Developing Social Skills in Forest Schools

What are Forest Schools?   

Forest schools are a unique way for children to build confidence, self-esteem and a renewed excitement for learning through their interaction and exploration with the environment. Since 2000 schools across the UK have been using local woodland areas to create Forest schools for their learners. A typical session and its activities may include, bug hunts, rope swings, building a dam, mud pies, tool work, creating an assault course or even shelter building. Children may visit the forest school once or twice a week, maybe even more depending on access and will continue to do so over the space of a year or maybe their whole duration at a school.

 

“It’s not outdoor education. It’s not environmental education. It’s not play. It’s the unique combination of the three which makes it so very special”. –Julia Sargent, Oxfordshire Forest Schools Project Co-ordinator.
 

The concept of forest schools originated in Scandinavia in the 1950’s and the current system being developed in Wales since 1999 is based on a Danish model. The Scandinavians have a very different stance on early-years education with no formal instruction in reading, writing and maths until past the age of 7 hence forest school is a very big part of their early-years provision. However, Scandinavian students soon catch up and Sweden, Denmark and Finland consistently perform 'Above Average' in the PISA ranking for mathematics and reading leaving the UK well behind in the 'Average' category and often not even in the top fifteen countries.

Developing social skills in Forest School

In a 2008 study of Forest Schools in the UK O'Brien found the social skills development in Forest School to be particularly important. Because most of the tasks performed in Forest school rely on children working together it encourages respect, patience and consideration for others. It could be learnt through something as simple as learning to hold a branch so it doesn’t fly back in another child’s face.

Leanne (4.5 years Oxfordshire) - who had been noted by a teacher as lacking in interpersonal skills. However Forest School encouraged her to participate in helping others by handing out waterproofs and cups at teatime and she gladly did so.

In the same study, Serena (aged 4.5 Oxfordshire) was physically fit but didn’t engage with others. One week she found she couldn’t move a heavy log on her own and this led to her asking for help from other children and then collaborating with others.

O’Brien’s study found that Forest School are a place where;

 

         “Children are encouraged to be part of a team in the pursuit of task that need more than one pair of hands.”
 

“Children gain an increased awareness of other people’s personal space and are able to form new friendships as they identify abilities that are valued by their peers.” 

A child identifying the abilities of their peers can be particularly beneficial towards the inclusion of learners with additional learning needs (ALN). In the Following video link from Teacher’s TV a boy called Emin who has behavioural difficulties is shown climbing a very high tree, something which his classmates can’t do. He later described to a teacher the pride he felt at being able to show the other children how to do something and how good it made him feel that they all talked about his tree climbing later on that day.

 

“One great thing about forest school is it gives children who are perhaps quite disruptive in the classroom a chance to succeed at something in front of their year…and they can gain an awful lot of self-esteem from that”-Gill Senior, Year One Teacher and Forest School Leader

Video Clip on a Forest School in Oxfordshire:

 

 One of the most important aspects of Forest school is that the children learn the lessons for themselves often through interaction and out of necessity. This gives them a strong ownership of the new communication and social skills they learn and this encourages them to transfer those skills back to the classroom and even home life. Teachers and parents often see great improvements in the social skills of pupils who have been regularly attending forest school.

 

References and other useful links:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-17283190

http://www.forestschoolwales.org.uk/

http://www.forestschoolsuk.co.uk/about-forest-schools/what-is-forest-schools.aspx

Liz O'Brien (2009): Learning outdoors: the Forest School approach. Education

3-13: International Journal of Primary, Elementary and Early Years Education, 37:1, 45-60