Dr Nicola Walshe & Zoe Moula
A rapidly growing body of research shows the benefits – happiness, vitality, and life satisfaction – associated with access to nature and green spaces. Indeed, the recent survey by Natural England, which aimed to understand the perspective of children and young people relating to nature during Covid-19, demonstrated the positive role of nature in supporting children’s wellbeing, with eight in every ten children agreeing that being in nature made them very happy (Natural England, 20201). Despite this, in the last 30 years the number of children regularly playing in wild places in the UK fell by 90% (Natural Childhood Report: Moss, 20122) and children living in areas of high deprivation are significantly less likely to have access to green spaces. Furthermore, the World Health Organisation recently released a report citing over 3000 global studies demonstrating how creativity and engagement with the arts play a major role in the promotion of health and health management across the lifespan (Fancourt and Finn, 20193). However, despite this increasing evidence concerning both nature and the arts, what is missing from the research-base so far is how the interconnectedness of these two factors – nature and the arts – impacts on health and wellbeing, particularly in childhood (Walshe, Lee and Smith, 20204). This is the gap we are addressing through the Eco-capabilities research project.
Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Eco-capabilities project aims to explore how children’s wellbeing can be supported through working with artists in nature and outdoor places, in and around school grounds. We take an innovative approach to wellbeing, drawing on Sen’s (19805) work on capabilities to explore wellbeing from the perspective of children, in particular asking them to define what is important to them for living a good life (or flourishing) through environmental sustainability, social justice and future economic wellbeing (what we term eco-capabilities). The research focuses on the nature-based interventions of our project partner, arts and wellbeing charity Cambridge Curiosity and Imagination (CCI), exploring how and to what extent working with CCI artists can address the disconnection of some children from outdoor places that they find difficult to engage with and, thereby, support their wellbeing.
During the project more than 100 Key Stage 2 primary school students will come together alongside their teachers, artists, and researchers, for eight days of creative adventuring in nature (or artscaping), followed by a number of community events. These creative and participatory workshops will take place once a week in two schools in areas of relatively high socio-economic deprivation in eastern England; this is particularly important, given evidence suggesting that children and young people living in such areas are significantly less likely to have access to both nature and the arts. Through their artscaping, children will be invited to explore and reconnect with local spaces, within and beyond the school. An important component of the project is to work closely with teachers to ensure that creative adventuring in outdoor spaces can be a sustainable practice even after the completion of this study.
Eco-Capabilities started in schools in March 2020. Although we almost immediately had to pause because of the changing context of Covid-19, we were able to deliver one-day workshops in both schools aiming to explore children’s perceptions of wellbeing through drawings of their ‘happy places’, group discussion and ‘walk and talk’ focus groups. What became clear on analysis of this initial data was that access to, and the appreciation of, nature and outdoor spaces was fundamental for children’s wellbeing, linking directly to their emotional, mental, physical, and material wellbeing. In children’s drawings, representations of nature and outdoor spaces received most attention among all other themes (in 56 out of 91 drawings). Access to such spaces appeared to allow children to slow down and appreciate life as they can ‘see and smell the blossoms and the flowers’, ‘look at the blue sky’, or ‘see the rivers that make nice sounds’. Children also expressed a sense of responsibility towards nature, for example stating ‘we need to plant and feed more trees, plants and flowers’ and ‘to protect our environment’. Some children also mentioned that outdoor spaces inspire them to be ‘creative’ and ‘adventurous’.
The beginning of Eco-Capabilities and the artscaping days in early 2021 will aim to create the space that children described as important for their wellbeing, a space within the natural environment where they can be creative and adventurous. We will explore how, and why, child-nature connectedness can be enhanced through the arts. This is especially timely following the profound effects that school closures and social isolation measures have had, and may continue to have, on children’s lives. Given that The Children’s Society report (20206) stated that 1.1 million children in the UK said they feel unhappy with their lives since the Covid-19 crisis, we believe that re-connection with nature and engagement with the arts for all children is more important than ever.
References
1. Natural England (2020). The People and Nature Survey for England: Children’s survey (Experimental Statistics). tinyurl.com/r4a7f8j8
2. Moss, S. (2012). The Natural Childhood Report. National Trust. London: Park Lane Press. tinyurl.com/as5bgw3t
3. Fancourt, D., and Finn, S. (2019). Health Evidence Network synthesis report 67: What is the evidence on the role of the arts in improving health and well-being? A scoping review. World Health Organisation. tinyurl.com/2dpck59p
4. Walshe, N., Lee, E., & Smith, M. (2020). ‘Supporting Children’s Wellbeing with Art in Nature: Artist Pedagogue Perceptions.’ Journal of Education for Sustainable Development. tinyurl.com/6is61o8g
5. Sen, A. (1980), ‘Equality of what?’ (lecture delivered at Stanford University, 22 May 1979) in MacMurrin, S.M. (Ed.),
The Tanner lectures on human values, 1 (1st ed.). Lake City, Utah: University of Utah Press.
6. Children’s Society (2020). The Good Childhood Report 2020. The Children’s Society. tinyurl.com/1g01ua9v
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Dr Nicola Walshe is Acting Head of the School of Education and Social Care at Anglia Ruskin University.
Zoe Moula is a postdoctoral research fellow investigating the impact of arts and arts therapies for children’s health & wellbeing.
More information: cambridgecandi.org.uk/projects/reimagine/ecocapabilities
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This article was first published in 2021 in Vol 126 of the NAEE journal which is available free to members. This edition was an arts-themed special, written with Cambridge Curiosity and Imagination.