2.4- Assignment (Unit 3): Explain how Forest School promotes self-esteem and emotional intelligence
- Naomi Harvey
- Aug 11, 2024
- 12 min read
As we have learnt in the previous assignments, Forest School promotes a holistic approach to learning and as a result promotes self-esteem and emotional intelligence through nature based lesson planning and child-led activities.
Childhood experiences play a key role in the development of high self-esteem and experiences during early life influence a child's sense of worth and confidence.
A child's parent/guardian has a huge influence on their self-esteem by providing unconditional love, support and encouragement, and we as caregivers also can influence a child's self awareness and emotional intelligence.
The holistic approach is all about positive interactions, however small or large the achievements, the children/learners need to be praised and provided with rich interactions. Forest school can provide social interactions that provide positive moments with peers, help form friendships and create social acceptance while this is happening, socal esteem within the child/learner will be rising. We can provide the learner with opportunities to develop and master new skills which can contribute to a sense of self efficiency and competency.
What do we mean by self-esteem?
Self esteem is an individual's overall sense of self worth or personal value. It is the perception we have of ourselves, how we are able to judge our own abilities and the level to which we feel confident, capable and deserving of happiness.
Self esteem is highly important for multiple reasons. High self esteem can create positive mental health outcomes, such as lower rates of depression and anxiety. It can contribute to a sense of well-being and life satisfaction. It can help foster positive relationships, as individuals with high self esteem are more likely to communicate effectively, set health boundaries and show empathy. Self -esteem can also motivate individuals to pursue their goals and persist in the face of challenges. It can fuel ambition and perseverance.
People with high self esteem can have positive but realistic views of themselves, however, people with low self esteem may feel unworthy, incompetent or inadequate, this could show as self-doubt, fear of failure and a negative self image.
Low self esteem can lead to issues such as social withdrawal, dependence on others for validation and a lack of motivation to pursue goals and lack of belief.
When we are assessing self esteem and emotional intelligence we look at the 5 C’s. Starting off with the first 3 which are known as Intrinsic motivation.
Consciousness
Consciousness is the ability for the child to understand the impact they have on themselves, their peers, the world and the environment around them. As Forest school leaders, we can use the holistic approach to teach the children to become conscious and responsible for their actions, young children tend to automatically push the blame on to others, therefore need to be taught their responsibilities and the impact their actions have on others, for example, if they are running around and shouting in a classroom do they think this is the same as running around and shouting in the forest, we teach them to see the different impact they have in different situations.
Physical Impact
Part of the holistic approach is allowing the children to feel things physically. When teaching them the art of responsibility they may feel the impact in their body, a physical response to realising the impact they have had on someone or something else. They may not be able to understand the feeling, but by doing something that has negatively impacted someone, they may start feeling guilt, but to them this may feel like pain in their neck, stomach knotted or sweaty hands. It’s important to help them identify these feelings and understand why they may be having them.
Control
This sounds simple to most adults, how we can control ourselves, but for children it does not come naturally, it is something that has to be taught, they need to be shown how you need to control yourself and function differently in different situations. This teaches them not only to understand and behave differently in situations, but also how to behave with friends and peers. If a child or an adult is unable to self control, this can have an affect on friendships and relationships throughout their lives, whether that be friends from school or family members.
Physical Impact
When a child feels out of control, they may physically act out, stomping, shouting or even hitting. This is a lack of control within their body, it is important to teach children that not only do we have to control our words and voice, but we have to control our actions. Quite often within the school day, we come across young children that have pushed another child, purely because they have become angry and don’t know what to do with that anger so they lash out. It is important for us as teachers and Forest School leaders that it is okay for them to have these feelings, but it is how we react that shows the control element.
Catalyst
The catalyst is the fire inside us, the thing that motivates and drives us to be better and to grow. We as Forest School Leaders need to recognise that catalyst in the child and help it, not only to add fuel but to stay alight. As leaders we need to find what their uniqueness is, what drives them internally and externally, what can WE do to help it explode with enthusiasm and become self motivated. When they are younger, we give them short term goals, can they finish that art piece? Can they find 5 different leaves? Then by them doing these small challenges and accomplishing these and we show praise, we are lighting that catalyst, we are building the fire within them, this will then keep up the motivation inside and as they get older they can set themselves bigger challenges that are longer term but with the motivation continuing to grow and glow they are able to complete targets with confidence.
What we find at the moment with online gaming, streaming tv/films and social media, is that children are receiving instant dopamine, they don’t need to look for it, they don’t need to work for it, it is just there, so when they are given a challenge or target and it does take a bit of extra work, they struggle to retrieve the dopamine because it is not instant and easy, therefore they need the encouragement and the reassurance that although it is difficult, the dopamine they will receive from working hard and achieving that goal will be worth it and will add to their future catalyst.
Physical Impact
Although we cannot physically see the catalyst inside us, we can feel it inside, and this may be shown by children in different ways. It is a physical energy that shows when something has been achieved, this could be shown by huge smiles of achievement, a shy look but blushing or jumping up and down with joy! It is our job as a leader to recognise the physical signs of a sense of achievement and to congratulate it and reinforce that what they have done is amazing and to keep going, feeding the catalyst and making them want to continue the growth.
Next we move to interpersonal space, the final 2 C’s, although the final C is actually 2 C’s!
Compassion
I personally find compassion a hugely important trait to have. We are not naturally born with compassion, this is something we need to be taught. Children need to understand other people's opinions are important, they do not necessarily have to agree with them, but they have to appreciate them and not defuse someone else's ideas. Some children feel that they have to achieve something or prove something to receive love or value from the people around them, that is where compassion comes in, they shouldn’t have to do something out of this world to receive praise or to be noticed. We as leaders are there to reinforce that however small steps you take, they are steps that have been taken and they are all worthy. If they are struggling with a particular activity, this is a prime moment to show compassion, give them praise at how far they have already come and if they can continue to be resilient then they will be able to do it when they can do it, but it is not to be measured to others, they are all on their own personal journey and all grow on their own timeline, we are there to encourage them every step of the way.
Physical Impact
Compassion can be shown in many ways, whether it’s kind words to a friend, just sitting with someone to keep them company whilst they try a challenge or physically helping them in their time of need.
Community / Companionship
As leaders and staff working within a school, it is important for us to teach the children how important it is to feel part of a community. We are lucky within our school that we are a small village school, we host village fetes for the children to run stalls and people from the village to visit, we have had the older generation of the village visit for the school to entertain them with our choir, so I think we are really lucky as a school to be able to promote a positive community outlook and have all the children in the school involved. With a community this opens up the children to learn knowledge, have experiences and understanding of different people in different communities. Within our forest school, we are creating our own community, where we all have similar beliefs and goals to help the environment and to explore our natural surroundings.
As the years have gone by and online playing and commuting has risen, there are less and less children going out to the park to play or just going to explore. I remember as i child, growing up in a very small village, my friend and I would walk for miles and miles with no direction, no concept of time just exploring and playing in nature, until our parents would shout for us to come home. That doesn’t happen as much now, so by introducing these children from a young age what is on their doorstep and what is available to them whenever they want it, it allows them to create a new community and companionships, it opens them up to free play and that exploring is fun and nature can be amazing!
Physical Impact
Children may feel internally nervous to put themselves out there to become part of a new community, nerves can be shown in different ways, whether that’s a knot in the stomach, sweaty hands, sometimes even comes out as loud and continuous joking! It is important for children to feel these and to show the physical effect, but it’s also important for children to overcome this, because when they are able to create and choose a positive community at such a young age, this can help them as they grow older, even affecting them into adulthood, helping them choose how they would like to proceed with life and what community they want to be a part of.
How we have promoted these characteristics in our Forest School setting.
During our sessions, we allow children to play and explore in the area, however, we point out and discuss how our actions in the space can affect the area, how it can impact on the flora and fauna in the area and what we need to do to keep the area or help enhance the space. Also during our sessions we encourage teamwork, this enhances the needs for control, community, companionship, compassion and consciousness. To work within a group or just a pair, they need to listen to each other, appreciate each others ideas and work collectively. As a leader we are able to assess the connection and interaction they have and enable them to work through the emotions, having a positive interaction either with a peer or adult increases their self-esteem and emotional intelligence and they can start to join the positive feelings with positive experiences.
Ultimately, as a leader, we are aiming to help the children achieve and learn the above characteristics to grow their self worth, self confidence, self acceptance, competence and self respect, all attributes that can support you throughout your life and can have a positive impact on you and the people around you.
Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence refers to the ability to recognise, understand, manage and express their own emotions, as well as to recognise, understand and influence the emotions of others. In regards to a child’s wellbeing, developing emotional intelligence is crucial, it will help them navigate social interactions, build healthy relationships and cope with any challenges that may come their way.
It is often hard to gauge how children handle their emotions as they grow and develop. There is a general guide based on the nationally recognised Solihull approach. By keeping these general milestones in mind when assessing a young child's emotional growth we are able to compare these to their actual growth of development and it may help us understand the child's behaviours and feelings.
Emotional intelligence can be broken down into five main components.
(Shade Primary School - https://www.theshadeprimary.org.uk/Pre-School/Forest-School/)
Self awareness - When children are able to identify and label their emotions accurately they can be described as ‘high emotional intelligence’ They begin to understand why they are feeling that way. They can recognise what situations trigger certain emotions, such as anger, happiness or sadness.
Self-Regulation - Beginning to learn how to manage their emotions in a healthy way, rather than being overwhelmed by them. This includes calming themselves when angry, staying focused when excited or being able to soothe themselves when upset. Having emotional intelligence can help children resist impulsive reactions and think before acting, which is important for making good decisions and maintaining positive relationships.
Self-Motivation - Emotionally intelligent children can be motivated by internal rewards, such as a sense of achievement or personal growth, rather than having obvious external rewards such as praises or physical rewards (stickers/certificates) They can start setting goals for themselves and work towards achieving them and overcoming challenges as they begin to have a positive outlook and resilience. This is the catalyst as discussed before, having the catalyst lit along with emotional intelligence can create a momentum of personal growth.
Empathy - Children/Learner need empathy to have the ability to recognise and understand the emotions of others, this can go hand in hand with the community and compassion we spoke of before, having empathy can enhance friendships and relationships as they can respond to others feelings with kindness and consideration. Having emotional intelligence means the child can start to pick up on social cues and put themselves in others' shoes.
Social Skills - Children with strong social skills can express their emotions clearly and appropriately ,, be able to listen to others with empathy and understanding. Having emotional intelligence allows the child to manage relationships, resolve conflicts and cooperate with others. They can often be seen as a leader or team player.
How does Forest School promote emotional intelligence?
The natural environment and the ethos of Forest School create an ideal setting for fostering self-awareness, empathy, social skills, and emotional regulation. Within our forest school we include activities that can encourage children to reflect on their experiences and emotions. For example after completing den building, we discuss with the children how they felt during the process, how they felt working within a team, and how proud they are of what they accomplished. This reflection helps them become more aware of their emotions and the factors of what influences them.
Due to the nature of the holistic approach, it allows the children to explore a range of emotions in a safe environment, whether the feel joy of commiting to an activity and manage to follow through or the frustration of a peer not doing what they have asked them to do, they learn to recognise the emotions and name them. This is where social skills and self regulation comes into hand, they learn to communicate their feelings and to calm themselves when feeling frustrated.
By allowing the children to choose their own activities, this can sometimes cause conflict, as groups of friends may all want to do something different and get frustrated when they don’t want to all do the same, this is a great moment for the children to learn social skills, awareness and maybe even motivation. With certain activities such as bug hunting, we found a particular child that didn’t want to get involved in this, once we had spoken to her we discovered it was due to the fact that she felt like she never found ‘the right bug’ or didn’t find as many as other children, therefore she felt upset and frustrated. This starts to show the emotional intelligence as she started to label the emotion, and after discussing the emotion, that is when myself as a leader can help ignite the catalyst, encouraging the child and reinforce that there is no ‘right bug’ or a minimum or maximum amount they had to find, it was about self accomplishment and whatever they could challenge themself to do was enough. After the discussion, this particular child then went off with a very helpful and empathetic friend and found a few bugs and came straight back to me and she was so proud and happy with herself that she had a challenge and managed to overcome it. The following week she was the first to go bug hunting and managed to find more than she did the first time!
Conclusion
If we as leaders can follow these guidelines and include them in our baseline assessments to find the uniqueness in the children and find what drives them individually, we can enhance their emotions and self-worth, working hard to give them the skills to change their own skills and to show interest in them as a person and show praise when we have can see that they have overcome their own challenge, however small.
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