Connecting with the outdoors at school and nursery: narratives of nature and wellbeing

There is a large and growing body of evidence that time spent outdoors is good for mental
health and wellbeing in children, with a number of studies linking green and open spaces
with wellbeing, resilience, improved behaviour and better learning outcomes. Green Mind
Theory states that the embedding of a pro-environmental stance in the early years will have
profound consequences for the future, with green minds developing greener and more
prosocial economies. However, as a society, we are spending more time indoors and less time
accessing nature, with children spending on average half as much time playing outside as
their parents did, and those from disadvantaged backgrounds and from Black, Asian and
Minority Ethnic populations even less likely to engage with nature. Now more than ever,
children may be particularly dependent on educational settings to enable their access to
open spaces. In England there is an increasingly complex mixed-market education model
which encompasses a huge range of state and privately funded settings for children of all
ages, with the state education system in particular currently going through a time of great
change. This research will explore what opportunities children are getting to access nature in
primary schools and nurseries across both state and private sectors and across a range of
diverse populations. It will examine whether this access is perceived as beneficial to
children's subjective wellbeing and learning and what ideas practitioners may have about
what the drivers and inhibitors of accessing outdoor spaces at school and nursery might be.
National and local policy documents on this subject will be assembled. Personal accounts will
be gathered from the adults working in these settings. Children will be asked to photograph
outdoor spaces at school or nursery and to discuss these photos and their meanings in focus
groups. By giving voice to different stakeholders, particularly to the children themselves, we
can provide a narrative with which to understand the value that is placed on accessing the
outdoors across different educational settings and to what extent state or privately funded
contexts enable or inhibit that access.