learning

One of the reasons we were so drawn to The Dharma School for Bea (6) was that her teacher Caroline Woods made a priority of outdoor experiences. A regular weekly visit to Ecoplay at Stanmer Park (part of Stanmer Organics) gave the children, teachers (and sometimes parents and grandparents!) a much needed chance to connect with nature. I have also seen lessons going on with chalk on pavement as soon as the sun came out (and just before it went back in again too). The size of the classroom becomes no barrier. Enormous dinosaurs can be drawn to scale and measured by child-lengths, arms stretched from finger-tip, to finger-tip.

For me, this is one of the most important things people can have. Spiritually, emotionally, physically, intellectually. The whole blooming person.

So I was delighted today when Gra sent me this item from Boing Boing.

No child left inside: reclaim outdoor play
“Richard Louv’s stirring article, “No Child Left Inside,” documents a burgeoning movement to reclaim the idea of outdoor play for kids, who are increasingly under house arrest…”

There is much food for thought and growth in this and linked items.

I feel a research project coming on… goes very deep.

Not just about connection with nature, but about space and freedom. About trust and connection with the local community. Our aspirations for the South Fremantle Early Learning Centre project was very much in line with these thoughts. Children being seen, and heard all around their neighbourhood. Being known and nourished, nurtured by the world. Not locked away in the prisons of school and loungeroom.

Would also like to refind the ex-Dharma Kindy teacher I met at The Ram’s Inn in Firle who runs a (primarily) outdoor nursery school. I believe the Annan Farm Froebel Kindergarten (literally: Children’s Garden) near Uckfield is similarly inspired.

Certainly the Steiner tradition has a great respect and connection with nature too, as does our own dear Dharma School. The grounds are full of mystery and adventure, with numerous places to play and hide.

But what of our home lives? What of the weather and our own dispositions.

As an Australian new to the UK, I have a few perspectives I will note.

Outdoor links to curriculum are still largely untapped in Australia, despite the better weather. So outside time is seem as time to let off steam generally, for free play (great! should be more of it!). But what of the potential to spend longer in nature, while continuing lessons. Would it be too distracting? What are the issues? With a burgeoning curriculum designed to cram students with ever more stuff, pressure to stay inside concentrating is great than ever before.

So perhaps part of the answer, in the school context at least, is to make curriculum links. It’s still a bit like changing the wheels on the broken bike while it is still in motion, rather than building a better bike (or helping it build itself to destroy the metaphor completely). But I guess you know what I mean.

Maybe it’s worth just working on the questions for now and not jumping to solutions.

So let’s consider this…

What fundamental (educational) needs can be met for a child (human) in having time outdoors, in nature?

How would be define ‘outdoors’ and ‘nature’?

What examples can we find to support this?

What can we do to support this happening - as Parents? As Educators?

What would a policy or statement of intent, a vision for outdoor education look like?

How likely is this to inspire parents and students in choices around education and home life?

One thing clear to me as a parent, the more time I spend outside, the more time my (single) child does. I lead by example in this way. And yet on an average day in England, the weather can be so intimidating and snuggly inside pursuits so compelling as to make the choice of activity inevitable. And yet children seem so immune to the elements when they are running around playing together.

And as the old saying goes “there is no such thing as bad weather, only the wrong clothing.”

See the Pott Row School’s way of handling this. “School Gives Children Rain Suits.”
Right now I am thinking of a few different environments, across three countries and a wide age-group.

Beaconsfield Primary (Western Australia) - Ange Drum’s pre-school class. A great example of a government school making the most of the great outdoors.
Reggio Emilia (near Bologna, Northern Italy) - the infant-toddler centres & preschools - making the most of some fairly average weather to look at ‘education’ in a very whole way.

The Dharma School (Brighton, England) - a primary school developing captivating gardens for children 3-11 to explore, within a Buddhist context of respect and connection with all living things.

Varndean College (Brighton, England) - a secondary school adjoining my garden, I have limited knowledge of, but would be interested to talk to re: current and potential experiences around these questions.

Lewes New School (Lewes, England) - a small, independent primary school near Brighton. They are located in a Victorian school house but have far more modern ideas about education. There is currently much talk at the school as parents and children discuss what to do with the outside spaces.

Lance Holt School (Fremantle, Western Australia) - a Summerhill-inspired school I attended in the 1970s. The inside space was extremely limited in this inner-urban school. Ironically in many respects, this meant we had a much richer experience of life outside the classroom than many other children. Our mini-bus took us on daily excursions (whoever wanted to go, from whatever age group). Local parks gave us great space to roam. Today, the students are custodians of Bathers Beach, just a short walk away.

So an additional question could be… How can students, teachers and parents share their aspirations for outdoor experiences /education - and work together towards making any changes they might wish to?

In addition to having a strong research interest in the schools question, it is clear to me that school’s are only part of the question when it comes to human education, human becoming.

What of the home situation?

What are people’s thoughts and experiences in this regard?

We are about to invest in a campervan - and head for the hills! I also need to find things I like doing outside, even when it is cold. Building fires is a great love. Bring it on!

Never let me hear myself saying again “You can’t go out there, you’ll freeze to death.”

I just love this photo. Had to use it again in this context. Reminds me about outdoor playing needing to be free, and not managed by adults too much. “Now take your silly photo and let us get back to it!”

And this one again too. Bubba Bea in Margaret River.