Forest Schools

       "Forest School is an inspirational process that offers ALL learners regular opportunities to achieve and develop confidence and self-esteem, through hands on learning experiences in a local woodland or natural environment with trees. Forest School is a specialised approach that sits within and complements the wider context of outdoor and woodland learning." (Forest School Association - FSA)

       The concept of forest schools was developed and adapted in England from the original idea implemented in the 50's in Sweden and other Scandinavian countries.

Forest schools is an innovative education approach, a symbiosis between playing and learning. The philosophy of this concept is to encourage and to inspire everyone trough positive experiences outdoors. 

       Forest schools have been demonstrating a special success with children of all ages that visit the same forest regularly and that, trough games/playing have the opportunity to learn about the natural environment that surround them, to handle the risks whose such activities have and, above all, to use their own initiative to solve problems and to cooperate with the others.

       There is a general believe that it is impossible to dissociate social interaction from environmental interaction. Therefore, it is important to create behaviors to the transmission of a good ethical posture. There are several strategies and objectives which can be applied in forest schools:

- To proportionate a solid experience and observation of nature to the child, allied to the search of beauty, creativity, and art, in order to construct freely its personality. This process helps the child to develop aptitudes, and to have tools and knowledge to, in the future, being able to take well informed decisions, exercising civic responsibilities and rights whilst a community member.

- To create several activities of personal and social growth in order to help the autonomy and the development of the child.

- To take the maximum advantage of the exterior space. The forest, the garden and the vegetable garden, are the places where children can experience the natural elements, during all the seasons of the year, allowing thus to deeply know the flora and fauna, and at the same time to develop a sensitivity to biodiversity.

- To encourage the consume fruit and vegetables ( some integrated in the vegetable garden, grown, kept and collected by the children) in order to learn to give value and to respect the rhythms of nature.

- To establish learning framed by story telling, tales and songs, that describe the natural cycles and that develop throughout the year.

- To perform daily activities, with the use of miscellaneous natural materials, in order to the child being able to perceive its potential. Some examples of the materials: crayons, sculpture wax, clay, water colors, wood, bread flour, wool and other natural fibers.

- To integrate children in the separation of garbage, making them to experience in an effective way the concept of recycling, based on the idea that “garbage” can also bear fruit.

- To understand that the connection children have with nature does not take them apart from the observation of urban spaces, and thus to encourage the respect for public spaces.

- To implement several activities linked to the search of self-knowledge and autonomy.

References

O' Brien, L. 2009. Learning outdoors:the Forest School approach. Education Three to Thirteen, [e-journal] 37(1). Available trough: Swetswise database [Accessed 3 Febuary 2014].

Institute for Outdoor Learning. Forest School Association, 2012 [online]. Available at: http://www.outdoor-learning.org/Default.aspx?tabid=336 [Accessed 3 Febuary 2014].