SCHOOLS that are cutting down on playtime to fit in more lessons risk harming children's social skills, according to a study published today.
Pressure to achieve better exam and test results was the main factor behind the reduction in lunchtime and the increasing abolition of the afternoon break, it says.
Concerns about aggressive television-based games and bullying in the playground are also cited by teachers as reasons for curtailing breaktimes which take up around 24 per cent of the school day for infants, 21 per cent for juniors and 18 per cent for secondary school pupils.
There has been a reduction in breaks at 56 per cent of primary and 44 per cent of secondary schools. But Dr Peter Blatchford, of the Institute of Education, University of London, who conducted the research, says: "Breaktime is most of all a forum for social relations. From the pupils' perspective, breaktime can be the main setting for social life in school."
His study, which followed the same pupils in inner London schools for 10 years, reports that when pupils are freed from the attention of adults and classroom structure, petty squabbles, teasing and name-calling can occur.
"It is also true that on some occasions pupils can be taunted and bullied. But it is also a time when friends, not always in the same class, can meet; a time when they can have fun and construct games in a relatively safe environment; a time when important social networks are formed; a time when they can fall out, but also develop strategies for avoiding conflict."
Pupils themselves generally express a positive view of breaktime because they like to socialise with friends and have a break from work.
Dr Blatchford added: "Pupils were keen to say at 11 and 16 years that much teasing was understood not to be hurtful, but more a part of everyday banter, often between friends."
