Wrapped in Cotton Wool?

Being a parent and a teacher I have responsibilties for the children in my care - but not allowing children to learn from mistakes or in a controlled environment will not help them learn and will make them reliant on others to make decisions for them.

Risk taking is often brought up by all involved with Forest School. The media often discussed the way children are brought up today and wrapped in cotton wool, as stated in The Telegraph 1.02.15, “Children should not be wrapped in cotton wool and must be allowed to play, fall over and hurt themselves, the head of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has insisted.”  This is all well and good but there are still people who are incredibly over protective and have been brought up that way themselves. Forest School is therefore a perfect way of developing appropriate risk taking. This does not mean that there is no health and safety and the children are allowed to do what they please. Instead there is careful consideration and planning and risk benefit analyses that take place before every session. These are there to recognise risks and the associated benefits that accompany them and then work out what does need to go in place for the risk to be managed.

Activities, such as fire lighting, would raise concerns with anyone not previously accustomed to Forest School, but upon investigating further they would discover the way in which the children are taught rules and systems to manage the risk so that they can still participate and learn from such a valuable activity.

Making managing risks part of Forest School embeds the precautions for the children, for example incorporating safety signals and spot checks on entering the fire circle or where the ‘blackthorn’ is situated and to be avoided. Removing the ‘blackthorn’ would perhaps be the easy option but would prevent children from: knowing what it was; what it looks like; and how it can harm. This is demonstrating trust in the children and providing them with the tools to become more independent. This educates children in techniques to manage their own abilities and develop an understanding of what is, or is not, safe to do. It develops their skills at recognizing hazards then assessing and managing risks, themselves – developing their ‘self-management’ and ‘independent enquirer’ skills. Children are also taught about fire, trip hazards and the dangers of fauna and flora and how they can use personal protective equipment.

Again, because Forest School is learner led, children will be building on prior experiences and each challenge will be the next small step. This compliments developing and ultimately having a growth mindset; where feeling free to take risks and making mistakes is expected.