Forest School as a Way of Learning in the Outdoors in the UK

Abstract

My research paper focuses on the first phase of a project to examine Forest School as a way of facilitating experiential learning in the outdoors in the United Kingdom. The first phase starts with a consideration of the defining characteristics of Forest School by analyzing fourteen case studies of Forest School experience, used with different age-groups in different settings across the UK. The study uses a grounded theory approach and utilizes the computer software package NVivo 8 as a coding tool. It then uses the initial codes and comparisons to facilitate discussion with the other lead practitioners in Forest School in the UK, to debate whether these are the necessary and sufficient conditions for Forest School, and to reach a co-constructed consensus national perspective. In a later phase of my research I will be exploring the transferability of these characteristics to Forest School in the early years community, typically with practitioners working with two to five year old, as this is the age group that I typically work with..