T. Maynard

Learning in the outdoor environment: a missed opportunity?

In 2001, the Welsh Assembly Government announced proposals for a Foundation Phase for children aged three to seven years. The Foundation Phase framework promotes a play‐based approach to childrens learning in both indoor and outdoor contexts and places childrens well‐being and their personal and social development at its core. While the framework is currently being piloted across Wales, full implementation will not take place until 2010; for many schools, then, this is a time of transition. This paper discusses the findings of a research project that aimed to document the current use of the outdoors by a group of early years teachers working in South Wales. Drawing on data from interviews and observations conducted in four schools, it is suggested that the teachers missed many of the opportunities afforded by the outdoor environment to enhance childrens learning. The paper considers the reasons why this might be the case and comments on the distinction, apparent in two schools, between what was seen as ‘normal’ and ‘special’ outdoor activity.

Forest Schools in Great Britain: An Initial Exploration

Closely associated with the Danish early years programme, the Forest School concept was brought to England by staff of Bridgwater College, Somerset, following an exchange visit to Denmark in 1993. Drawing on interviews with three Forest School workers and data posted on the Bridgwater College Forest School website, the article outlines and then evaluates the key aims, approach and ethos of Forest School, focusing specifically on its relevance to young children (aged three to five years). It is suggested that while the significance of self-esteem and learning styles may be over-emphasised and, in some cases, opportunities for environmental education under-emphasised, Forest School fits well both with traditional views of ‘good’ early childhood education and more recent curriculum frameworks in England and Wales, whilst also addressing current cultural concerns about childrens increasingly sedentary and managed lifestyles.

Encounters with Forest School and Foucault: a risky business?

This paper tells the story of an encounter between two early years teachers and two Forest School workers, the growing tensions in their relationships and how these tensions were resolved. When analysed through a Foucauldian (poststructuralist) lens, the story can be read as a battle between dominant discourses—a battle exacerbated by the outdoor context in which it took place. Exploring the consistency and contradictions between these discourses enabled the teachers to make changes to their practice and to reconstruct their professional subjectivities in a way that more closely addressed their current interests and the requirements of the proposed Foundation Phase for Wales.

The dynamics of early childhood spaces: Opportunities for outdoor play?

Taylor and Francis RECR_A_525917.sgm 10.1080/1350293X.2010.525917 Europe Ea ly Childhood Education Research Journal 350-293X (print)/1752-1807 (onl ne) Original Article 2 1 & Fr ncis 8 40 0 002010 imW ler t.waller@wlv.ac.uk This special edition of the European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA) Journal has been a collaborative effort by the members of the EECERA Special Interest Group (SIG) Outdoor Play and Learning. The possibility of forming an Outdoor Play SIG was first discussed by Tim Waller (England) and Wendy Schiller (Australia) at the EECERA Annual Conference in Malta in 2004. In the following conferences in Dublin and Reykjavik the number of papers concerning outdoor play and learning increased considerably, reflecting a growing interest in establishing a SIG. At the Annual Conference in Prague in 2007 further discussions were held with Thomas Moser, Kari-Anne Jørgensen and Kari Emilson (Norway), culminating with an inaugural meeting of the SIG held in Stavanger in 2008 attended by 22 members from across the world. The group sought to:

Moving outdoors: further explorations of ‘child-initiated’ learning in the outdoor environment

This article reports on a study in which eight Foundation Phase teachers were supported in exploring Reggio-inspired projects in the outdoor environments of their settings. The study found that the teachers did adopt more child-initiated/centred approaches although it is maintained that in part this was related to the outdoor context in which the explorations took place. However, supporting such approaches was not easy for the teachers while many did not make regular use of their outdoor spaces. It appeared that ‘real work’ was seen to take place within classrooms and was focused on the learning of subject content.

Child-initiated learning, the outdoor environment and the ‘underachieving’ child

The Foundation Phase for Wales advocates an experiential, play-based approach to learning for children aged three to seven years that includes child-initiated activity within the outdoor environment. In previous research, Foundation Phase practitioners maintained that children perceived to be ‘underachieving’ within the classroom came into their own when engaged in child-initiated learning outdoors. This study, which involved eight Foundation Phase teachers, aimed to explore these perceived differences as well as teachers’ perceptions of ‘underachievement’. It is concluded that the more natural outdoor spaces in which child-initiated activity took place appeared to amplify the effects of child-initiated learning and diminish the perception of underachievement; that engagement in this project enabled some teachers to see ‘underachievement’ as being distributed across people, place and activity; and that through constructing the outdoor ‘space’ as a ‘place’ embedded with positive meanings, children may have had the opportunity to reconstruct themselves as strong, competent children rather than as ‘underachieving’ pupils.

Through a different lens: exploring Reggio Emilia in a Welsh context

In Wales, concerns about the perceived over‐formalisation of young children’s educational experiences led to the introduction of a Foundation Phase Framework for children aged three to seven years that advocates a more holistic, play‐based approach. Following the staging of the Reggio Emilia travelling exhibition, funding was secured for a project in which teachers explored Reggio philosophy and practices as a means of gaining insight into their thinking and pedagogy. Given the introduction of the Foundation Phase, the project also intended to support teachers’ explorations of child‐led learning. Looking at their practice ‘through another lens’ exposed teachers’ commitment to an approach dominated by prescribed, subject‐related outcomes. This approach influenced the way in which the teachers interpreted key aspects of Reggio philosophy and contributed to their difficulties with ‘supporting’ child‐led learning. The paper concludes that moving away from a ‘subject‐centred’ approach, particularly when the Framework includes prescribed learning outcomes, may be extremely challenging for teachers.

Outdoor play and learning

In recent years, reports about the use and abuse of the outdoor environment have rarely been out of the media. These reports, often backed by the ‘latest research findings’, have focused on concerns about environmental damage as well as issues such as ‘stranger danger’, children’s lack of physical activity, the rising levels of childhood obesity, as well as a more general lack of connectedness with nature. One way in which the government has attempted to address these concerns has been to raise public awareness of, for example, the need for us to reduce our carbon footprints, to recycle waste, to eat healthily and to take adequate physical exercise. Numerous initiatives have been specifically targeted at schools—‘Eco Schools’, for example, aims to promote education for sustainable development while ‘Growing Schools’ encourages teachers to use the outdoor environment as a way of supporting learning across the curriculum, focusing on food, farming and the countryside. These concerns parallel other anxieties that have been expressed about the educational experiences of our youngest children: that as a result of government initiatives to raise standards within a global marketplace, and teachers willingness to ensure their pupils attain these standards, young children have been subject to inappropriately formal teaching approaches. As a result, the new curriculum frameworks for the early years in England and Wales require schools to move towards more informal, play-based approaches to learning. It may be of no coincidence that they also require teachers to make greater use of the outdoor environment.