Exploring Holistic Development

Having the opportunity to explore holistic development has been great. It  given me time out of the intense curriculum pushed on teachers by the government to actually start with the child and think of all the variables that affect children's development.

Holistic development is at the centre of Forest School. This allows us to look at the whole learner thinking about their needs on different levels. This includes the acronym SPICES: Social, Physical, Intellectual, Communication, and Spiritual – needs. These are the things we need as human beings in order to live good and meaningful lives. Often if something goes wrong in one area it can impact on the other areas; so an appreciation of the child as a whole is crucial in order for them to become successful learners.

Through taking a holistic approach children have great opportunities to learn about themselves and subsequently develop a healthy self-respect and self-esteem. They also learn about how to develop relationships with people and how they can sustain these so that they are healthy and productive. Research has now shown that having excellent emotional literacy is crucial for intellectual development, social development, aesthetic development and health. The Forest School holistic approach also allows children to overcome difficulties and face new challenges; leading to long term success, this development of resilience is a lifelong essential skill. Alongside these huge benefits for using a holistic approach, children are learning to see natural beauty, have awe, experiencing transcendence and appreciating those timeless ‘truths’  about natural parts of life. This can only result in the world becoming a place of appreciation and benefit others for years to come.

During my Forest School programmes I have really thought about the big picture and each individual child. I take into consideration any outside problems children may be experiencing and ensured that we use these as a guide for sessions and that I have monitored identified children. I am aware that if something goes wrong in one area it can impact on other areas.

Holistic development is facilitated through Forest School through being constantly aware of SPICES. By ensuring that we plan and facilitate activities or questioning to incorporate these we can be confident that we are looking at the needs of the whole child. By using the Leuven Scale, mentioned in a previous post, we can assess where children are and ensure that we are adapting to their needs. Using the school’s Personal Capabilities curriculum and developing life-long learning skills of reflection, self-management, creative thinking, effective participation, independent enquiry and team work, children will be developing as a whole child. Through learning practical skills and using our natural world the children are provided with meaning for their learning and can see where it fits in with the big picture of life.

Self-esteem is promoted through Forest School by its very nature of it not being a traditionally taught academic subject. This is assessed by the practitioner through using a well-being assessment scale, such as the Leuven Scale that assesses the whole child. Other ways in which Forest School promotes self-esteem include aspects including: it is taught outside of the usual constraints of a formal classroom; there are no wrongs or rights in creativity, with no tests or obvious assessments to be judged on; it is perceived as (and is) fun where learning is creative and through play; children have new and exciting experiences that they would not normally access; there is lots of sharing and there are opportunities to work both individually and as part of a team. There are ongoing opportunities for children to develop Guy Claxon’s ‘4 Rs’: resilience, resourcefulness, reciprocity and reflection, which in turn provide a more confident child with solid self-esteem.

Emotional intelligence is promoted through Forest School by the very nature of its approach of building a Forest School Community. Through learning with real-life situations; working with others; team tasks and learning from each other, children are developing their interpersonal skills. Together with being outside and having both the time and space to connect with their own intrapersonal skills, they have a strong base to develop their emotional intelligence. It also allows the children to become more aware of how the natural environment impacts on them and that it is the starting point for being able to easily coexist in it.

I wish the government could understand the importance of holistic development - investing a little bit will pay great dividends.