Playground Supervision
Determining Safe And Unsafe Play
The quality of the supervision depends on the quality of the supervisor’s knowledge of safe play behavior. Playground supervisors must be able to recognize unsafe play and hazardous playground conditions and respond accordingly. Supervisors must ensure children’s safety while allowing children to appropriately exercise and develop their motor skills. Determining what is safe, healthy play is not always easy because supervisors need to walk a line between stifling supervision which inhibits children and lax direction which allows children to play with reckless abandon.
Discipline
Playground supervisors need to know appropriate forms of discipline and should be consistent in the disciplinary measures they take. Conflict resolution training is important because supervisors spend much of their time dealing with disagreements, arguments, and even fights. All discipline training measures should be well documented.
Supervisor/Student Ratios
When a child is injured on a playground and the parents retain an attorney, the lawyer’s first question is, "Where was the playground supervisor?". Parents and lawyers want to know how many children were on the playground at the time of the injury, and how many supervisors were present. In liability cases, lawyers have successfully argued that an insufficient number of supervisors can cause playground injuries.
How many supervisors are needed on the playground to assure that children are safe? No specific rules or regulations dictate the number of supervisors needed to guarantee playground safety. Ratios ranging from one supervisor for 40 children to one supervisor for 100 children are commonly thought acceptable.
However, the proper supervision ratio cannot be determined solely on the number of children per supervisor. For example, one adult supervising 30 children playing jump rope might provide sufficient supervision. If the 30 children are playing on climbing equipment spread across the playground, one supervisor might not be enough. It is difficult to adequately supervise multiple play areas, especially when children use climbing equipment or engage in other activities with high injury rates.
To determine the proper ratio of playground supervisors to students, you must consider the age of the children (for preschool age children, supervision ratios are mandated), the size of the playground, and the type of equipment. Other concerns specific to the play site may also bear on staffing decisions.