How to make playgrounds more coeducational? A service-learning proposal

Abstract

The recognition of equal rights for all people in legislation is a fact, but according to research, there is still a long way to go to achieve real equality between girls and boys. The school should guarantee this equality of rights, but we see that in school playgrounds there is a great asymmetry in their use. The main goal of this work was to design a playground organization, from a gender perspective, developed through a service-learning (S-L) experience. The SL project is based on a need detected in the school and in order to carry it out it has been essential to have the collaboration of the center, the students, the teaching staff and the management team. The service proposal was designed for a university and the playground space was divided into 6 areas. For the collection of information, different instruments were used (observations, students' evaluation tables, diaries and tools for self-evaluations). The proposed change has made clear that girls and boys play together when the proposals offered are designed taking into account the gender perspective. The members of the school involved were satisfied with the proposal and continued to use it after the end of the service period.