Summary: | The purpose of this study is to explore active after-school teacher’s perceptions of the concept of meaningful leisure time. The purpose of the study is also to investigate if the interpretations of meaningful leisure time affect the perception of their work roles and after-school teacher’s actual work in a leisure activity. The study also provides an insight into how afterschool teachers perceive their roles in general. The study is based on qualitative interviews on five after-school teachers from four different schools in a municipality in Sweden. The results of the study show that the respondents interpret the concept of meaningful leisure-time in both similar and different ways. A common perception among the respondents is that meaningful leisure-time activities is important for social and emotional development and learning. The children can together with the after-school teachers create meaningfulness that may be considered as a meaningful leisure time. The study also shows that the respondents understanding of meaningful leisure time affect the perception of their work roles and vice versa.Keywords: Meaningful leisure time, recreation, after-school teacher, perceptions of the concept of meaningful leisure time.
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