I’ve heard about it lots but what is Forest School really?
Forest School is an educational movement which has been growing in the UK since the 1980s. At first a grassroots movement aimed at 3-6 year olds, it now has a national body to govern Forest School activities with the aim of institutionalising it into the educational offer for all children to improve the health of individuals, communities and the natural world. It must be stressed that the Forest School approach is beneficial to anyone at any age including families, persons on the Autistic Spectrum, physically disabled people, people who are lacking in confidence though life experiences, ADHD learners, people suffering addiction and many more groups and communities.
These benefits include but aren’t limited to; a boost in confidence, self awareness, greater resilience, practical skills, healthy risk management, feeling safe a group and having greater self esteem. These attributes lead to a person who is more likely to become involved with their peers and communities and is better able to make safe and healthy life choices.
So what makes something Forest School then?
The Forest School Principles as described by the Forest School Association are:
- Forest School uses a range of learner-centred processes to create a community for development and learning.
- Forest School takes place in a woodland or natural wooded environment to support development or a relationship between the learner and the natural world.
- Forest School aims to promote the holistic development of all those involved, fostering resilient, confident, independent and creative learners.
- Forest School offers learners the opportunity to take supported risks appropriate to the environment and to themselves.
- Forest School is run by qualified Forest School Practitioners who continuously maintain and develop their professional practice.
- Forest School is a long term process of frequent and regular session in a woodland or natural environment, rather than a one-off visit. Planning, adaptation, observations and reviewing are integral elements of Forest School.
We believe that the Forest School approach formalises and brings together the best pedagogical practices developed over many years of studying human development and we wholeheartedly agree with and practice this wherever we can. One of the main factors of Forest School, which distinguishes it from a lot of other outdoor projects, is the longevity of it. For the true impact to be felt and retained by the participants of Forest School it is essential to run the project long term – as long as possible. The other distinguishing feature is the learner-centred approach with the participants being given as much autonomy as possible in the planning of their sessions and what they learn while the Forest School leader sets the tone for an environment open to experimentation and acceptance (acceptance of ourselves and the humans around us). This is opposed to a planned itinerary which usually focuses on practical skills, directed by an adult, with little time for physical, emotional and social exploration. The trust needed to build up this autonomy with a group takes time – over a few sessions where the physical boundaries and safety principles are agreed upon by the group which can then lead themselves into more and more autonomous activity.
How do Stomping Ground Practitioners ‘lead’ in FS pedagogy?
Every leader has a different style of doing it, as we are all different people, but there is a core approach by all Stomping Ground practitioners of the participant-centred approach.
- We encourage autonomy and the right for participants to choose how they spend their time.
- We ask questions rather than give answers to embed the learning and empower the person.
- Play is a key tool and we encourage spontaneous and creative play as a method for personal development.
- We look for the ‘needs’ of individuals when they show up and help participants find a way to meet those needs. When our basic needs aren’t being met our brains can’t tune in to new learning and we are halted in our personal development. These ‘needs’ show up as ‘behaviours’ and our practitioners are always looking for what need is behind the behaviours in a participant. A need for physical contact? A need for trust? A need for challenge? A need for warmth, food or water? A need for reassurance?
- We create a culture where mistakes are celebrated as part of learning about life.
- We let the participants lead activities by having dialogue with them about how we are measuring the risk with the aim of increasing their understanding of risk.
- We aim to empower learners by providing a range of activities to choose from with different levels of challenge and let them choose.
- We let the learners come up with ideas. We support them, if the need it, to realise their ideas. We help reflect on the outcomes and then let them refine it by doing it again.
- We let learners learn at different paces and try to cover different learning styles.