Aim
To understand what holistic development is.
To understand the holistic approach we use within planning Forest Schools experiences.
To understand the SPICES model of holistic development.
"At its most general level, what distinguishes holistic education from other forms of education are its goals, its attention to experiential learning, and the significance that it places on relationships and primary human values within the learning environment." Robin Ann Martin (2003)
As outlined in the introduction, one of the main focuses of Forest Schools is, through providing experiences as a context for learning in a natural setting, to help foster abilities, characteristics and approaches in a well-rounded and robust way.
With a vast array of influences, from Emerson, Alcott, Pestalozzi, Frobel and Rousseau, through to more recent proponents including Steiner, Parker, Montessori, Dewey and Freire, holistic development is a rich and diverse field of study.
Holistic development is concerned with recognising the depth and breadth to an person and respecting them as a layers and changing individual. Our aim is to firstly recognise the qualities of that learner (during the initial 6 week baseline assessment) before then recognising that through our planning and introduction of new ideas and experiences and the learning community, enabling opportunities to support learners in gaining confidence and resilience in those areas, while collaboratively exploring new areas that will be of benefit to them in their lives.
By using the SPICES model we can break down the areas that make up the whole individual into 5 areas;
Social - the ability to identify, negotiate and collaborate communal experiences with others.
Physical – how we use your senses and body to navigate and interact with the world.
Intellectual - to reason, clarify, question, analyses, recall, understand and problem solve.
Communication – how we develop and exchange ideas and notions with others through verbal and non-verbal cues.
Emotional – the ability to recognise and influence our own emotional state, and that of others.
Spiritual – our sense of identify and our sense of purpose.
Holistic development takes place most fully when there is a rich learner led environment that allows for a multitude of interactions, experiences, learning contexts and challenges to take place and so while we can in a simple fashion provide targeted experiences during our baseline assessment that encourages the Learning Community experience to be developed and knowingly provide learning experiences with holistic development value, it is one stage on the journey towards genuine ownership of the learning experience for the learners and for those experiences to have deeply impactful changes on their development.
Remember, the purpose of Forest Schools is not to provide activities, but to share experiences and for them to have a lasting benefit beyond the program.
When we introduce experiences in Forest Schools, we are doing so with the following reasons;
What new experiences can this create/promote?
What benefit is that to the learner?
How can I recognise (see, hear, experience) as a practitioner that this is developmentally valuable?
How can it be adopted, adapted or reinterpreted by the learner for their own learning journey? What area the areas of holistic development that could appear as a result?
In recognising the focus being on the learners and not the "activity" we have to take into account the preferences and abilities of the learners in what we introduce. We also need to be empathetic to what they wish to explore, as it from this that you will be able to recognise how to create natural learning opportunities, driven by their own intrinsically motivated want to explore and discover.
Research
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