Rethinking children’s right to leisure during school holidays

Chambers, S. , Smillie, S. and Watson, N. (2023) Rethinking children’s right to leisure during school holidays. Annals of Leisure Research, (doi: 10.1080/11745398.2023.2250473) (Early Online Publication)

Abstract

Leisure and health are human rights that apply to both children and adults. Leisure can enhance health and enable people to participate fully in leisure activities. One of children’s main opportunities for leisure is during school holidays. Little previous research has focused on this time in children’s lives. This paper presents a review of the literature surrounding school holidays, providing a critique of educational and public health approaches that focus narrowly on children’s future outcomes that may be associated with how they spend their time during these leisure periods. It argues that a more sociological understanding, rooted within child-centred approaches to leisure, provides the opportunity for children’s agency, participation and citizenship to be investigated more fully.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This work was supported by the Medical Research Council under Grant MC_UU_00022/1; the Chief Scientist Office of the Scottish Government Health Directorates under Grant SPHSU16; and by a University of Glasgow College of Social Sciences studentship.
• Status: Early Online Publication
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Watson, Professor Nicholas and Chambers, Dr Stephanie and Smillie, Susie
• Authors: Chambers, S., Smillie, S., and Watson, N.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences; College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Sociology Anthropology and Applied Social Sciences
• Journal Name: Annals of Leisure Research
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• ISSN: 1174-5398
• ISSN (Online): 2159-6816
• Published Online: 05 September 2023
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2023 The Author(s)
• First Published: First published in Annals of Leisure Research 2023
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons license

Project Code	Award No	Project Name	Principal Investigator	Funder's Name	Funder Ref	Lead Dept
304823	1	Complexity in health	Sharon Simpson	Medical Research Council (MRC)	MC_UU_00022/1	HW - MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit
304823	1	Complexity in health	Sharon Simpson	Office of the Chief Scientific Adviser (CSO)	SPHSU16	HW - MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit