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Today – the 27th annual Playday – sees the publication of my evidence review, entitled The Play Return: A review of the wider impact of play initiatives. As reported on the BBC website this morning, the report summarises the measurable impact of initiatives to improve play opportunities.
I have long been a fan of – and cheerleader for – the forest school movement. That is why I am happy to give my support to Love Trees Love Wood – a new crowdfunding initiative that aims to spread its reach and impact. And I am inviting you to do the same.
Playday, Bristol City Council
This post asks for your help in building the case for play. I am writing a report – aimed at Government – that gathers together evidence for the difference that play facilities and initiatives can make to children, families and communities. And I need your help in pulling together this evidence. I hope you agree this is an important and urgent task, given the scale of recent cuts to play facilities.
Posted in Child development, Education, Health, Learning, Outdoor play, play, Public policy
Tagged evidence, Government, outdoor play, research
Technology has an ever greater role in children’s lives, and its effects are the focus of ever more heated debate. It is easy for advocates of nature, outdoor play and everyday childhood freedoms to think that screens and gadgets are our enemy. But the truth is that things are a little more complicated than that.
Posted in Child development, Education, Health, Learning, Technology
Tagged child development, education, learning, technology, well-being
Earlier this month I went to Denmark to give a speech at the Nordic Adventure conference, whose theme was reconnecting children with nature. It was not my first visit to the region. I can clearly remember that trip: a study tour in 2003 during my secondment to Whitehall to lead the first UK Government review of children’s play. Back then, I came home inspired by what I had seen – like the nature park at Valbyparken, which had just been built, and which is now one of the city’s most popular parks.
Many of the international delegates to this conference also came looking for inspiration. But this time, I had a different goal. I wanted to get behind the success stories – the beautiful spaces, the switched-on educators, the generously funded programmes – and find out whether it really is so easy for the Nordic nations to make nature a meaningful part of children’s everyday lives. I wanted to hear about the problems, the barriers and the challenges.
Posted in Education, Learning, Nature, Public policy
Tagged copenhagen, Denmark, education, nature, norway, outdoor learning, policy, Scandinavia, sweden
I am pleased to announce that this Autumn, I will be putting on some training on risk, targeted at schools. The workshops, organised by the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom (CLOtC), will look at why outdoor learning and play matter, what a balanced, thoughtful approach to risk looks like, and how this can be developed in schools. The half-day sessions will be repeated in four venues across England in Sept, Oct and Nov. See the end of this post for dates and venues, and head to this CLOtC web page for bookings.
Posted in Education, Learning, Outdoor play, play, Risk
Tagged education, outdoor education, Risk, risk benefit assessment, schools
Rethinking Childhood 