Explore Play Wales
2025 marks the 20th anniversary of the Playwork Principles. They were developed by the Playwork Principles Scrutiny Group, established by Play Wales, in consultation with the UK playwork sector and adopted in 2005.
The Playwork Principles establish the professional and ethical framework for playwork and as such must be regarded as a whole. They describe what is unique about play and playwork, and provide the playwork perspective for working with children and young people.
Play Wales has commissioned the Childhood Development and Playwork Team at Leeds Beckett University to undertake a survey on how and where the Playwork Principles are used. This will involve surveying the playwork sector nationally and internationally, to identify:
- organisations and stakeholders who have adopted the Playwork Principles or who use the Playwork Principles to inform their work
- organisations that have modified the Playwork Principles for application in their respective setting(s)
- organisations that have adopted alternative forms of guiding principles for playwork.
This research is designed to ascertain how widely and in what settings the Playwork Principles have become adopted 20 years since they were first devised.
This research has been approved by the Playwork Principles Scrutiny Group who hold the Playwork Principles in trust on behalf of the sector.
The survey will be available from early August until the end of December 2025. We are keen for it to be distributed as far and widely as possible, nationally and internationally. We are asking anyone who has any role or responsibility for facilitating play for children in a staffed setting, to complete this survey.
Are you a representative of an organisation with contacts across the children’s workforce who may be applying the Playwork Principles in their practice? Could you help promote the survey? If so, please email the Childhood Development and Playwork Team.