Critical Issues in Forest Schools

Mark Sackville-Ford has a background as a teacher in mainstream primary schools before moving to work within the field of inclusion, particularly around 'behaviour'. He founded and led BSS Forest School, working with a team of Forest School practitioners delivering sessions to local schools with a wide range of client groups on different sites. His projects have tended to work with older pupils who were at risk of exclusion. Mark holds the Level 4 Forest School qualification and has delivered training.

He now works as a Senior Lecturer in Education at Manchester Metropolitan University where he is interested in the theoretical aspects of education, teaching across undergraduate and postgraduate courses. His doctoral thesis was entitled 'Affective School Atmosphere: an adventure through lively matters' and investigated how children may experience the everyday ethos of schools, using creative methodologies. He is interested in alternative approaches to education and is passionate about supporting young people who find the current education system challenging.

Helen Davenport has worked in the Early Years sector for twenty years, as a Foundation Stage Leader, Deputy Head and currently as a Senior Lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University in Childhood Studies. She has previously been engaged in research that explores the nature of students' reflective writing and young children's talk and 'chatter'. Helen is passionate about the benefits of outdoor learning and Forest School and enjoys taking her Early Years students to Forest School sessions and enabling them to experience this approach first hand. Her current academic interests include the pedagogies and practices that stem from Forest Schools, with a particular curiosity about practitioner experiences of leading sessions and how these outdoor spaces might support children's talk.

Forest School continues to grow and develop, both in the UK and internationally. Literature and research in the field tend to document this growth, while this book takes a novel approach to the Forest school conversation, taking a critical look at the various tensions and difficulties that surround Forest School practice.

The editors, together with chapter authors drawn from the fields of academia and practice, form an experienced voice, encouraging the reader to reflect upon, question and explore complex areas of Forest School practice.