Children’s place in Samoan schools

Abstract

Apart from simply being fun, playgrounds can have versatile benefits; they can contribute to various issues like physical-, cognitive-, motor- and social development plus health in general. This thesis will focus on how playgrounds can serve as a platform for children to create their own community and a place in the school environment. Moreover it will tell how building a playground could work as an awakening and outward statement about children’s place in the school environment. In many primary school classrooms in Samoa there is a visible teacher-student hierarchy. As a student in Child Culture Design I felt interested in researching children’s place in the school environment and how it could be enhanced. In this thesis the research phase will be studied and a special attention will be put on the conclusion that building a play space for children, that they could look at as their own, could enhance their feeling of ownership in the school environment and furthermore how it will affect the children and the society in general. The portfolio will show how the research and development resulted in designing a playground and tell about the unexpected opportunity that unfolded when the design got built as a full size sketch through a community project in the village of Matautu in Lefaga, Samoa. Although the initial outcome was to design a playground the project continued to evolve after the building of the sketch and resulted in a booklet on how to build a playground, intended as inspiration information that could be sent to all primary schools in Samoa.