Case study detail
Teenager collecting wood
FC – Forest school for dis-engaged teenagers – the Wyre Forest
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Sustainable Development Commission
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Forest School has been happening in the Wyre Forest for the past five years, during which time we have done some significant work with young people who are dis-engaged at school, either because of social and behavioural issues or because they have very low confidence and self-esteem.
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Overview
Description of the project
Forest School has been happening in the Wyre Forest for the past five years, during which time we have done some significant work with young people who are dis-engaged at school, either because of social and behavioural issues or because they have very low confidence and self-esteem.
In today’s educational climate where students constantly have pressure on them to achieve academic targets in school, there are undoubtedly many young people who are failing in the system because for many different reasons they don’t have the resources to succeed.
The concept of Forest School is about providing the environment for these young people to succeed. Through weekly sessions, (for up to one year) we work with them in the forest, facilitating their personal development, building of self-confidence, self worth and self-esteem by delivering a programme which is flexible, student led and absorbing.
The programmes typically consist of setting up a ‘wild camp’ area using natural materials for shelter building and fire lighting and from there we progress to tool use, chair and table making, whittling, bug hunts, games, tree identification, camp cooking, nettle string making, digging clay… the list is endless.
To run Forest School within a remote forest environment the leaders need to be trained as a Forest School Practitioner, level 3. The qualification requires a lot of time commitment and costs over £600. To run Forest School effectively, the ongoing commitment has to be high in order to deliver and monitor the benefits to small numbers of students – practitioners need to be working closely with the school or educational establishment involved. This relationship with the school is a vital part of the transference of learning for the student and is an important part of monitoring and gathering qualitative evaluation for the project.
The barriers
• Forest School is very labour and staff intensive, usually for a small number of students
• The students who typically access Forest School are usually on the ‘exclusion’ borderline, so attendance is unpredictable
• The school has to really ‘buy in’ to the process, as Forest School is expensive, and they need to release a member of staff to accompany the students each week
• The ‘wilderness feel’ is a very important part of the students’ development as they begin to learn to take responsibility for their actions so a suitable ‘remote’ piece of woodland is useful
• The staff involved in the project have to really
enjoy working with challenging young people and prior experience in this field is helpful.
The outcomes and benefits
We have learned through five years of experience that in order to appreciate the benefits of Forest School, it is absolutely vital to be realistic from the outset. For example, if a 15 year old student has a reading age of six, within the timescale of one year of Forest School, he is unlikely to reach his correct reading age. BUT Forest School has been identified as a means of keeping students actually accessing school when previously they may have chosen to exclude themselves.
Forest School is not an alternative means of testing and assessing students who are already failing in school, but for many students it is a chance for them to learn how to relate to others, how to moderate their own behaviour and how to behave in the outdoors and look after the environment. There are many successes noticed by teachers but also by the students themselves when we ask them to do their own evaluation at the end of the year. For one it was as simple as managing to hold a conversation with an adult without stuttering, for another just managing to hold a conversation without being abusive.
It is always important to remember that most of these young people are already badly damaged and that the smallest of successes should be celebrated.
I think that the biggest lesson we have learned has been to communicate fully with the school. Forest School should not be a weekly session which stands on its own, but part of a process for the students involved and this process can only be fully achieved with consistency.
Also Forest School training has been part of an ongoing process for the leaders involved – it may be necessary to do some drugs awareness training! Bushcraft training, etc. – the point is that you will never be able to stand still when you become involved with young people at this level!
Key features
education
environmental assessment
governance
Key data
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