Forest and nature school in France: an explorative survey study
摘要
Forest and Nature School has been gaining ground across the globe, including in France. Yet, little is known about the practice of this educational approach in the latter context. This paper aims to highlight outcomes from a small-scale online survey study that explored the practice of Forest and Nature School private programs in France. A total of 24 educators representing 23 programs participated in this first national study. We start by introducing study outcomes related to the attributes of the participants, the programs, and the attendees. Later, we underscore the educators’ perceived benefits of the programs, the implementation challenges, and the factors that could mitigate these challenges. Results revealed that Forest and Nature School private programs in France offered several types of outdoor sessions and mainly catered to children aged 13 years and younger. Furthermore, the French participant educators communicated that engaging in Forest and Nature School can promote the children’s overall well-being and their connection to and understanding of the natural environment. They also reported facing several implementation challenges, such as finding suitable outdoor places, dealing with administrative tasks, as well as getting the necessary training. The participants then communicated ways to cope with and/or overcome the implementation challenges. Finally, the study outcomes were discussed based on relevant literature, and recommendations for research, policy, and practice were proposed. This research shall offer an insight into the Forest and Nature School practice in the European French context and enrich pertinent literature on outdoor nature-based education.