Footprints in the woods:‘tracking’ a nursery child through a Forest School session

Abstract

Forest School has become increasingly popular in the UK, although little is known about what actually happens in sessions and how these sessions are planned. Using observations of two sessions and semi-structured interviews with two adult leaders this article sets out to explore how the sessions are planned, alongside a young child (aged 2–4 years) is involved and how adults participate in activities. This was achieved by ‘tracking’ one child over two one-hour sessions using the Leuven Involvement and Participation Scales as a diagnostic, analytical tool. The two sessions were then compared. This case study approach indicates that there is a link between adult participation and child involvement, alongside training which have implications for the impact and development of Forest School pedagogy and reflective practice.

Keywords:

• forest school
• Leuven Scale
• involvement
• participation
• planning