Let the children play– implementing Play@Changkat programme 

Changkat Changi Secondary School (CCSS) is home to her students. I say this unequivocally –many Changkateers spend more time in school than at home. 

When I first joined CCSS in 2021, I had the immense privilege of knowing John (not real name), who was in Secondary 3. He was a joy of a student to have in PE. Quietly confident, John was a real giant among his friends, standing at a height of 1.90m and having a physique any Rugby player would love to have. But what really caught my eye about John was that he always wore the same pair of torn shoes to school. The challenge has been that John, with feet fitting at US SIZE 15, could not afford his shoes easily, with local vendors not supplying this size, and ordering overseas required more funds and access. His dad had just passed on, and his mum cannot find the time or the resources to help him. 

(Eventually, I managed to locate on Amazon some affordable shoes, and the Admin Manager sorted out the FAS funding required for purchasing shoes till he graduates. This is a positive ending!)

The story of John is one of many in CCSS. Affording necessities can be challenging for some students, and much less need to be said about affording sporting and play experiences. Play@Changkat is hence born to serve our students. 

Play@Changkat is a semi-structured equipment loan programme for students to loan a variety of equipment to play with their friends before school, during recess and after school hours. 

1. What is PLAY@CHANGKAT?

Figure 1: The SOP for loaning equipment. (hassle-free return!)

Figure 2: Play@Changkat during recess time

2. Why Play@Changkat?

In play, students explore, discover and experiment in their environment, with schoolmates and on their movement patterns. (Pasi Salberg, 2019) Why is play so important?

We know intimately why as PE teachers. Growing up, we were playing so much, we made it our career. Conversely, students of the 21st Century continue to be inundated with digital distractions or education conundrums; competing for their time. Consequently, play becomes marginalized. 

In CCSS, we found several students staying in school despite having no other programmes. School is a safe space for them, and playing sports is a wonderful opportunity for them to leverage such time to develop inventive and critical thinking (we loan out types of equipment different from PE SOW to see if how they explore the unfamiliar), while honing communication and collaboration skills.

The PE team wants to offer an array of play experiences to our Changkateers. Not everyone can afford to buy a frisbee to play with friends, nor do we expect students to buy floorball mini-goal posts or sticks for their own collection. Hence the department came together, and with support from the school, we purchased a series of sports equipment tailored to bring variety and connection to the PE curriculum. If it is net-barrier, we explore easy-to-setup nets, short and long rackets and different types of balls for them to connect, extend and challenge our net-barrier physical activities (PAs) (pickleball, badminton and volleyball).  

3. Impact of Play@Changkat over the years – some findings

Here are some findings we have from our implementation. There is cause for collecting student responses and feedback so we can always feed it forward to refine what we do!

Increase in students’ physical wellbeing

Our data showed a 20.1% increase in no. of students exercising more than 4 days per week (Data: student feedback survey 2022 juxtaposed with pre-programme survey on QSE 2021). With the survey in 2022, it showed an immediate increase in the percentage of students engaged in moderate to vigorous physical activities (MVPA) for more than 4 four days, not including PE lessons and CCA days. This is a testament to the direct impact Play@Changkat has on students. The programme enhances student participation with a plenitude of sports with proper educational guidance through SLS and PE lessons;

Increase in students’ social wellbeing

92% of students agree/strongly agree that PLAY@CHANGKAT is helping them get along well with others. This is due to the increased opportunities to play team sports with others. (Data: Student feedback survey 2022)

We also deliberately make them list the friends they are playing with when they sign into the digital loan form. That way, we were able to have data showing which student was always playing sports with which other friends. This turned out especially useful this year with FSBB S1 classes as they were mixing well and could value-add to that. 

Whole school culture engaging in physical activities

In 2022, 728 individual students have participated at least once in the programme. This accounts for 80% of the school population. (Data: Online loan Google form entries 2021 to 2022) At a school population of 900, that is an 80% engagement reach. Everyone loves to play! 

A secondary driver for school attendance

87.6% of students surveyed agree/strongly agree that they like going to school to enjoy playing sports with friends because of Play@changkat. (Data: Student feedback survey 2022) While this may not be the only contributing factor, the vibrancy Play@Changkat brings to the school before lessons in the morning, during recess and after school certainly adds to a wider ecological influence on school attendance. The student management team notes that the school truancy rate has been on a downward trend from 2021 to 2022. 

A values-driven programme in Play@Changkat

97.7% of students have formed the habit of sanitizing the loaned equipment to date.  Equally indicative is the loss of equipment (misplaced or stolen) remained at a low percentage of 8% for all accountable items. (Data: Online loan Google form entries and stock checklist 2021/2022)

This data shows that Play@Changkat, with its digitalization of loaning sports equipment and data engineering, helps the school create and evaluate opportunities for students to enact school values of gratitude, integrity and care (for friends and the environment). 

4. Implementation considerations 

You may already have an existing equipment loan system in your school. I am certain as PE teachers or sports advocates, play is on your mind too, when you think about what value-adds to our next generation. I have thought about what makes Play@Changkat a distinctive programme, and these are my thoughts!

Note: In 2023, we implemented 2 phases to our Play@Changkat programme – Phase 1 involves house leaders loaning equipment during recess only, with close monitoring of the return of equipment (sign in via Google form, with house leaders having access). 

Phase 2 is the original version, for before and after school hours play, students scan QR code and loan directly, and they return without needing to do anything else. (just put it back on the rack)

Call to action – make students sweat for the equipment

In Phase 2, we deliberately put out a QR code to make students scan it, unsupervised. The return process is also unsupervised. Did some students skip the step? You bet. Did they also not return the equipment? Yes. Does the PE department know? Yes! Do we now have the impetus to address value-driven lessons within the programme? For sure! 

In the initial implementation period, I was asked why do I go through the hassle of creating a QR code loan form just for students to wantonly skip it if they wish to. My explanation remains the same – positive discipline can be about creating opportunities for students to learn a lesson without needing to be punitive. I am blessed to have the support of the department to go through SLS lessons on values required in Play@Changkat – integrity, respect for others, and gratitude for the equipment – all drummed in and reinforced during morning assemblies, at PE lessons, and across teachable moments. 

Make equipment selection intentionally connected to PE SOW

Students come to us asking for equipment. ALL. THE. TIME. Instead of acceding to students’ personal preference, what Play@Changkat does differently is to make avail many other sports like badminton, frisbee, floorball, pickleball, skipping ropes, resistance bands, rugby ball, basketball and more – these are related to sports we teach in our SOW! We set a limited quantity on the rack. When one popular sport (like football) runs out, decision-making takes place – either join the game with people they don’t yet know (make new friends), or try a different sport (have a new experience) !

Inspire a shared vision – Play@Changkat is a team effort

One unique selling point about Play@Changkat I get to tell my team members is – We don’t handle the administrative inundation of student requesting for balls now. We save on many man-hours. We spend our time instead on building a stronger sporting culture in CCSS with opportunities to address value lessons about integrity, respect and gratitude.

This year, my colleague roped in house leaders to take charge of phase 1 recess play. With a model for tighter control, we also empowered the house leaders to show their leadership in crowd control, audience engagement, logistics planning and many other soft skills. 

Knowles’ andragogical principles (MS Knowles, 1978) purports that adults orientation to learning is often problem-centered and practical. This offers the opportunity to synergize Play@Changkat’s vision with our own areas of work. We achieve that this year, with a PE colleague who is in charge of house leaders bringing in his expertise to run the programme by empowering house leaders. 

5. Appreciation and gratitude to the Play@Changkat Team

The programme cannot kick off and be consistent in its 3 years of implementation without a team of dedicated play enthusiasts in the department. 

The advisor – Our HOD/PE&CCA Mr. Sim Chong Ghee – supported the idea from the get-go, and paved the way from conceptualization to implementation and review. He is a great leader who is not afraid of being in the trenches and leading from the front!

Our valuable member – Mr. Iskandar Ishak, a dear friend – is the key that unlocks the empowerment of house leaders within the Play@Changkat programme. It is now a synergized, coherent collaboration between PE and Student Leadership team of teachers!

Our latest member – Mr. Muhammad Yusuf – just joined CCSS this year and he has been the go-to person for crafting digital landscape for the loan system, exploring platforms to best gather student voices and feedback, while ensuring data collection remains seamless. 

Notable mention goes to each and everyone of our department teachers, who stand with us in implementation and reinforcement of values through SLS, and PE lessons. We can do so much together!

Have a wonderful time promoting play. 

Contributed by

After serving PESTA as an academy officer, Mr Jason Zhuo joined CCSS as the Subject Head /PE&CCA. He co-authored a chapter in the book “CPD for Teaching and Learning in Physical Education Global Lessons from Singapore” on ‘Enhancing Physical Education Using Digital Technologies’. Jason has a strong interest in leveraging technology to deepen assessment practices in PE. You may reach him at zhuo_gensheng@schools.gov.sg to find out more. 

References

• Sahlberg, Pasi, and William Doyle. Let the children play: How more play will save our schools and help children thrive. Oxford University Press, USA, 2019.

• Knowles, Malcolm S. "Andragogy: Adult learning theory in perspective." Community College Review 5, no. 3 (1978): 9-20.

• https://www.routledge.com/CPD-for-Teaching-and-Learning-in-Physical-Education-Global-Lessons-from/Capel-Lawrence-Martens-Rahman/p/book/9780367775896

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