Emotional Literacy Support Assistants (ELSA)

ELSAs are teaching assistants that have received additional training from educational psychologists in order to support children and young people in school to understand and regulate their emotions whilst also respecting the feelings of other people around them (ELSA Network, 2017). In order for a person to become an ELSA they must undertake six days of training on a range of topics such as emotional awareness, self-esteem, anger management, friendships, social communication difficulties and loss and bereavement and many more (ELSA Network, 2013) in order to provide the ELSAs with psychological theory an advice to give to the pupils they are helping (Burton et al., 2009).

As stated in the name of an Emotional Literacy Support Assistant, they link in with Emotional Literacy. Emotional Literacy can be defined as “the ability to recognise, understand, handle and appropriately express emotions” (Sharp, 2000, p.8). It also links in with Emotional Intelligence which is described as consisting of five areas which are self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills (Salovey & Mayer, 1990; Goleman, 1995). They are both used within literature as they do relate to each other but are also different at the same time, Emotional Literacy is mostly used in educational contexts in the UK (Qualter, Gardner & Whiteley, 2007). When the SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning) concept was put into the curriculum there has been a growing interest in Emotional Literacy in schools which was made to look into and develop the social, emotional and behavioural skills of children in education (DfES, 2005, 2007). Burton et al. (2009) has stated that a majority of pupils that have been in the ELSA programme or have had help from an ELSA had a positive impact when working towards specific goals. Bravery and Harris (2009) described that ELSAs help children to understand and express their emotions effectively and the skills that the children learned during the ELSA sessions were able to be transferred into the classroom or school setting (Wilding & Claridge, 2016).

In Swanage Primary School in Dorest, they have two ELSA’s within their school who offer a range of support for the emotional needs of the children such as recognising their emotions, anger management, loss and bereavement, social and friendship skills and self-esteem. (Swanage Primary School). Children are usually referred to the ELSA by their class teacher, senior leaders or sometimes the SENCo, this primary school say that “ELSA’s are not there to fix children’s problems. What we can do is provide emotional support.” (Swanage Primary School) so ELSA’s are not trying to solve or fix any problems that the children have they are there to support them and give the children a safe space to talk about their feelings and try to build upon those feelings.

Grahamslaw (2010) says that people who have been trained as an ELSA have greater levels of self-efficiency and are more likely to believe that they can make a difference to the children’s lives that they work with and they also feel more valued within their role within the school that they are based. In relation to the benefits that ELSAs have to children, teachers have stated that children’s behaviour after intervention from the ELSA and the levels of problems and hyperactivity with the children getting the intervention decreased (Burton, Osborne & Norgate, 2010). Hills (2016) found that the pupils appreciated having someone to talk to about their problems and feelings in school who listened to them without criticising them and by building up a relationship with the ELSA the children felt more accepted within the school. Hills (2016) also found that the pupils who had someone to talk to such as an ELSA felt happier overall due to talking about their feelings rather than bottling them all up. The sessions that are provided to the children should be child-centred which allows the person to see things from the perspective from the child’s point of view and therefore offer understanding to the child (Shotton & Burton, 2019)

“Emotional Literacy is something we model rather than teach……..Unless children experience respectful caring relationships from others they will not know how to develop them for themselves, or even that these are something to aim for. We gain children’s respect by giving respect” (Shotton & Burton, 2019, p.13)

From this, I get that to be an ELSA you need to understand your own emotions and thoughts and how to work through them before trying to teach someone else to do it. By having mutual respect between the ELSA and the pupils it enables them to build up a relationship and gain a trust to talk about their thoughts and feelings.

ELSA sessions can either happen individually or in groups. When in groups, the sessions can either be at lunchtimes or in curriculum times but should happen at the same time and day every week to ensure consistency, they should happen in a space where everyone feels comfortable and where there are no/minimal interruptions (Shotton & Burton, 2019). The group sessions should follow this general format each week: (Shotton & Burton, 2019).

1. Group aims – Why are they here? What do they want to achieve?
2. Establish some ground rules, the children can set these ground rules as they are in control of the sessions as they are child-led. However, there should not be too many rules to the sessions. For example, what is said in the room stays in the room or when someone speaks everyone else listens.
3. Warm up activity/ ice breaker, for example pass the keys around the circle without making a noise. This will get all the children in the group working together and bonding over an activity. The activities should be suitable to the ages of the children in the group.
4. Review of the week – Share one thing that has gone well this week and one thing that has gone not so well.
5. Focus activity – getting to know one another or learning how to give and receive information. Games and puppets can be useful for this.
6. Task for the week – Think about how you can support one another during the week in the playground or classroom. For example, looking out for another pupil in their class at playtime as they always end up on their own.
7. Ask the members to make a name for their group and take photos of the group.
8. To end the sessions, have a drink and a snack such as juice and biscuits – this can help the children to have an incentive for coming as they may look forward to this part of the session. It may also help them develop their social and friendship skills as they will learn how to share and socialise together.
9. Remind the children of the time and place of the next meeting.
10. At the end of the appropriate length of time of meeting (e.g six weeks) the member of staff could give out certificates in order to celebrate what they have learnt or to see how far they have come due to the sessions. The sessions should end once the children no longer need support or if meeting in the groups is not working for some reason. 

When I was on placement a few years ago for college I was in the outside cabin area and saw a display board for ELSA. It caught my attention straight away and I was able to see what some of the work that the pupils and ELSA do together. Since then I have been doing my research. In university I have linked as much work as I can to emotional literacy or emotional intelligence in order to find more research out about it. In my opinion I think that all primary schools should have an area, or a room dedicated to emotional literacy. It is so important to combat negative mental health, poor behaviour and can also help children deal with loss and bereavement and build up their self esteem and confidence. I think it should also be more publicised within groups and other educational settings to build up awareness for future teachers or other people looking to work in schools. 

References:

Bravery, K., & Harris, L. (2009) Emotional literacy support assistants in Bournemouth: Impact and outcomes. Bournemouth. Bournemouth Borough Council.

Burton, S., Osborne, C. and Norgate, R. (2010) An evaluation of the impact of the Emotional Literacy Support Assistant project on pupils attending schools in Bridgend, Hampshire. Educational Psychology Service Research and Evaluation Unit.

Burton, S., Traill, M., & Norgate, R. (2009) An evaluation of the emotional literacy support assistant (ELSA) programme. Winchester: Hampshire Educational Psychology Service, Research & Evaluation Service.

Department for Education and Skills (DfES) (2005) Excellence and enjoyment: Social and emotional aspects of learning. London: DfES.

Department for Education and Skills (DfES). (2007) Social and emotional aspects of learning for secondary schools. London: DfES.

ELSA Network (2017) ELSA Network. Available at: https://www.elsanetwork.org/about/the-network/ (Accessed 28 March 2019)

ELSA Network. (2013) ELSA Network. Available at: http://www.elsanetwork.org (Accessed 01 April 2019)

Goleman, D. (1995) Emotional intelligence. New York, NY: Bantam Books.

Grahamslaw, L. (2010) What is the impact of an ELSA Projecton support assistants’ and children’s self-efficiency beliefs? Unpublished doctoral research on www.elsanetwork.org/research Cited in: Shotton, G., Burton, S., & Agar, A. (2019). Emotional wellbeing: An introductory handbook for schools (Second ed.).

Hills, R. (2016) An evaluation of the emotional literacy support assistant (ELSA) project from the perspective of primary school children. Educational and Child Psychology, 33, 4.

Qualter, P., Gardner, K. J., & Whiteley, H. E. (2007) Emotional intelligence: Review of research and educational implications. Pastoral Care, 25, 11–20

Salovey, P., & Mayer, J. D. (1990) Emotional intelligence. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 9, 185–211.

Sharp, P. (2000) Promoting emotional literacy: Emotional literacy improves and increases your life chances. Pastoral Care in Education: International Journal of Personal, Social and Emotional Development, 18, 8–10

Shotton, G., Burton, S., & Agar, A. (2019). Emotional wellbeing: An introductory handbook for schools (Second ed.).

Swanage Primary School. (Unknown) ELSA – Emotional Literacy Support. Available at: http://www.swanageprimary.dorset.sch.uk/elsa-emotional-literacy-support/ (Accessed 01 April 2019)

Wilding, Lucy, & Claridge, Simon. (2016) The Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) Programme: Parental Perceptions of Its Impact in School and at Home. Educational Psychology in Practice, 32(2), 180-196.

Image 1: https://www.elsa-support.co.uk/elsa-poster/

The Spring Equinox Ceremony

The spring equinox happens once a year and it is when there is equal day and night , this happens due to the earth tilting so that the sun shines directly above the celestial equator (EarthSky, 2019). The celestial equator is “the imaginary line in the sky above the Earth’s equator – from south to north” (TimeandDate, 2019). The spring equinox signifies the start of spring, where it starts to get warmer and plants and flowers begin to grow once again, plants need water, light and warmth in order to grow therefore spring is the best time for this to occur as there is more daylight each day and the rainy weather gives the plants water to grow (BBC news, 2019).

This year the Spring Equinox is: WEDNESDAY 20^TH MARCH 2019 and it occurred at 9:58pm

According to Google (2019)

As part of AOLE 2, me and my seminar group participated in teaching a group of pupils to carry out a musical ceremony for the spring equinox using music and dance. We got them to do a warm up where they had to run/fast walk around the dance studio then stop and either point, do a gesture, jump or spin when one of us shouted it out. This enabled them to do some physical activity and have fun at the same time and it also enabled them to form a bond with us before we started the spring equinox musical ceremony with them. After the warm up we split the group into a musical group and a dance group, the children chose what group they wanted to be in as it was child led. As the session was child led, it enabled us to watch the children explore, discover and invent a ceremony through music and dance in relation to the spring equinox (Nature Play, 2017) which was really interesting. I was with the musical group with around 9 pupils. We got the children to clap along to a beat of 8 in order to match the beat of the dancers so that when it all got put together at the it would match match up and fit in with each other. After they were familiar with the beat they were able to choose the instruments that they wanted such as drums and bird whistles. We got them to think about the sounds of spring and how they would play it on their instruments such as bird sounds and earthy sounds due to flowers growing. The children could choose how they played their instruments as long as it felt to them as they were celebrating spring and what it was all about. They rehearsed it multiple times to get it perfect and correct any mistakes throughout in order to improve. This could be linked to authentic learning as this session included reflection (metacognition) as they reflected on what they did in order to improve, collabteration with other pupils to make the ceremony and a polished product when the music and dance group got together to make the whole ceremony complete together (Lombardi, 2007). When the music and dance group had completed their rehearsals, it was put together. The end result was magical. The children looked like they were really enjoying themselves and they were able to see what they had achieved and experienced all together.

By experiencing this musical ceremony as a class it could be seen as they felt a sense of Communitas. “Communitas may be found when people engage in a collective task with full attention” and they may experience “flow” whilst doing an activity, communitas also means that everyone is equal when bonding over the task (E. Turner, 2012, p.4). Whilst the children were participating in the musical ceremony for the spring equinox there was music in the background to support them for the warm but for the actual ceremony the children made up their own music which brought the music and dancers together in harmony. “Communitas is revealed through the flow of music and harmony, often the way the joy of the community is communicated” (E. Turner, 2012, p.10). Turner (2012) also said that when music is being played everyone is altogether in the sound and everyone is one, this is what happened during the ceremony, every pupil felt like they were a part of each other and the wider community.

“Participants relate to musical sounds, to each other and to the physical context in which they interact.” (Small 1998, pp.183–184). This is true as when the pupils were listening to the music they created and looked at what the dancers created so they were able to relate to each other and understand each other without using words to make a special musical ceremony. The children who were doing the music would listen to each other and build upon it each time so that they would not repeat themselves too much and to also make the music as good as they possibly could. This is also backed up by what Small (1998) said which is that 'musicking' is an important component in understanding yourselves and the people around you and understanding the relationships with other people and creatures that share our planet. The children were able to do this by reflecting on what spring is all about and what happens such as new animals being born, flowers growing and warmer weather, they were able to see how important the planet is and their role in it.

To improve this session for future reference, it could have been performed or made outside in the wooded area in the University to make them be out in nature when they were doing their ceremony to connect them more to nature. However, due to the weather conditions this could not happen. The children would have been able to use natural resources to aid their learning and performance (The Druid Network). Also, by going out in the wooded area for the spring equinox ceremony it may have given them more ideas with the music or dance as being in nature can improve creativity (Roots of Nature, 2018). For example, the children could have used the sticks to bang the drums or used leaves on the floor during their dance routine to include nature in their dance as they linked spring equinox a lot with nature and flowers when they were explaining what it meant to them. It may have also made the children feel more connected to nature if they were doing it outside. Edgington (2002) suggests that being in the outdoors changed the sort of learning experiences that children have, Waite and Davies (2007) adds to this and says that free-play and child-initiated exploration of the natural environment engages children to a greater extent more than adult-led activities. Therefor, if the children were outdoors doing the musical ceremony there would have been a chance that they would have engaged more and enjoyed themselves more than they did doing it in the dance studio.

References:

• BBC News (2019) What makes the spring equinox so special? Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-47631820 (Accessed 20 March 2019)

• Earth Sky (2019) March Equinox: All you need to know. Available at: https://earthsky.org/?p=68679 (Accessed 13 March 2019)

• Edgington, M. 2002. The great outdoors. London: Early Education.

• Google (2019) The Spring Equinox. Available at: https://www.google.com/search?q=the+spring+equinox&rlz=1C1CHBF_en-GBGB766GB766&oq=the+spring+equi&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l4j69i60.8578j1j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 (Accessed 22 March 2019)

• Lombardi, M. (2007) Authentic Learning for the 21st century: An Overview. Educause Learning Initiative, (1) 1 - 12

• Nature Play (2017) What is Child-led Play? Available at: http://www.nature-play.co.uk/child-led-play.html (Accessed 22 March 2019)

• Small, C. (1998) Musicking. New England. Wesleyan University Press.

• The Druid Network (Unknown) Spring Equinox Ceremony. Available at: https://druidnetwork.org/what-is-druidry/rites-and-rituals/rites-celebrate-seasonal-festivals/spring-equinox/spring-equinox-ceremony/ (Accessed 20 March 2019)

• Time and Date (2019) March Equinox – Equal Day and Night, Nearly. Available at:  https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/march-equinox.html (Accessed 13 March 2019)

• Turner, E. (2012) Communitas. The Anthropology of Collective Joy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

• Waite, S., and B. Davis. 2007. The contribution of free play and structured activities in Forest School to learning beyond cognition: An English case. In Learning beyond cognition, ed. B. Ravn and N. Kryger, 257–74. Copenhagen: the Danish University of Education.

Mental Health and Well-Being

Horwitz & Schield (1999) says that mental illness is a problem in cognitive and personal factors. 

However, it can also be described as a person’s overall emotional, psychological and social well-being which can affect the way in which we think, act and feel (Mental Health.gov, 2017). Mental health problems can occur due to lots of different reasons such as; childhood trauma, domestic violence, bereavement, drug and alcohol misuse, long- term stress and bullying (Mind, 2018).

The media has a very large impact on young people’s mental health these days as Governments and media such as television, social media and magazines promote visions and forms of physical perfection which children and young people want to follow (Evans et al, 2008).

CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) is one of the services available that help children and young people with mental health issues. CAMHS is an NHS service that helps young people to deal with emotional, behavioural and mental health issues. This service helps to support children and young people who suffer from depression, eating disorders, self-harm, abuse an so much more (Young Minds).

In the Donaldson curriculum, the Areas of Learning and Experience teaches pupils subjects and themes such as sex and relationships, physical education and healthy eating and cooking in order to support children and young people’s social, emotional, spiritual and physical health and well-being (Donaldson, 2015, p.45).

Donaldson says young people should be healthy, confident individuals who:

• Have knowledge about the impact of diet and exercise on physical and mental health
• Have knowledge and support on how to stay safe
• Take part in physical activity
• Make rational decisions about their lifestyle and how to manage risk
• Have confidence to participate in performance
• Form positive relationships

(Donaldson, 2015, p.30)

Attachment to nature is key to a child’s health and well-being during childhood (Bohling, 2006:51)

therefore, when a child has a positive experience with a natural environment it helps their emotional development which can make them feel better (Louv, 2006). For children who have mental health issues and feel like they are angry at the world; caring for flowers, pets or spending time listening to nature can help children to develop a sense of belonging and social development (Elliot, 2008) If children do not have frequent experiences with nature, children begin to gain unhealthy emotional/psychological states such as anxiety and depression so experiencing nature at least once a week can help prevent children gaining these symptoms (Louv, 2006).                                         (Image 1)

In order to help children with Mental Health issues, schools can pay for programmes such as Jigsaw, Roots of empathy and PATHS which work with children in primary schools, each programme focuses on different age ranges but all of them work within the primary school age (Mentally Healthy Schools, 2018). Programmes like these provide well-structured progressive lesson plans and teaching resources to help children along their educational and well- being journey and promote positive mental health and well-being of children in primary schools, children learn coping skills and more knowledge about metal well – being by raising social and emotional competence with children (Mentally Healthy Schools, 2018).

A week plan to promote positive mental health and well-being: (Mental Health Foundation)

References: 

Bohling, V (2006). The power of nature to help children heal. Exchange 17 (1), 49–52.

Brooks, F. et, al. (2015) HBSC England National Report 2014. University of Hertfordshire; Hatfield, UK.

Donaldson, G. (2015) Successful Futures: Independent review of curriculum and assessment arrangements in Wales.

Elliott, S (2008). The Outdoor Playspace Naturally for Children Birth to Five Years. Castle Hill, NSW: Pademelon Press.

Evans S, Ferrando S, Findler M, Stowell C, Smart C, Haglin D. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for generalized anxiety disorder. Journal of Anxiety Disorders. 2008;22:716–721.

Green, H. et. al (2005) Mental health of children and young people in Great Britain, 2004. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Louv, R. (2006) The Last Child in the Woods. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books.

Mental Health.gov (2017) What is Mental Health? Available at: https://www.mentalhealth.gov/basics/what-is-mental-health

Mental Health Foundation. 5 ways your school can promote mental health. Available at: https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/sites/default/files/schools-wellbeing-week-pack.pdf (Accessed 04 December 2018)

Mind (2018) Understanding Mental Health. National Association for Mental Health. London.

ONS (2016) Selected Children’s Well-being Measures by Country: 3 Centre Forum. Commission on Child.

Young Minds (2017) Mental Health Statistics. Available at: https://youngminds.org.uk/about-us/media-centre/mental-health-stats/

Young Minds. Guide to CAMHS. Available at: https://youngminds.org.uk/find-help/your-guide-to-support/guide-to-camhs/

Mentally Healthy Schools (2018) Whole- school programmes. Available at: https://www.mentallyhealthyschools.org.uk/teaching-resources/whole-school-programmes/ (Accessed 02 December 2018)

 Image 1: http://www.naturehealthandwellbeing.ie/news-bedford/2018/4/22/2-day-training-in-nature-based-interventions-for-mental-health (Accessed 04 December 2018)

Creativity in Schools

Creativity “can be an act, idea, or product that changes an existing domain, or that transforms an existing domain into a new one. And the definition of a creative person is: someone whose thoughts or actions change a domain or establish a new domain.” (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997, p.28)

Sharp (2004) says that theorists have different views on what ‘creativity’ is, but agree that it includes:

•       Imagination

•       Originality - The ability to come up with ideas that are new and original

•       Productivity - The ability to think of a variety of different ideas

•       Problem Solving – The application of knowledge and imagination in a situation

Creativity differs from each person, but everyone loves what they do and do whatever they want due to what drives them and it also gives them the opportunity to carry out what they enjoy doing (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997, p.107) “The concept of creativeness and the concept of the healthy, self-actualizing, fully human person seem to be coming closer together, and may perhaps turn out to be the same thing” as people become happy and healthier when they enjoy what they are doing (Maslow, 1964, p.55)

Defining creativity and imagination may: (Duffy, 2006)

•  Limit creativity to producing an item e.g. a painting;
•  Restrict creativity to being only related to the arts e.g. painting, music;
•  Encourage people to see them as simply skills which can be taught;
•  Encourage people to see them as something that will develop if the conditions are right;
•  Include stereotypical ideas e.g. that certain groups of people are naturally creative;
•  Limit creativity and imagination to the gifted few.

Although creativity and innovation can be seen as being similar, Creativity refers to generating new ideas whereas innovation refers to changing the way in which things are done (Feist, 1998).

 

 (Duffy 2006, p.16)

If education is all about educating people for their future workplace, then people who are creative and are creative thinkers are much needed for the future (Beetlestone, 1998). Torrance (1965) states that creative thinking is a powerful force, creativity has enabled people to have great advances in different discoveries that have been made such as in medicine. Toynbee (1964) claims that creativity is a person’s greatest asset. When children participate in creative activities such as creating sounds, drawing pictures, playing different roles and handling new materials it develops skills such as listening, experimenting, exploring and communicating which can all help children as they grow up as these skills will continue to develop(Welsh Assembly Government, 2008) In order for children to progress in creative development as good as they do in other Areas of Learning, children need to be able to explore through activities such as handling and experimenting with new materials, developing skills through activities such as learning to use materials in certain ways and using the skills that they have learnt to create and invent their own version of the ideas in order to solve problems and develop (Welsh Assembly Government, 2008). Students should be provided with a variety of opportunities for creative expression (Torrance, 1962) in order for children to develop their problem solving skills and motivation in what they are passionate about so that their creativity will always be able to develop (De Bono, 1992).

Cropley (1978) argues that creativity is important because:

1. It will make learning more effective in schools as cognitive processes will be outlined during learning
2. It increases the pupil’s ability to cope with changes within and outside of education
3. It promotes spiritual well-being
4. It ‘protects’ pupils from being on the computer so often which can therefore develop their creative processes
5. It offers new perspectives on situations

The Welsh Government (2008) say that teachers should give children indoor and outdoor spaces in order to enable creative activities such as the use of natural resources and movement. They also say that children should be given an area such as a ‘studio’ area where creative work can take place and also teachers should provide children with a range of simulating and multi-sensory objects and materials along with a good learning environment in order for children to explore creativity (Welsh Assembly Government, 2008)

Although Cropley (1978) has stated that creativity is important, creativity is not being pursued as much beyond primary education, since 2010 there has been a 28% drop in the number of students who went on to pick a creative subject for their GCSE’s when given the choice (The Guardian, 2018). Also, due to funding and the pressure on getting high grades in the core academic subjects such as Science, Maths and English, creative activities such as drama, design, art and music are “rapidly disappearing from the curriculum” (The Guardian, 2018). Schools can now be seen as being ‘clone schools’ as they are teaching children to all be the same in the UK due to the pressure on exam results, when children first start school they are always so excitable and have so many ideas but as children move through the education system their creativity is slowly stripped away from them as there is more focus on getting good test results rather than being creative and innovative (tes, 2018).

Are we in Britain destroying, or have we destroyed, the creativity in our system? (tes, 2018) 

                                                                      (Image 1)

I have seen creativity in schools in a general sense so i have experienced it from a far such as children drawing and interacting with role play but i have not yet had an outstanding experience of seeing children engaging with creativity as of yet. However, over the summer i was helping a friend of mine decorate her new classroom for the new year as she was a teacher starting in a new school. She wanted creativity to be the forefront of her classroom. Therefore, we worked on a large art and crafts area where we splattered paint on a display board and provided glitter, straws, pipe cleaners, paint and pine cones for the children to get creative with. We also set up a role play area where the children can pick what they want to do therefore they are using their imagination. We sorted out the outdoor area to enable children to get creative outdoors such as continuing role play outdoors, play in the sand pit and the mud pit. 

References:

Beetlestone, F. (1998). Creative children, Imaginative Teaching. Buckingham. Open University Press.

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1997) Creativity, Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention. New York. Harper Collins.

De Bono, E. (1992) Serious Creativity. London: Harper Collins Publishers.

Duffy, B (2006) Supporting creativity and imagination in the early years. 2^nd Edn. Berkshire: Open University Press.

Maslow, A. (1968). Toward a psychology of being (2nd Edition). New York:

Maslow, A. H (1964) Religions, values, and peak experiences. Columbus, OH: Ohio State University.

Sharp, C. (2004) Developing young children’s creativity: what can we learn from research? 

Tes (2018) Colin Harris. We’ve destroyed the creativity in our schools. Available at: https://www.tes.com/news/weve-destroyed-creativity-our-schools (Accessed 02 December 2018)

The Guardian (2018) Rufus Norris, the director of the National Theatre. Creativity can be taught to anyone, So why are we leaving it to private schools? Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jan/17/creativity-private-schools-uk-creative-industries-state (Accessed 02 December 2018)

Torrance, E. P. (1962). Guiding creative talent. N.J: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

Torrance, E. P. (1965). Rewarding creative behaviour experiments in classroom creativity, N.J: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

Welsh Assembly Government (2008) Creative Development. Department for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills. Cardiff.

Image 1: https://collectivenext.com/content/sir-ken-robinson-do-schools-kill-creativity (Accessed 04 December 2018)

Nature with Children

Nature play isn’t just playing IN nature, it is playing WITH nature (Erickson and Ernst 2011). Nature invites authentic play which can be seen as the best kind of play for young children as it is fun, open-ended, self-directed, and freely chosen (Miller et al.2009) Authentic play occurs naturally when children and nature are brought together (Stephens 2009). Although nature play is known for taking place outdoors it can also take place indoors by ‘bringing the outdoors in’, natural materials can be brought inside to provide another setting of outdoor play with the use of imagination and creativity (Wilson, 2012)

Benefits of Learning with nature: (Montessori Nature, 2017)

1. Nature is the ultimate resource for eco-friendly craft and art materials - pine cones, twigs, pebbles, leaves etc.
2. Children get a chance to interact with living things.
3. Children get the chance to be bold and carefree - they are free to be themselves.
4. Children learn to be empathetic and understand their behaviours in nature.
5. Children get a hands-on experience - children are able to learn and explore.
6. Children are able to be in control and drive their own explorations which can boost a child's curiosity.
7. Nature provides children with sensory experiences - nature involves all of a child's senses.
8. Nature can be a source of inspiration.
9. Nature has no limits.
10. Children are able to learn through playing with and understanding nature.

Louv (2008) says that children are now suffering from nature deficit disorder. He also argues that we need to give nature back to children as well as ourselves, it is unethical not to (Louv, 2011) Waite et al. (2016) say that significant proportions of the population, particularly children and young people, are ‘disconnected’ (physically, spiritually or emotionally) from the natural world. A growing number of literature indicates that all humans need contact with nature for their health and wellbeing (Capaldi, Dopko, & Zelenski, 2014; Dowdell, Gray, & Malone, 2011). In a report for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), concluded that four out of five children in the UK were not adequately ‘connected to nature' (Bragg, 2013)       
                                                                                                               (Image 1)

Chris Packham who is a British naturalist and a writer states that: “The children out in the woods, out in the fields enjoying nature on their own-they are extinct.” (MacFarlane, 2015, p.324) Despite this, research has shown that children can benefit from feeling connected to nature. (Faber, Taylor and Kuo 2009) Studies such as Chawla (1998) emphasise that children's experiences and interactions with the natural world are as a good of a way of keeping children's interests and concerns for the environment alive. “An education that wants to challenge sustainability builds on reinventions of basic educational theories and attends to humans’ self-relation, humans’ mutual relations and humans’ relation to other parts of nature” (Wolff, 2011, p.349).

“The value of working outside the classroom is in providing pupils with experiences that are different from those inside it. … We want them to learn to behave in ways that are different to classroom behaviour.” (Waite, 2011, p.14)

We have seen a decline in opportunities for children in Western countries to play outdoors in the past few years (Clements, 2004). Frost (2006), who is an expert on playground play, has stated that there is a ‘dissolution of children's outdoor play'. He feels like play deprivation of children may affect their fundamental survival skills that they need (Frost, 2006). He says this is due to the shift from outdoor play to indoor technology play as classrooms are now using more technology within their lessons rather than taking the children outdoors to learn and to also learn through play (Frost, 2006). However, in the UK, Outdoor learning is now a statutory requirement for all children and schools to take part in, in Wales, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland (Waite, 2011) therefore, there has been an increasing interest in the educational value of outdoor learning around the world.

Is evolution being disturbed when children grow and develop with minimal involvement in the outdoor world?’ Rivkin (p. 697) He thinks that this is an important question to ask, it is important for children to experience the outdoors through nature which can be seen as their “natural habitat” (Rivkin, p.703). Children may not experience the outdoors much when they are home, so it is important for children to experience nature whilst in school.

Biophilia is the tendency to focus on lifelike processes (Wilson, 1994) it can also be seen as a fear of nature, it is a reflected culturally conditioned tendency to connect with technology and human artefacts and to focus on human interests when relating to the natural world (Cajete, 1999) The perception of nature causes this. It tends to be most evident in when young children naturally express themselves. When young children are left alone without any input from teachers or parents they try to develop relationships with the living things and nature that they encounter such as bugs, sticks, trees and birds during their first experiences with nature, these relationships are usually positive ones that start to ignite a child's love for nature (Cajete, 1999).

Erickson and Ernst (2011) identified the following benefits from children spending time outside:

• Nature play makes children healthier by stimulating higher levels of physical activity which has a positive impact on their well-being
• Nature play makes children smarter by boosting their brain development as children's brains are always being stimulated whilst outdoors
• Nature play makes children feel better by encouraging emotional well-being and strengthening social bonds with other classmates.
• Nature play is good for the Earth by teaching and allowing children to care about the natural world later in life so they understand why and how important the environment is.

         “I get excited"      “There is nature all around us”      “It allows us to breathe”

  “We have lots of energy to let out”  “Break from work”  “It lifts my spirits"  

  “I like when we get free play”     “I like seeing nature, like birds”  

    “You feel free”         “We get to meet loads of new lovely people”

In this video, you can see the children’s faces light up when they talk about when they are interacting with nature and having new experiences. They enjoy going outdoors to play because as they have said above it makes them ‘feel free’ and they get to meet new ‘lovely’ people. They also talk about the wide range of activities that they do in nature and how much they enjoy them. So, nature must be good then? Well, this video only focuses on the positives of learning in nature, however, from experience some children don't like learning through nature as they may be too shy to open up about the possibility of participating in fun activities such as roasting marshmallows or playing music in the forest. 

Over the past couple of years, Red Kite Academy and The Wildlife trusts have been looking to open a primary school in Nuneaton in England that will be based around nature and their ethos will be based about and in the natural environment, it should open in September 2022 or 2023 (Nature Schools) The Nature school will teach the national curriculum for Wales and England alongside using nature to explore and understand "every aspect of the curriculum - from literacy and numeracy to science, geography, history, art, music, technology and design" (Nature Schools) What do you think about the idea of having a 'Nature School'?

My personal experience:

When working in the forest with children over the past couple of years with university, I have noticed that children's faces light up when being told they are allowed to go into the forest, they burst with excitement. I think that they are most excited about being able to carry out free play and ignite their imaginations. They are able to do activities such as role play, mindfulness and exploring. From my experiences, children find it easier to use their imagination when in nature as they are able to use natural resources when playing individually or in a group. For example, children may pick up a stick and use it as a sword or pick up a leaf and use it as a cup as part of their tea party. The possibilities are endless. Mindfulness in nature is also exciting for children as they are able to concentrate on the sounds that they hear and give themselves to nature.

References:

Bragg, R., Wood, C., Barton, J., & Pretty, J. (2013). Measuring connection to nature in children aged 8-12: A robust methodology for the RSPB. University of Essex.

Cajete, G. (1999). Igniting the sparkle: an indigenous science education model. Kivaki Press.

Capaldi, C. A., Dopko, R. L., & Zelenski, J. M. (2014). The relationship between nature connectedness and happiness: a meta-analysis. Frontiers in psychology, 5, 976.

Chawla, L., Keena, K., Pevec, I., & Stanley, E. (2014). Green schoolyards as havens from stress and resources for resilience in childhood and adolescence. Health & place, 28, 1-13.

Clements, R (2004) An Investigation of the Status of Outdoor Play. Contemporary Issues in Early 

Childhood. Volume 5. Hofstra University, Hempstead. USA.

Erickson, D.M. and Ernst, J.A. (2011). The real benefits of nature play every day. Exchange 33 (4), 97–9.

Faber Taylor, A., & Kuo, F. E. (2009). Children with attention deficits concentrate better after walk in the park. Journal of attention disorders, 12(5), 402-409

Frost, J. L (2004). (2006). The dissolution of outdoor play: Causes and consequences.

Louv, R. (2008) Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder. New York: Algonquin books

Louv, R. (2011). The nature principle: Human restoration and the end of nature-deficit disorder. Algonquin Books.

Miller, D.L., Tichota, K. and White, J.  (2009).  Young Children Learn Through Play in a Nature Explore Classroom. Lincoln, NE:  Dimensions Educational Research Foundation. 

Montessori Nature (2017) The Many Benefits of Learning in Nature. Available at: https://www.montessorinature.com/benefits-nature-learning/ (Accessed 23rd November 2018)

Nature Schools. Welcome to Nature Schools. Available at: http://www.natureschools.org.uk/ (Accessed 23rd November 2018)

Rivkin, M. (1995). The Great Outdoors: Restoring Children’s Right to Play Outside. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Rivkin, M. (1997). The schoolyard habitat movement: what it is and why children need it. Early Childhood Education Journal 25 (1), 61–6.

Stephens, K. (2009).  Imaginative play during childhood:  required for reaching full potential.  Exchange, March/April, 53–6

Waite, S. (2011) Children Learning Outside the Classroom. London: Sage

Waite, S., Bølling, M., & Bentsen, P. (2016). Comparing apples and pears? A conceptual framework for understanding forms of outdoor learning through comparison of English Forest Schools and Danish udeskole. Environmental Education Research, 22(6), 868-892.

Wilson, R (2012) Young Children. Encouraging creative play and learning in natural environments. Second edition. Routledge.

Wilson, R.A. (1994). Preschool children’s perspectives on the environment. North American Association for Environmental Education Conference Proceedings, Troy, OH: North American Association for Environmental Education.

Wolff, L. A. (2011). Nature and sustainability: An educational study with Rousseau and Foucault.

Image 1: https://www.childrenandnature.org/2015/06/16/kids-go-outside-and-learn-at-the-arboretums-outdoor-forest-school/ 

Video 1: Youtube:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1E8Ue15zCiA (Accessed 23 November 2018)