Happy New Year & Ending of the England Posts (for now)

Final Thoughts... for now

Late Night Conversations
One of the joys of research is working with brilliant people and spending 24 hours each day with them discussing the academical value of what you are studying.  Think of it as a slumber party for nerds. During a late night conversation as we were housed at Mary Mackenzie’s beautiful domain we were discussing what we observed at the Forest Schools.  WE got into a deep discussion on the pedagogical practices, the benefits, and how non-education people view education, in general.
 
At one point Lucy stated,  “Everybody thinks they can do school, they can teach, because they lived it, but there is so much more to it.”  At this point I told her to wait a tick as I grabbed my computer so I could record the pure genius as it came from her mouth.  (I know, I know, at what slumber party do you stop and take field notes… NERD!).
 
She proceeded, “ As a non-education person I didn’t necessarily know the mountain I was climbing until I was on it [speaking of education]… the more I climb the more is see that it goes higher and higher.”  She went on, “There are so many nuances that go into teaching for it to be successful.  I just didn’t realize. I thought that it could be easy, but there is so much more to it. There are the theories or methods and the strategies to get to the end results.  Everyone one thinks they can do it because they have done it [gone to school] but not just anyone can do this.  This is really hard work.”
 
Well said Lucy. I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Mary stated, “Forest schools are great. It is the ultimate level, but outdoor education is what should be accessible for all. No matter how wonderful Forest Schools are, it cannot be accessed with the full intended ethos for all children, but outdoor learning can. You just need a space you can grow [build upon from a simple start] for the children to benefit from outdoor learning. You can focus on outdoor learning. Getting endorphins going. Key thing is to have staff that has bought into the concept.”
 
She then explained that, “There are Mud lovers and Mug huggers. Mud lovers, love to be outside and mug huggers are people who hug the mugs when they go outside and do not like to be there.”  FYI for Forest Schools, you need Mud Lover, just in case it wasn’t clear. ;) 

It has been truly an adventure through the woods... I am sure there is more to come once we analyze the data.