Here’s a further update from Natural England by way of relevant evidence and reports, policy agenda developments, large scale delivery sector initiatives, resources and news items from the UK and abroad, with a focus on schools, education and learning. This supports the Strategic Research Network for People and Nature to develop better coherence and collaboration in research and to improve links between research, policy and practice in these areas.
Children’s perception of biodiversity in their school grounds and its influence on their wellbeing and resilience
Louise N. Montgomery, Alan C. Gange, Dawn Watling, Deborah J. Harvey
Evidence increasingly demonstrates nature engagement benefits. However, little evidence shows nature engagement provides children with a reflective perception of biodiversity, nor whether perception influences children’s wellbeing and resilience. We explored the impact of weekly nature engagement in schoolgrounds on 509 eight-to-eleven-year-olds’ biodiversity perception, wellbeing, and resilience. At the start and end of the academic year, wellbeing and resilience questionnaires were completed, and biodiversity perception was assessed by children drawing what they thought was in their schoolgrounds. Children initially perceived few organisms within easily visible taxa, and perceived more vertebrates compared to invertebrate species. After, children were more aware of taxa, resulting in a more reflective biodiversity perception. Children with initially low scores in wellbeing and resilience increased in these measures, and a positive association was found between increased invertebrates and vertebrates perception and improved resilience. Nature engagement within curriculum could reduce children’s extinction of experience and improve wellbeing and resilience.
Getting Out of the Classroom and Into Nature: A Systematic Review of Nature-Specific Outdoor Learning on School Children’s Learning and Development
Mann, Gray, Truong, Brymer, Passy, Ho, Sahlberg, Ward, Bentsen, Curry and Cowper – Frontiers in Psychology
This systematic review concluded that nature-specific outdoor learning has measurable socio-emotional, academic and wellbeing benefits, and should be incorporated into every child’s school experience with reference to their local context. Teacher pre-service and in-service education needs to include a focus on how natural settings can be used effectively for learning.
Target 4.7 of the Sustainable Development Goals: Evidence in Schools in England
Douglas Bourn and Jenny Hatley – Research for Our Shared World
The focus of Our Shared World is to lobby UK government and other policymakers on why Target 4.7 of the Sustainable Development Goals should be an integral component of all children and young people’s learning. This report has been produced therefore to demonstrate current levels of engagement in these themes, how they are being delivered, areas of success, identifiable gaps and what the priorities for policymakers should be in the future.
Children, Youth and Environments – Vol. 32 No. 1
Inside this first of two special issues on COVID-19, you will find an array of research article, field reports, a media review and a position paper that span across the globe. These articles, field reports and position paper present both sides of the outcomes of the pandemic on the lives of children and youth. They present the challenges ahead regarding learning, mental health and overall wellbeing for the young, as well as the opportunities for finding new ways to address the same, as many have done by coping in these most difficult circumstances.
Putting climate change at the heart of education: Is England’s strategy a placebo for policy?
L Dunlop, EAC Rushton – British Educational Research Journal
In this paper we present an analysis of the sustainability and climate change strategy for education and children’s services systems in England, produced by the Department for Education. Using critical discourse analysis, we juxtapose qualitative data collected from >200 youth teachers and teacher educators in the context of co-creating a manifesto for education and environmental sustainability. We find that the strategy foregrounds economic concerns, with educational priorities driven by the ‘net zero’ policy agenda, and an over-reliance on increased science-focused knowledge and skills. The strategy suggests an absence of governmental responsibility and attention to the political dimensions of climate change. This is in contrast to stakeholder perspectives which see economic priorities as part of the problem and call for pro-environmental action at all levels, including from policymakers. The strategy has a depoliticising effect as it introduces additional demands for teachers and schools without the associated enabling policy environment. We argue that the strategy runs the risk of becoming a placebo for policy, with the appearance of ‘doing something’ whilst failing to address the fundamental policy problem.
Re-engaging children and young people through forest school approach
D Walker – Chapter in Co-producing SMART Targets for Children with SEND
This chapter aims to support education providers in re-engaging and integrating CYP following a fixed-period or permanent school exclusion, or a managed-moves process. The headteachers of the two provisions involved in the study, provide insight into the approaches they adopted to build relationships and form connections with the CYP and their caregivers to support their participation, learning and achievement.
Nature play: A prescription for healthier children
Bravender and Bravender – Contemporary Pediatrics
It’s no fantasy that children who play freely in the great outdoors are healthier in body and mind. New studies also suggest that active engagement with the natural environment reduces stress and relieves depression in all ages. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recently issued a position statement emphasizing the importance of play in promoting healthy development, particularly in children aged 0 to 6 years
Impact of outdoor play in personality development of school going children of Lucknow city
R Karnwal, K Sharmila, SP Singh – International Journal of Home Science
The study was designed to find out the impact of outdoor play in personality development of school
going children of Lucknow district of Uttar Pradesh. Personality was measured by Children’s Personality questionnaire (CPQ) test, and types of outdoor play. Results revealed on the basis of data analysis, it was found that outdoor play has significant effect on personality of school going
Bringing nature into CAMHS inpatient services: reflections for the implementation and integration of training into practice
DF Hunt, M Morgan, M Connors, C Mellor – International Review of Psychiatry
In this paper, we report our findings from a recent qualitative study with staff from a CAMHS inpatient unit who had recently undergone NatureWell Facilitator training. This is a particular approach to working with people in nature developed by The Natural Academy. Participants identified the importance of implementation of discreet, novel NBAs, as well as integrating nature into current practice, the benefits when fostering psychologically safe and therapeutic relationships with staff, and the clinical and operational factors when carrying out NBAs in these settings.
Nature-based instruction for science learning–a good fit for all: A controlled comparison of classroom versus nature
A Faber Taylor, C Butts-Wilmsmeyer, C Jordan – Environmental Education Research
A within-subjects, experimental, mixed methods design was employed with 92 4th-graders to determine if, why and for whom science learning is better through outdoor, nature-based instruction (NBI) compared to indoor, classroom-based instruction (CBI). Moderating variables, including student socioeconomic status, gender, English Learner status and connectedness to nature and mechanistic variables of perceived stress, engagement in learning, attention, and impulsivity were evaluated. Though the physical conditions for NBI were less optimal, NBI supported science learning as well as CBI, and for a broader range of students. With CBI, child demographics had a significant impact on science scores. In contrast, with NBI, all students performed similarly, suggesting NBI is a supportive strategy for a broad range of students.