Imagine a school where children are allowed to climb trees and scale walls in the school grounds and then come downhill at speed on scooters. Well, that’s exactly what happens at Slane National School, Co Meath, where teachers Ruth Collins and Lorna Murphy have introduced adventurous play into the school day for all pupils.
“We started by bringing small groups of junior infants out to look for plants and to rake up leaves in the autumn, and later developed an outdoor play area with a mud kitchen, sand pit, wigwam and a tunnel with grass over it to roll down,” says Collins.
Once the birch trees in the school grounds became strong enough to bear the weight of the children, the teachers allowed them to climb the trees during play time.
“It was all in a very controlled manner, but there have been fewer accidents since we started,” says Murphy.
As part of the process, teachers asked the schoolchildren what extra equipment they would like in the playground.
“We got all kinds of suggestions like a swimming pool with water slides,” says Collins. “But most of them wanted a treehouse on stilts with a fireman’s pole, a ladder and a climbing wall, which was then funded by the parents’ association.”
While one or two parents questioned the wisdom of such outdoor play, teachers at Slane National School were widely supported by their principal and the wider school community.
“In fact, parents tell us that they hear more about what goes on at school because the children are outside,” says Murphy. “They are so engaged with their outdoor activities that there aren’t any behavioural issues when they come back indoors.”
Teenagers at university who haven’t had risky experiences in childhood ... then engage in risky activities – drugs, alcohol, sex and antisocial behaviour – without filters
— Tomas Aylward, a lecturer in outdoor education at Munster Technological University
Outdoor activities are either linked to the school curriculum, led by the teachers, or involve child-led play, where children learn to negotiate the space they share with others.
In Slane National School, junior and senior infants children have wet gear and Wellington boots as part of their uniform for outdoor play in all weathers.
Collins and Murphy are part of a small group of teachers who are introducing children to outdoor activities that give them experiences of height, speed and the use of so-called dangerous tools.
The new primary school curriculum encourages playful experiences – both teacher-led and child-led outdoor play – for all primary schoolchildren.
Rachel Rafferty – on a career break in New Zealand – taught third-class boys in Scoil Phádraig Cúil an tSúdaire in Portarlington, Co Laois, from 2018 to 2022.
“This was my first job after my undergraduate degree ... and I noticed that the children weren’t really engaged in the environment, despite being within walking distance of the woods,” says Rafferty.
So she started bringing the boys for “thematic learning sessions” in the local woods. “Some of them were apprehensive to begin with due to their lack of exposure to the outdoors but, after a few weeks, it became a normal learning environment,” she says.
Thematic learning is an approach that amalgamates different subjects – such as science, art, literacy and mathematics – into a holistic learning experience.
Rafferty quickly began to realise that children who rarely put up their hands in class or those who struggled to make eye contact became the ones who were most engaged in the outdoor setting.
“They would run up to me with questions,” she says.
Rafferty went on to do a master’s in outdoor learning at DCU in which she developed the links between competencies of learner identity (choice, teamwork, leadership, reflection, and so on) and learning outdoors.
“I would always design my lessons so that children could develop these competences,” she says. “So, for example, we studied Stone Age tools and children were put into groups to make tools out of what was on the forest floor, each with a different role as manager, designer, builder.”
Dr Orla Kelly, associate professor in social, environmental and scientific education at DCU’s institute of education, would like to see outdoor adventurous play for children built into teacher education programmes.
“Giving children opportunities to be in situations where they have to navigate and assess risk helps build their resilience and self confidence,” she says. “These are challenging forms of play which are exciting but can make them a bit nervous too so it’s important to engage with children where they are at themselves.”
She says that as a society we have become more risk averse and children often don’t have the same access to adventurous or risky play that previous generations did.
“So, it’s important that schools can build it in with resources, materials and guidance for teachers,” says Kelly.
She admits that some teachers can be a bit reticent about doing this. “Most primary schoolteachers aren’t experienced in this sort of adventurous/risky play as it only makes up a little – if any – of their initial teacher education and they are unlikely to see it on placement either,” she says. “So, they may not have the competence and confidence to adopt it.”
Parents, too, can be apprehensive. “Some think a little bit is good to do as long as it isn’t taking away from the children’s learning,” says Kelly. “There is still a sense that play is not real learning. Other parents think it is okay as long as it’s not too wet or too cold outside.”
Tomas Aylward, a lecturer in outdoor education at Munster Technological University, is a strong advocate of outdoor learning and adventurous play for all children, especially those with physical disabilities who, he says, are “often wrapped in cotton wool because the care ethic is greater than the educational ethic”.
“Risky play is very important for society, and there are consequences if we don’t have it,” says Aylward. “I experience this in the 18-19-year-olds at university who haven’t had risky experiences in childhood. They then engage in risky activities – drugs, alcohol, sex and antisocial behaviour – without filters. And we end up with less capable young citizens.”
Parents who insulate their children from risky activities prevent them from making small micro-decisions about risk-taking. There is a dignity that comes with taking risks
He recounts an outdoor learning experience with five-year-old children from Ardfert National School in Co Kerry as an example of teacher-led learning.
We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, the classic children’s picture book, is the story of a family outing in which everyone has to navigate their way through a field, a river, a muddy swamp, a snowstorm, and so on, repeating courageously “we’re not scared” before approaching each obstacle.
Aylward says the children enacted the book with wood, grass, a cave and a tarpaulin as the river as a way of teaching “prepositional language”.
“The children embodied the experience and became more self-directed, focused and engaged in their learning through these activities,” he says. “Parents who insulate their children from risky activities prevent them from making small micro-decisions about risk-taking. There is a dignity that comes with taking risks.”
He refers teachers to the book, Adventurous Learning: A Pedagogy for a Changing World by Mike Brown and Simon Beames, which explores how authenticity (something real that children can interact with), mastery (how they can improve their skills), agency (with self-directed choices) and uncertainty need to be incorporated.
“The uncertainty is the catalyst and the key element as not being 100 per cent sure what will happen is good for human beings,” says Alyward. “The challenge now is that children’s lives are so engaged with screens that we have to help them find other connections to place – in the school grounds or in their local communities.
“For example, doing rubbings of old grave stones to find when people passed away and researching these names or connecting with what’s on their local beach. Start local and help them feel a connection to their locality and bring that into outdoor learning and risky play.”
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