Exploring practitioners’ perceptions of risk when delivering Forest School for 3- to 5-year-old children

ABSTRACT

Forest School has grown in UK popularity, providing young children with opportunities for fun and risky play, and time in nature. Focus groups and semi-structured interviews were used to explore student practitioner and nursery practitioner perspectives about risk when delivering Forest School with pre-school children; participant views on risk were sought before and after engagement in five Forest School sessions. The study found that risk is a flexible term for early years practitioners. Whilst participants saw the benefits, there was also anxiety about upholding regulations or fear of blame. Additionally, practitioners’ perceptions of risk changed after the Forest School sessions, suggesting the more experience practitioners have, the less anxious they are about the risks of delivering Forest School sessions with young children.

KEYWORDS:

• Forest School
• risky play
• risk taking
• early years
• outdoor play
• risk

Notes on contributors

Joanna Button (BA, MA) is a lecturer at University Centre South Devon, and an MA student at Leeds Beckett University. Her specialist interests are in Autism, Play, Forest School and Early Years.

Dr Alison Wilde is a Senior Lecturer in Education at Leeds Beckett University, with specialist interests in inclusive education, and media.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Joanna Button http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6148-7121

Alison Wilde http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1583-3833