A sense of physical and emotional well-being can and should start with positive experiences in early childhood. Children should from an early age feel directly engaged and active in their social world.
Two recent reports about childhood - the Unicef report on child poverty and the Forest Research evaluation of children's experience of forest schools in England and Wales (see box far right) - give two very contrasting perspectives on children's experiences of well-being.
In the Unicef report, the UK was implied to be ranked bottom of 21 nations for child well-being. This report was widely picked up by the national media. There was much less coverage of the Forest Research which showed how children flourish in an outdoor environment where they have control over their decisions and activities.
Take note
Both reports give us much food for thought. We should notice and want to know why many children or adolescents really do believe their world is unfriendly, their health is poor or that it does not matter if they fail to take care of themselves. Why are children apparently, for example, not being given the opportunity to take control of their own behaviours and risks? Early years practitioners also need to be willing to reflect on the balance of experiences that they make available for young children.
A good place to start is with the Effective Provision of Pre-school Education project. It identified that the best early years provision for children's learning offered a balance that was around one-third adult-initiated experiences and two-thirds child-initiated, what was termed 'freely chosen'.
The research further explained the effectiveness of observant practitioners who were close by. These practitioners were often seen as a playful companion within children's self-chosen experiences and conversations. The best practitioners did not take over play or communication, but were ready to offer a comment or suggestion and to support what the project described as a process of 'sustained shared thinking'. The findings of the EPPE project show us also that short-term, 'what next?' planning is child- led rather than adult-led.
There is a strong contrast between the examples in the EPPE research papers and what too often passes for 'child-initiated' experiences or activities.
Early years practice has been pushed and prodded by working definitions from school curriculum planning. For example, in the SEAL Foundation Stage booklet the phrase 'adult led' is defined as 'where language and ideas are specifically introduced and developed by the practitioner'.
'Child-initiated' is defined as where learning is 'supported by adaptations to the learning environment and social interaction which promote particular avenues of exploration and discussion'.
There is not much scope here for the EPPE focus on experiences freely chosen by children. Nor will such a definition fit the messages for practitioners from the outdoor environment which were highlighted in the Forest Research evaluation, where genuinely helpful practitioners do a great deal of leading through following the children's interests.
Hands-on
Valuable learning experiences for children are sustained, they are not a series of disjointed one-offs. Using the resource of a forest school or wild area is a fantastic learning experience but it does require a minimum of several months of preferably regular visits over a year.
Within each visit, children need time to explore at their own pace and to re-visit locations within the overall site. Children can then talk about what has caught their attention on that day and join in adult-supported discussions about how important experiences could be documented.
Children need and enjoy hands-on authentic experiences to support all aspects of learning. The natural world, in particular, cannot be pre-packaged and delivered in terms of neat learning outcomes. For example, colouring in pre-cut shapes of a snail or ladybird is the least effective way to learn about little creatures. Nor will an adult-led, indoor topic on seasons match up to getting out into the weather and seeing what happens to a familiar, outdoor space during the changes of a year.
An outdoor experience that feels 'free range' and not 'battery' is supported by genuinely helpful adults. It is important that early years, school and playwork practitioners step aside from an imposed 'can't do that' state of risk aversion. Successful outdoor projects show that even young children learn to manage their own risks when they are allowed to do so. Girls and boys benefit from adventures, fresh air and getting up close and personal with water and mud, with the guidance of realistic safety messages which do not ruin the play experience.
There should also be a careful approach to partnership with families: explaining what, how and why to parents, as well as making them welcome to join in the experiences.
Children are not born shouting 'Where's my video game and jumbo packet of crisps?' They are born with an innate desire to learn freely through new experiences. The miserable, blank-eyed couch potatoes, evoked in some newspaper accounts of the Unicef report, are created by adult limitations set around them. The opposite can be said for those children experiencing the freedom of forest schools.
Resources
* Adamson, Peter et al (2007) Child poverty in perspective: an overview of child well-being in rich countries, www.unicef-icdc.org/presscentre/presskit/reportcard7/rc7_eng.pdf
* Effective Provision of Pre-school Education project, www.ioe.ac.uk/schools/ecpe/eppe
* Lindon, Jennie (2005) Understanding child development: linking theory and practice, Hodder Arnold
* Lindon, Jennie (2007 in press) Understanding children and young people: development from 5 to 18 years, Hodder Arnold
* O'Brien, Liz and Murray, Richard (2006) A marvellous opportunity for children to learn: a participatory evaluation of Forest School in England and Wales, www.forestresearch.gov.uk
* Sightlines Initiative (2001) The Rising Sun Woodland Preschool Project, www.sightlines-initiative.com
* Trout, Mandi (2004) All About Forest Schools, Nursery World 2 December 2004
UNICEF AND FOREST RESEARCH
The bad news?
The brief media accounts and sound bites of the Unicef report (News, 15 February) made depressing reading, with the implication that children in the UK were at the bottom of the pile for emotional, physical and educational well-being across Europe. The authors themselves counsel a wary approach to the findings, given that they brought together a patchwork of qualitative and quantitative data to create their composite measure of well-being.
Despite the second part of the report title - 'an overview of child well-being in rich countries' - a great deal of the content is not about 'children' and there is limited discussion around early childhood. The authors chose not to include studies of early years education, on the grounds that information could not be compared across European countries.
Most of the data underpinning what hit the headlines came from a 2001-2 OECD cross-Europe survey of the opinions of 11, 13 and 15 year olds.
They were asked how they felt about many topics - for example, friendships and experience of bullying. They were asked to report on their family life and behaviour such as smoking. There was no independent way of verifying replies that were taken as fact, such as how many books were in their home or their actual state of physical health.
The good news?
In contrast to the Unicef report, the Forest Research evaluation (News, 22 February) was smaller scale and based on observations of children. The study describes what involved adults judged had happened for individuals through a regular experience of forest school over a period of months. It was found that:
* Some children were uneasy at the outset, because the natural, forest environment was unfamiliar, even to children who lived close to accessible countryside.
* All children soon relished the open-ended opportunities and acted as enthusiastic and independent learners. Even three- and four-year-olds were perfectly capable of organising themselves within a wild area that had safe physical boundaries. Young children made active connections of thought and conversation between their outdoors experience and learning back at nursery and at home.
* Some individuals especially flourished in a relaxed outdoor situation.
Practitioners and parents were pleasantly surprised by the behaviour of children who had appeared to lack confidence, or struggled to focus within a mainly indoor early years or classroom setting.
In conclusion
The Forest Research report confirms findings from other research, such as the Rising Sun project from Sightlines Initiative in North Tyneside or the work of the Bridgwater Forest School in Somerset. Here are children who live and breathe emotional and physical well-being, who are enthused about the thrill of discovery and the natural world around them.
These experiences raise important practice questions and challenge adults to do some joined-up thinking about learning and childhood.
