As anyone who went to school in the United States can attest to, students don’t receive breaks every hour. To Tim Walker, an American teacher working in Finland, the idea of giving students a 15-minute break every 45 minutes seemed like a waste of time. He decided to get creative with the students’ schedules and teach them for 90 minutes with a 30-minute break at the end.

Just three days into the school year, the teacher received a complaint from one fifth grader who said, “I think I’m going to explode! I’m not used to this schedule.” Once Mr. Walker reversed his schedule alteration, he noticed the students no longer dragged their feet, but instead walked with a spring in their step after returning from the 15-minute break. More importantly, they were extra focused during lessons.

Mr. Walker learned firsthand about Finland’s free play approach to school and learning, which has been the norm in that country since the 1960s. An important part of the break is that students decide how to spend their time. They go out to the playground together or have their break indoors; it doesn’t matter where the students have recess as long as they have free play away from their structured work.

Recess loses the ability to reenergize children if it’s a teacher-directed break time. Recess serves not only as a chance to relax, but as a time of learning important skills, such as cooperation, communication and compromise. While these are skills students need to succeed academically, they are largely learned outside the classroom.

If teachers can stop looking at recess as wasted time, they can stop feeling guilty about cutting instruction short to give their students a break. Perhaps that’s just the thing American schools need to learn from Finland and other countries with high academic success: free play is just as important for learning as listening to a formal lecture in the classroom. And let’s be honest; the teachers benefit from the breaks as well.

To learn more about the connection between frequent breaks, free play and learning essential skills, please contact ListenLoveLearn.

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