When is it work? Perceptions of six year old children

Issue title: Work Practice in Australia

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Chapparo, Christine J. | Hooper, Elizabeth

Affiliations: School of Occupation and Leisure Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, The University of Sydney, East St., Lidcombe, NSW, 1825, Australia

Note: [] Corresponding author: Tel.: +61 2 9351 9206; Fax: +61 2 9351 9197; E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract: A naturalistic study was undertaken to explore six-year-old children's perceptions of work in their school day. Twenty-four Year One children enrolled in an infants' school, located in Southern Sydney were involved. Participant observation and focus group interviewing were used to elicit descriptive information. A fishing game, drawing activity and excerpts from a videotape of their day at school were used as stimuli to capture how children categorised and attributed meaning to their own work performance. The findings revealed that these children had well-developed ideas about what is work. They employed a highly individual classification process to determine which occupations were work versus play, self-care and rest, resulting in differences of opinion among the children. This process was based on four factors: the physical and social environment, the type of task being performed, personal meaning attributed to the task and the child's perceived level of control.

Journal: Work, vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 291-302, 2002