Welcome to the Breaktime Project website!

This web site will report on our ongoing research about breaktimes in primary and secondary schools in the UK. Our current project, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, is an independent national survey of break and lunch times in primary and secondary schools. Systematic information on breaktimes is not collected by the DfES or any other organisation and thus there is little understanding about these important aspects of school.

New Research Report Available - CLICK HERE!

This project is jointly directed by Professor Peter Blatchford and Dr Ed Baines based at the Institute of Education, University of London. It will follow up a national survey conducted by Prof. Blatchford 10 years ago which identified marked changes in the school day, the reduction and abolition of lunch and the afternoon break, and the suggestion that pupil behaviour out of school had worsened. Since then further changes have taken place in schools (e.g. extended school services, and community use, after school clubs and further adjustments to breaktime) and we are keen to identify the extent of these changes. Results from this research will help share practice across schools and will inform management decisions and educational and social policy about breaktime and school.

Further information about this project and the downloadable questionnaires are available via the buttons above.