Tim Gill Joins the Proludic seminar programme

Tim Gill is one of the UK’s leading thinkers on childhood. His work focuses on children’s play and free time. Tim’s book No Fear: Growing up in a risk-averse society was published in 2007 and he is the co-author of the Government-sponsored publication Managing Risk in Play Provision: Implementation Guide. He appears regularly on radio and television, and writes for the mainstream and specialist press.

Tim has advised political parties and think tanks across the political spectrum, and has carried out consultancies for major NGOs and public bodies including the Mayor of London and the Forestry Commission. He is an enabler for the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE). In 2002, while Director of the Children’s Play Council (now Play England) Tim led the first ever Government-sponsored review of children’s play. His website is www.rethinkingchildhood.com.

Tim’s presentation

Tim will argue that childhood is being undermined by the growth of risk aversion. This has led to restrictions on children’s play that constrain their learning, damage their health and prevent them from enjoying their play and free time.

Tim believes that play providers can and should overcome their fears, change their approach and offer children a better diet of play experiences, in spaces that embrace adventure, challenge and a degree of risk. At the heart of this new approach are two crucial moves: the move from risk assessment to risk-benefit assessment, and the move to place risk management where it belongs: with providers themselves. Tim’s talk will show how risk-benefit assessment can loosen the stranglehold of risk aversion and help providers to strike a better balance between protecting children from genuine threats and giving them rich, challenging opportunities through which to learn and grow.

Spaces are limited, for more information and to book your place please email us:
email Proludic
or call our main number: 0115 982 3980

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