Outdoor play: Investigating Early Learning and Childcare practitioner perceptions of risks, benefits and competencies of children aged 2-5 years during the COVID-19 pandemic

This study aims to get a better understanding of how practitioners in Scotland delivering Early Learning and Childcare perceive outdoor play situations in terms of their risks and benefits for children aged 2-5 years. This will help inform the development of outdoor play and learning opportunities for young children in the community as well as in childcare settings.

The dataset has three parts:
1. Demographic information about the practitioner and their childcare setting, including age, gender, and general experience related questions in the childcare sector, predominant age group of responsibility, and childcare setting (urban. Town, rural etc).
2. Practitioner assessment of risk and benefits for 10 visually presented outdoor situations that practitioners may experience with their child(ren) in their childcare centre. Practitioners judged the risk and benefit of each situation using Likert style responses (Completely disagree – Completely agree) and under what conditions they would allow their child to do this activity. For each of the 10 situations practitioners answer up to 7 questions. The questions are the same for each situation but depending on their responses, additional questions could display throughout.