There are huge concerns about the extent to which children in the UK are overprotected - discouraged from playing outside, from taking risks, from making choices. The trend, spawned by over-protective parents, is given greater momentum by early years practitioners who, fearful of accidents and recriminations, find it easier to adopt the same over-protective attitude.
Depriving children of opportunities to take any control over aspects of their lives can only adversely affect their development as independent and competent individuals.
The situation is very different in Denmark, where a central aim of the early years curriculum (see box) is to create 'a competent child' and regular access to the outdoors is seen as a key means through which to achieve this.
What is competence?
Competence, in terms of the Danish curriculum, represents the abilities (social, emotional and cognitive) and proficiencies that can be fostered and developed in children, in particular using the outdoor environment.
A list of competencies in this instance includes: literacy, numeracy, logical thinking, physical education and, importantly, a range of dispositions such as those to:
* attend
* concentrate
* co-operate
* reason
* imagine possibilities
* inquire - try to understand.
In Denmark the view is that it isn't enough for children just to have 'knowledge', how to read, write, add and so on. Alongside knowledge, children need to have the skills and competencies to use the knowledge that they have.
Global changes in society today affect every part and stage of our lives.
There is a real need for children to develop the skills for living and for citizenship - respect for others, social competence and a positive disposition to learn.
How is competence fostered?
The first tenet in developing children's competencies is John Dewey's 'children learn from doing' theory. In the outdoor learning environment children are active and interactive participants in their learning processes. Dewey thought that rather than saying, 'The children will enjoy this,' teachers need to ask the following questions when they plan activities for children:
* How does this expand on what these children already know?
* How will this activity help this child to grow?
* What skills are being developed?
* How will this activity help these children come to know more about their world?
* How does this activity prepare these children to live more fully?
The second is that children should experience firsthand real-life materials and learn to use real tools. Today there is much written about 'risk' and the dangers and fears that adults have about young children using real tools, such as knives, hammers and saws.
We presuppose that the children will harm themselves or others - in fact, this has a very negative effect on children, making them feel unsure, unable and incompetent. In reality, the opposite is true: if children are shown how to use tools properly their confidence grows and their competence skyrockets.
Thirdly, to develop children's competencies, we need to plan a challenging curriculum. This approach is in line with Vygotsky's theory of the zone of proximal development, which held that through observing children we can plan a curriculum that extends children's knowledge and then 'scaffold'
their learning by putting them in situations where their competence is stretched (see More information). Vygotsky's theory has re-emerged in the work carried out in, for example, Reggio Emilia.
Fourthly, to develop children's competencies there need to be competent educators. The training of educators in Denmark takes three-and-a-half years, leading to a Bachelor of Social Education. A large part of the course is developing the students' own competencies, educational and personal, through a range of problem-solving techniques and group work projects.
To help others to develop their strengths and competencies, we need first to be confident in our own. The Danish educator students therefore have, alongside their theoretical education, activities that stretch their own self-awareness and challenge them physically and mentally.
The key competencies for educators working with children are:
* inquisitiveness - being curious and interested
* wonder - showing surprise and amazement
* sharp attention - being alert and observant
* knowledge - being attentive and informed
* experimental behaviour - being adventurous
* exploration - inquiring and challenging
* practical and real sense - perceptive and pragmatic
* imagination - being creative, inventive and resourceful
* happy and playful - fun-loving and animated.
Using the outdoor environment not only develops children's physical, cognitive, social and emotional competencies, it also keeps them healthy.
Research is showing that children who spend at least one hour per day outside have fewer common illnesses and that their bones are stronger.
The physical and mental well-being of children is the strongest argument for using the outdoor environment more, it outweighs the fear of minor scrapes and dirty clothes, it develops children's competencies and life-skills and puts them in good stead for a happy, healthy and fruitful life. NW
Jane Williams-Siegfredsen is a lecturer in pedagogy and head of the international department at Viborg University College, Denmark, and director of Inside-Out, a consultancy dedicated to the development of forest and nature nursery education
More information
* Jane Williams-Siegfredsen, e-mail: info@insideoutnature.com
* For information about workshops and courses in Denmark and the UK see www.naturenursery.com
* 'Building up' by Professor Tricia David, part of our Child Development series, includes information on Vygotsky's theory of the zone of proximal development (Nursery World, 20 May 2004)
* For more information on Forest Schools in the UK visit www.foresteducation.org.uk and www.teachernet.gov.uk/growingschools/
The Danish early years curriculum
The curriculum for pre-school institutions in Denmark is not so formally laid out as the Foundation Stage is in England, but as from August 2004 every institution has had to make an institutional curriculum that covers six areas of learning:
1 the child's all-round personal development
2 social development
3 language
4 body and movement
5 nature and natural phenomenon
6 cultural expression and values.
These six areas include four learning processes:
1 To be able to:
* develop physical skills
* develop positive self image
* 'test' oneself
* self-regulation
* fellowship 2 To experience:
* the wonderful
* the frightening
* joy
* oneself 3 To enjoy:
* sensory experiences
* rhythm 4 To understand:
* ethics and morals
* close relationships
* communication.
Much emphasis is placed on the development of children's social and emotional skills - inter- and intra-personal. The formal pre-school teaching of children (in the traditional sense of classroom learning) is generally frowned upon by educators and parents alike. Using the outdoors to develop these skills is common; in fact, there is a strong belief that the use of nature and environmental practices is essential to develop children's competencies.
Howard Gardner's work is very influential in Denmark, in particular his theory of multiple intelligences. This challenges the classical view of intelligence (IQ) with the view that multiple intelligences (MI) are not so much concerned with explaining and presenting patterns of scores on psychometric tests as with accounting for the various roles that exist across cultures. His key point is that there is not just one underlying mental capacity, but a variety of intelligences, working in combination.
These abilities include:
* linguistic
* musical
* logical-mathematical
* spatial
* bodily-kinetic
* intrapersonal
* interpersonal
* naturalist.
The importance that this multiple intelligence theory has can be seen in most nurseries and schools, where the intelligences' strengths are developed in a mindful and purposeful way.
