15/11/12

Social Enterprise and Child development

Jane Acton BSc MA

The whole child

Exploring child development

Role of the natural world

Social Enterprise

Topics

Health

Safe

Learning

Citizenship and contribution

Financial inclusion

The Whole Child

FAMILY

COMMUNITY

ENVIRONMENT

‘It takes a village to raise a child’

Love

Learning

External influences

Measuring impacts

Child development

Environmental sustainability

Transferable ecological models

Pedagogies in nature

Rural and urban

Resilient children in resilient communities

‘One touch of nature makes the whole world family’ Shakespeare

Natural World

Diverse, flexible, autonomous

Hybrid funding or income model

Suitable for mixed economies and localities

Ideal for early intervention and ‘fire fighting’

Hits varied outcomes

Well suited for partnership working

Social Enterprise

Possess strong community branding and support

Can offer society long term economic and social sustainable solutions to health inequalities and poverty

Help to recognize and measure their impact

Business development support

Co-ordinated responses from their local authorities

....and sometimes need

‘ the ability of a system, from individual people to whole economies, to hold together and maintain their ability to function in the face of change and shocks from outside’

Dictionary definition

Resilience

Future proofing and creating whole sustainable communities (ecologically, economically and socially)

Mixed communities and mixed reach

Exposure to green spaces

Resilient children in resilient communities

‘now I see the secret of making the best persons; it is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth’

Walt Whitman

Established 2006 to be ‘part of the solution’ regarding social justice and climate change

Company limited by guarantee with objectives to reach vulnerable people

Use the natural world for fun, well being and learning

Use the Forest School model to teach all aspects of the national curriculum through child focused learning

Use the natural world to improve mental health and support healthy lifestyles

Offer management tools to other social enterprise (quality management, measuring quality, bid writing, planning)

Run accredited training and interest based learning

8 part time staff including ethnobotanist, session leaders and assistant session leaders and an administrator

• Learning Outside the Classroom Quality Standard

• Associates of Institute for Learning

• Cornwall Childrens University

• British Scuba Aqua Club Snorkelling Centre

• National Open College Network Centre

• Social Enterprise Mark holders

We use a peripatetic model travelling to where people need us, finding sites near to them, finding landowners

Forest School L3 session leaders with other areas of expertise

Research and Learning in practise-GfW, ELC coterminous with delivery of FSL3, bid writing, social media

CPD: internally- carpentry and bushcraft, herbal medicine and play :externally -music, whittling, BSAC SIs, NOCN IV/IQA Level 4, HE(MA, PhD)

Practise Information

Parties and one off events for children , young people and families

Parties and one off events for grown ups

Events for teams and corporate away days

Foraging trips

Business support

Independent income

‘Hold your head high and tall with the trees’ reach 36 young carers

‘Well being in nature’ reach 8 adults with mental health problems

Research partners with EU Centre for Environment and Human Health

Plant Craft project with vulnerable young women (CAN YOU TELL US OF ANY PLANT USE PROJECTS IN YOUR COMMUNITY PLEASE?)

‘Good from Wood’ with Plymouth University…..

Current funded projects

15/11/12

to assess and investigate the impact of nature workshops on self esteem, confidence and emotional literacy

to explore how best to evaluate this practice in future

to reflect on practice and determine how nature workshops can be developed further for health, well being and learning

Aims

Measure

Emotional Literacy Checklists (ELC)Measures resilienceGenerally aimed at children and young people aged 7-18

Informant

Parents, teachers and children

Description

Quantitative: 25 (child and parent) or 20 (teacher) item categorized into 5 subscales: empathy, motivation, self-awareness, self-regulation and social skills. Informants are asked to indicate how much they agree with a statement. Overall emotional literacy and sub scales are calculated.

Measures used to evaluate the impact on well being

Measure

Open ended interview questions (commences summer 2012)

Aimed at all ages

What do people think about being in the woods? How does being in the woods make people feel?

Informant

Varied stakeholders eg children, parents, teachers, other service users, staff and relevant members of the community

Description

Qualitative participatory and reflective:

- pre, during and post intervention interviews with all informants

- audio /video interviews with participants with and without interviewer

Measure

Mood rating scaleSuitable for all ages with appropriate paperwork

Informant

Participants and stakeholders (parents, teachers, service providers)

Description

Qualitative anonomized: For example before and /or after each session

Measure

Reflective review at the beginning and end of each session

Informant

Participants

Description

Qualitative often linked to learning styles eg drama, music, poetry, 2D or 3D images

Measure

Satisfaction ratingSuitable for all ages

Informant

Participants

Description

Qualitative largely anonymous: For example the participant is offered a scale from to on which to indicate their satisfaction with 4 parameters.

Measure

Review at end of each session

Informant

Session leaders and staff

Description

Qualitative:Paper based and collaborative (Name of participant DateWhat worked well for this individual?What didn’t work well?What were their strengths?What were their difficulties?What might I need to check up on/do more of in the next session?Other issues?)

Assessing the impact of nature workshops on self esteem, confidence and emotional

literacy

C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6

Were you listened to?

10 10 10 9 10 10

How important to you was what we did in this session?

10 9 10 10 10 10

How much did you like the session?

10 10 10 10 10 10

Overall how much would like to do more of the same?

9 9 10 10 10 10

Childs satisfaction with the sessions

Children’s Emotional Literacy Checklist Scores

Exploring how best to evaluate this practice in

future

We have received almost complete sets of data on each child from their parents, teachers and the children themselves.

We found compared with other similar method the ELC was easier to use. Also the ELC was the most relevant in helping us to measure how well the sessions built resilience in the children.

Over 2 years we reached over 700 people.

We have gained access to 8 new wild sites previously unused by the general public

Reflecting on practice & how nature workshops can be

developed further

Weekly reviews

Mixed groups

Collaborations

Feedback reports

Embed into mainstream (eg schools, ‘get active Cornwall’, Community Mental Health teams, Common Assessment Framework, CAMHS,)

We have successfully assessed and investigated the impact of nature workshops and have measured improvements in self esteem, confidence and emotional literacy according to participants and stakeholders. Without a control group we cannot conclude this is solely due to these sessions.

The sessions were well attended, participants enjoy what they do and would all like to do more.

Time spent in client focused sessions prepared specifically to suit their learning styles supports improved self esteem and emotional literacy. This supports other UK research findings.

Conclusions

Research on every cohort, ideally conducted by an independent body, will allow us to measure the impact of our work on more people

Research on the impacts of more than 24 hours for example a whole year on a regular weekly basis.

Research the long term impact of the work.

Recommendations for nature workshops

Potential for links between Peninsula Medical Trust and MSc student for Good from Wood work and other project ideas

Work on a national bid with Play England to allow children to identify and use outdoor play areas on currently disused or derelict land

Links to UK Community University Partnership Summit, National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement, Forest School Association

Aspiration to make links and build relationships with European practitioners and researchers; Cornwall conference next year?

‘we do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children’ Native American proverb

natureworkshops.co.uk

Thank you

Any questions?

15/11/12