Affordances guiding Forest School practice: The application of the ecological dynamics approach
Ecological Dynamics, with its focus on affordances and the person-environment relationship, could enhance Forest School practice
This paper argues for the adoption of Ecological Dynamics (ED) as a framework to guide Forest School (FS) practice. The first section of the paper focuses on the origins of FS and includes a discussion of its relevance and current issues. The second section outlines the ED theoretical perspective and discusses its application to FS. The importance of affordances is highlighted in this section.
FS is an outdoor education delivery model in which children spend most of their school day in a forest or other type of environment outside of the classroom. While the Forest School model focuses on child development, it also includes an emphasis on nature-connection and play pedagogy. FS emerged in Denmark where learning outside the classroom is referred to as udeskole. This outdoor approach to learning is rooted in the Scandinavian philosophy of friluftsliv or “free air life.” Friluftsliv emphasizes feeling free in nature and being a part of the natural world. Some concerns have been raised about udeskole diluting the philosophical meaning of friluftsliv.
While FS includes elements of udeskole, there are some differences between the two. FS, as it evolved in the UK, is often considered an antidote to nature deprivation and tends to be shaped by how adults construct childhood and perceive risks. Denmark udeskole, on the other hand, tends to work from the bottom-up and presents itself as a challenge to traditional education. Viewing FS as an antidote to nature deprivation raises issues of adults re-shaping childhood and calls into question the effectiveness of this outdoor learning approach. The Ecological Dynamics (ED) framework is presented as a way to clarify the effectiveness and guide the practice of FS.
The concept of affordances is central to an understanding of ED. Affordances are “actions stemming from relationships between an individual and their environment uniting the objective nature of the environment with the subjective nature of the individual.” The benefits obtained from FS practice are about realizing and attuning to affordances in a way that recognizes and respects local cultures and their community resources.
FS practice, however, is becoming a one-size-fits-all product which fails to recognize and incorporate diverse cultural contexts and local resources. The ED framework with its focus on affordances and the person-environment relationship could enhance FS practice. A strength of the ED framework is the recognition of individual and sociocultural needs within a community. The role of FS practitioners within this framework is to facilitate diverse populations in their perception of affordances in nature for individualized benefits.
Citation
Sharma-Brymer, V., Brymer, E., Gray, T., Davids, K., (2018). Affordances guiding Forest School practice: The application of the ecological dynamics approach. Journal of Outdoor and Environmental Education, 21,
