Children and young people can spend up to twenty five percent of their total school time in the school grounds. School grounds therefore offer an important resource for learning, play and child development, and to promote positive health and well-being, understanding of the environment, citizenship and physical activity for children. However there is a belief that in many schools the potential of this resource currently lies untapped.
This literature review of existing research undertaken in Scotland, the UK and abroad is the first phase of the Scottish School Grounds Research Project 2002/3 on the use of, and attitudes towards the use of, school grounds in Scotland.
It aims to take a broad look at school grounds research and therefore does not focus on any one particular use or user group.
As well as considering existing school grounds research the review provides a policy context. Therefore in addition to published research and articles from refereed journals, the literature review makes some reference to extended case-studies and unpublished research where it is current and of relevance to the Scottish context. Legislation and policy guidelines are also included where they inform the research project context.
