The Role of Recess in Children ’ s Cognitive Performance and School Adjustment

However, a similar trend was observed in a much more rigorously conducted survey in England (Blatchford & Sumpner, 1998). That survey’s nationally representative random sample of primary and secondary schools (1 in 10 of such schools in the country) found uniform erosion of recess time across a 5-year period (1990/1991– 1995/1996). Declines in recess periods were reported in both primary schools (56%) and secondary schools (44%). It is important to note that recess, or breaktime, as it is called in the United Kingdom, is rather uniformly implemented there (Blatchford & Sumpner, 1998); in the United States there is no such uniformity (Pellegrini & Smith, 1993). In the United Kingdom, schools have morning, lunch (called “dinner”), and afternoon breaks. Although British students across all grades have breaks, the duration of the break periods decreases with age: 93 minutes for children in infant school (5 to 7 years of age), 83 minutes for junior school (7–11 years of age), and 77 minutes for secondary school students (11–16 years of age). In the United States, the ways that recess is defined and implemented vary tremendously. Generally, individual schools determine policy for recess. In fact, in 87% of the schools that reported having recess, different practices were observed within the same district (Pellegrini, 2005). In many cases, teachers within the same school varied the time and duration of the recess period; for example, in some cases it was 10 minutes, in others 20 minutes (Pellegrini, 2005). Furthermore, from the data available, we do not know the form that the recess periods took (e.g., we do not know if organized physical education was counted as recess). In short, whatever form recess takes, opportunities for recess are being minimized. The momentum from this trend may be The authors suggest that the recess period