Collaborative efforts between organizations can make forest and nature school opportunities available to more children

Niblett, B. ., Hiscott, K. ., Power, M. ., & McFarlane, H. . (2020). Partnering for outdoor play: A case study of forest and nature school programming in the context of licensed child care in Ottawa, Ontario. Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, 23, 67-85.

Two organizations involved in the education of young children in Canada worked together to make a forest school experience available to a wider group of children. The one organization, the Child and Nature Alliance of Canada (CNAC), is a national organization working to connect children and youth with the outdoors through a variety of avenues, including providing professional development opportunities and the delivery of child and youth programs regionally. The other organization, Andrew Fleck Children's Services (AFCS), is a not-for-profit children and families service provider operating a variety of programs for young children and their families, including licensed childcare.

The executive directors of these two programs developed a shared memorandum of understanding (MoU) which included a commitment on the part of AFCS to have a number of their staff trained and certified in CNAC's forest school practitioner training and certification program. The memorandum also included an agreement to develop and jointly operate a licensed forest nature school (FNS) childcare program for preschool children. This vision became reality as a pilot program after several years of collaborative planning. Up to 16 children attend the licensed program three days per week in a childcare center and two days per week at a nearby FNS. When based at the childcare center, educators bring FNS elements into the indoor classroom and outdoor play spaces. The children also make daily visits to a nearby natural area within walking distance of the center to engage in inquiry-based play.

The two executive directors of the partnering organizations participated as co-researchers in a case study analysis examining the policy significance of the project. Six semi-structured focus group discussions with involved personnel and an analysis of the MoU served as primary sources of data. The purpose of the study was to identify policy conditions that allowed for the successful development of the pilot FNS licensed childcare program.

A key finding of this case study relates to the understanding that options for forest and nature school program delivery range from all day, everyday immersion in a forest/nature setting to an integrative forest/nature school practice in which elements of FNS pedagogies are integrated into more traditional preschool programming. Another important finding relates to the need for FNS practitioners to be aware of and abide by safety and supervision regulations mandated by childcare licensing agencies. A third key finding relates to ways in which a collaborative approach to expanding FNS programming can advance social and ecological justice values.

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