexts that adequately do require their unswerving participation with the outcome clearly getting dealt with. Canning concludes that games, and plays, generally validate self definition and uniqueness building among the children, slowly cultivating a sense of purpose and belonging. From the above conclusions, it is very clear that the research’s goals and targets are met and thus fulfilling the long term aim of building responsible people for the next generation. This article paints a positive picture of the children games. This is founded on the grounds of enhanced fitness and least home disturbances. In addition to this, it is also clear that the children having learnt how to take good care of their interests, start venturing into more sensible engagements to bring them to another place (Sutton 1997). The research targeted at getting the children empowered in the easiest and less costly means possible. The concept of game empowerment is a very cost-effective tool for reaching out to most children who could not really understand the usual formal settings. This methodology also enhances the promotion of informality with an increased ease to interact without having necessarily come to the need of being extra cautious in communication. With enhanced openness a lot is learnt from each other. Thus, there is the strength of numbers. The way and manner, in which Natalie Canning has presented her work, marrying her work, line of thought and even the various findings in concretizing her point on the very topic of discussion, have worked in acclaiming her entire approach. The method used of deriving sense from other available resources on the same topic grant her extra credibility and thus, this brings the entire discussion easily and very clearly in the eyes of the reader. The conclusion drawn by the author on the subject is openly reached at by the rigorous research undertaken prior. All the factual evidence and the illustrations given in the article work to establish and strengthen the conclusions reached. The conclusion isn’t reached just from the air but is aligned by the long array of evidence through research. The research highlights the importance of playing the games. In the conclusion, Canning outlines that play engagements are vitally important for the wholesome development of a child, from any background. The data given in the body of the article makes one start preparing for the conclusion to be reached at the end. Back at home, it has been known that those children, who play in whatever way, end up very hyper in their daily endeavors hence they are always up to task. Statistics have still profoundly indicated that “…too much work without play…” slogan is the ultimate. In any home also, the parents will prefer interacting and even sending those children who are always at the ready to do such tasks and in the shortest time possible. With such an outlook in mind, play must be advocated for as it results in such magnanimous outcomes among the children fraternity. Having personally been a beneficiary of such play activities, then advocating for such an array of activities wasn’t a big deal. The fruits thereof were known in advance and they were lucrative and attractive enough. The next article under focus is the one by Yolande Muschamp, Kate Bullock, Tess Ridge and Felicity Wikeley. This article brings to picture the findings of a project that explored the involvement of children in out-of-school leisure activities. The experiences of those children thriving in poverty were paralleled with those of their affluent counterparts. Given the backdrop of little awareness on what exactly happens in places beyond the confines of the school, the research became necessary to facilitate the realization of the longed for understanding and deserved reorganization. The project outlines the varied but substantial concerns that do coexist in our public school curricular (Muschamp et al 2009, p.306). It is noteworthy that the authors, on thorough review, concluded that the education system in our public have faltered on this very core premise of ensuring quality and quantity impartation of the children while at school. This, in as much it s expected to form the basis of any focused nation, has proven to be the destabilizing factor on the part of the National Education Review Department. With all these in mind, it has gotten to be significantly important that all these are brought into the required spotlight so as to ensure that the actual balance and breadth required in an education system is actually realized. The focus therefore, is not on the propagators of the education but on the proponents who in turn prove to be the beneficiaries. This extensive research outlines the fact that learning away from the classroom is a relatively virgin area of study world over. Many a times, the focus is taken to other more promising fields with the perspective being different, but this research was undertaken with the sight of the outcome. It was carried out with the socio-cultural perspective and not any other. The authors have endeavored to demystify the dominant tragedy of poverty that has continually eaten up all the deserved efforts put into ensuring that the student becomes a wholesomely all rounded person with a clear view of life and not with undue biases. The decadence in the society that is as a result of the varied tentacles of the scrupled awareness on the progress of children development even they undergo the normalized system of education. Identity, which is one of the key most complexities that have had to be grappled with among these children, has manifested itself once again with even greater stride. The focus was consequently directed to the necessary walk of determining the various perspectives that become prevalent due to the factors in place and in the loop. With poverty in the being and children at the focal position of being duly affected, then it is reason enough to focus resources so as to reclaim the situation if not to save the whole of it. Children have fallen prey to various undue education systems which have resulted from poor planning and even poor follow-up by the concerned parties. When poverty is in the picture and yet the children are the ground recipients, then indeed the alarm is already on. This reality facilitated the carrying out of this research so as to demystify the various strategies that have been implemented in the quest for the alleviation of this worrying state. What is advocated for is the understanding if the actual repercussions upon the very children. This is justifiable inescapable as it ensures that the poverty that has crept so much into the system doesn’t adversely affect the learning students. The worrying state of our schools necessitated the digging deeper into getting to know the identities of the learning patterns. The research was aimed at bringing some sense of understanding into the whole learning identity issue with actual realization of the role that is significantly played by poverty that has highly eaten up the expectations set by various propagators of the beneficial system (Muschamp et al 2009, p. 309). The form in which this whole pursuit is realized proves very vital with the actualization of the fact that poverty can actually bring prosperity or progressive degradation. To realize this, the authors embarked on the whole project by carrying out a survey of the population with the construction of a typology for further scrutiny. The children were then accordingly grouped in accordance to the prevalent factors in the place away from school. Afterwards, the responses of the children on the various issues as weighty as they could be were analyzed for disposition to the events surmounting the participants. From this, various perceptions on the qualities of the partakers were utilized in the image construction of the ideal person with repute. With this trail of events, what was realized saw the being of a fruitful research. The research led to the being of a reliable output in this quest. The poverty index was noted to be a very crucial contributor to the general being of the children at school and even in the pursuit of education away from physical classrooms (Ball 1997, p. 320). The findings of the research revealed the participation and role played by every population member. The various friends that are made in the other sites were differently analyzed to reflect the true picture of structuring in the general network trend. The authors, on carrying out the research concluded that there is a very high correlation between poverty and children performance in their learning especially away from classrooms. This indicated a true picture of growth and development among the children. The less structured activities that were engaged in by the children in the procession of the research enhanced the actual endowment of the concerned parties. The research saw the realization of how crucial poverty is in any given education or learning set up. The end result was seen to be a confirmation of the desired goal and aim. The quest is duly justifiable on grounds that so many children have suffered in the hands of poverty and unscrupulous conditions that in their harshness led to the thrilling factual evidence of devastation. The findings did place the whole matter into perspective. The facts that were profoundly gotten do concur with the entire authors’ goals. Given the prevalent information on the plight of those children who are subjected to undue circumstances just because of the given misapplied policies, then what ensues is a serious systematic analysis with the focus on its alleviation. A lot of what has been happening has indicated that most people want this urgently dealt with to ensure that there is comfort at the end of it all. Bibliography Ball, S. J. 1997, ‘Good school/bad school: paradox and fabrication’, British Journal of Sociology of Education, Vol. 18, No.3, pp. 317–336. Canning, Natalie 2007, ‘Children’s empowerment in play’, European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, Vol. 15, No. 2, pp. 227-236. Muschamp, Yolande; Bullock, Kate; Ridge, Tess and Wikeley, Felicity 2009, ‘Nothing to do: the impact of poverty on pupils’ learning identities within out-of-school activities’, British Educational Research Journal, Vol. 35, No. 2, pp. 305–321. 1. Sutton Smith, B. 1997, The ambiguity of play Read More