Table IV.

Teachers’ perceptions of their roles in guiding children’s outdoor play

	Example Quote
Balancing benefits and barriers and decisions whether to go outdoors	C1: You know, It’s all the teacher’s decision of how much time they’re gonna get and how much they’re gonna do. What things they are gonna do with them. Some teachers just aren’t into that and some teachers are into that. So it depends. C2: I can go out but it’s really up to the (individual) teacher whether or not they want to go out. If it’s (the rain is) really light, I think I’d keep my kids outside if it’s warm enough. If it’s cold, I’m not gonna take them out. C3: They are supposed to go out everyday. But whether they do or not, It is not always regulated at our center.
Teacher as gatekeeper-deciding whether or not to go outside	C4: Because some of them (teachers) have a headache, or you didn’t have a good day, or you think it’s too hot for you or you think it’s too cold, or you just don’t feel like going outside—And because you can have that pull at that time to say whether or not you are going to go, then you take advantage of the situation and then you don’t go, not keeping the children in mind. C5: I have one teacher in our center. I have to ask her, ‘Are you gonna take your kids out?’ … She will call (our classroom) and say, ‘I’m not coming outside’. I’m like, ‘Why isn’t she coming outside?’ But she never wants to come outside. I have never seen her take her kids on walks. We go on walks everyday and we play outside everyday. I don’t understand that. C6: In this instance it was because the director had left the center for a meeting. It was (supposed to be) outside time after lunch time. Lunch was starting out, cots were out, bathroom is done, so they were on their cot 30–45 min earlier ‘cause outside (time) was skipped. That was for the teacher to be able to sit down and relax for herself during their whole nap time. They didn’t use the muscle room. They didn’t do anything. Long nap. C7: When I got sent to be with her (an older, more experienced teacher) one time, just to fill in for a minute, and I am like, ‘Oh man, she don’t like to go outside!!’ It’s just a small little room that she’s in and it’s just like, ‘I know these kids want to go outside. I want to go outside! Their parents want (them) to go outside!’ But I don’t, I don’t say anything ‘cause I know she doesn’t. She’ll say, ‘Well, I don’t want to have to write the incident report’. C8: I started there in like December and we didn’t go outside, like outside to a playground anywhere, I don’t know, it was a while! We had a nice day maybe in February some time. But when it was real cold, there is no where to go to. Like ‘cause you don’t want to go to the playground with the snow. There wasn’t a point. C9: The kids never went out. The teacher that was under her she told me she said, (whispering, as if a secret) ‘She never goes out’… . As it got closer to the end of the year again and closer to May again and started getting warmer, I didn’t want to stay inside. I wanted to get out! And she never wanted to!
Teacher as gatekeeper-restricting access to equipment and parts of playground	C10: Some teachers don’t care if you dig in the mud. Some do. Especially at this other center I worked at. I said, ‘OK, you guys can dig’ and then the assistant director would come out, ‘Don’t dig in the mud’. Then the director would come out, ‘they can dig in the mud’. It’s all the adult’. C11: She’s very nervous about playground and she plays, you know, police patrol, playground patrol. You know, ‘Don’t do this, don’t do that. Don’t do this’. So kind of making restrictions for the kids … Yeah, restricting their natural instincts’. C12: I remember one teacher I worked with about 2 years ago and she didn’t like the kids to be on the swings very much. Why did she feel that way? She felt that it was a safety hazard. I don’t know if she had a bad experience with a child or what … I felt that they are never gonna swing if we wait until they get to college!
Spectrum of teacher roles on playground	¶C13: Well I’ve experienced, I’ve experienced teachers who didn’t want to go out and I’ve experienced those that were very eager. So I’ve been on both sides of the fence. Moderator: How does it work when you have to work with a teacher that doesn’t like to go outside? How does that impact you? They go (outside) but sometimes it’s not so pleasant (few chuckles). They really stand on the fence because they don’t want to really be out there
Teacher as facilitator	¶C14: If I see a child alone, I’ll encourage some of the older children to play with them so that’s he not just sitting and not using all of his gross muscles … Some children don’t always want to participate when we’re doing songs or dancing. And I’ll ask them to try it. Some of my 3 year olds are kind of reluctant to do the tumbling mats but then they try it when they see the older children. I’ll say, ‘Would you like to help?’ I’ll just hold their hand and then they feel secure enough and confident enough that they can proceed. C15: I like to play with them. I get out and throw a ball, I run, I jump rope. I do whatever they do … That’s my biggest thing is to interact with them so they can see an adult can have fun as well. C16: I just kind of walk around and depending on the child and what their energy level is, I’ll try to get them … if they have a lot of energy, maybe throwing a ball or whatever. I also encourage a lot of nature ‘cause we have a lot of acorns all over. We actually don’t have a playground. We just have a parking lot … Also dramatic play, I try to encourage that. We pretend I was a gas station attendant. We try to do dramatic play outside. Also get them to run around and play sports.
Teacher as chaperones	¶C17: The outside time, I like it to be not teacher-directed… We have some little alcoves in the playground equipment where there are little benches and they (children) go and sit in there and they’re just chat with each other. I’d love to be a little ant and listen to what’s going on. So I would like it to just be open and not so directed and just sit back and kind of observe. C18: I typically don’t play with them much when they’re outside just for supervision reasons. It’s hard to notice everything that’s going on if you’re engaged a lot with a group of children. C19: You don’t want to have too much teacher direction on the playground … the playground is really their time. Yes, provide them with things to get them started but I don’t like to take a very active role on the playground. I let them lead me, if I get involved. It’s their time. C20: I think that outside time is their time. If they’re not doing anything, yes I am gonna try to help them find something, but I haven’t run into that problem! When they’re outside, they find something to do. I think that’s their 45 min, hour for them to choose what they want to do and run and play. I’m gonna pretty much guide you all day long but when you’re outside, you deserve to pick your own things to do now.
Teacher as gatekeeper-teachers distracted or disengaged	¶C21: This teacher, she just was like really old, I think it was the end of her career and she was just one of the teachers that just sat. You know, whatever the activity, she would just move her chair from here to here to here … and just sat. She didn’t really interact with the kids, never went out … and the kids were really suffering ‘cause they were really disruptive … and their focus… . they didn’t have any focus… So they came to my class …the next year, she would say, ‘This is a problem child, this is a problem child, this is a problem child’. And all the problem was they just needed to go outside and run and play and stuff. C22: I think for the most part a lot of teachers, that’s their free time (outside time)… They basically just stand back and if they see them doing something, they’ll yell it across the area. Or very rarely will they go up … and put somebody in time-out… I don’t think a lot of teachers interact with kids when they’re outside. They mostly just observe them for safety purposes. C23: I have a coworker that I’ll be standing there at the tree house you know, helping them go up and down, and she will sit behind me on the bench and sit there and talk. So when the kids are done with the tree house, I’ll move to another toy and work with them on that and she’ll follow me and sit behind me there and talk. C24: A: And they just choose to sit in the yard, watch, talk on their cell phones … and let the kids watch themselves (lots of talking) and eat mulch and whatever else is on the ground … If it’s a person (staff member) you haven’t seen all day long and your outside time is the same time, you’re gonna text that person or you are gonna get to the gate where they are and start talking. The children just do what they want to do.