In this episode, we're talking about the Wildlings Way and how we're on a mission to change the education system from the outside in in the hopes that others can change it from the inside out. Welcome to Raising Wildlings, a podcast about parenting, alternative education, and stepping into the wilderness, however that looks, with your family.
SPEAKER_00Each week we'll be interviewing experts that truly inspire us to answer your parenting and education questions. We'll also be sharing stories from some incredible families that took the leap and are taking the road less travelled.
SPEAKER_01We're your hosts, Vicki and Nicki from Wildlings Forest School. Pop in your headphones, settle in, and join us on this next adventure.
SPEAKER_00This episode of the Raising Wildlings Podcast is sponsored by our friends at the Fun Fables Podcast. Fun Fables is a great little podcast for kids with stories like The Three Little Pigs, Jack and the Beanstalk, and the Gingerbread Men retold in a fun and entertaining way. Just search Fun Fables, Stories for Kids, on your favourite podcast app or click the link in the show description.
SPEAKER_01Hello and welcome to the Raising Wildlings Podcast, where your hosts, Vicky Oliver and Nikki Farrell. Over the past few weeks, we've been exploring schools that are pushing the boundaries of traditional models. We spoke to author John Marsden of Candle Bark School last week, and we'll be speaking to Catherine and Jackie from the Nature School next week. But this week, we're going to shine a light on what we do here at Wildlings and why we want to see the forest school philosophy incorporated into schools and childcare centres across Australia. But before we start, don't forget to subscribe and follow Raising Wildlings on your podcast platform of choice so you never miss an episode.
SPEAKER_00One of the main reasons we started this podcast was to showcase alternative schools that are pushing the boundaries of traditional models because we want better for Australian children. We want to see children respected, given more autonomy and control over their own learning, more play, more time outdoors, and more focus on holistic well-being. We want to arm parents and educators with knowledge about schools that are doing these things so that you can take this info back to your own schools.
SPEAKER_01But to start with, we actually want to talk about what Wildlings does, Wildlings Forest School. We're different. And I think the key point of difference that we have, and it's something that we have built the whole model of our business around, is respect and autonomy for children. It is the underlying principle of everything that we do. Anytime that we make a decision in the business, we make sure that we are centering the respect and autonomy of children in that decision.
SPEAKER_00So the reason that we do this is in order to have independent, resilient, creative, and respectful adults, we need to create opportunities for children to be creative, to be respected and trusted to make their own decisions so that they can become independent young adults.
SPEAKER_01And they're not micromanaged at every step of the way by adults. I think that's a really key aspect because when we do pick apart a day in the life of a child, it is micromanaged by adults from so many different angles. So we are trying to give children that opportunity to have more of that, be part of that decision-making process and to make some choices for themselves.
SPEAKER_00Like we were speaking about in our risky play episode, children can never learn to make good decisions if they aren't given the opportunity to make them as children.
SPEAKER_01That's right. And so one of the key ways that we do that is we model this behavior for children. So we speak to them respectfully. Now we are constantly learning and trying to do better in this area, both as parents and as educators. It's not something that, you know, we nail all the time, but it is something that we reflect on and we talk to each other about and we learn more about as much as possible. The educators or facilitators, or whatever word you want to call the people that work in our business with children, is not authoritarian. Our role is to help make sure they learn ways of keeping themselves and others safe. And we provide the time, the space, the resources, and probably more importantly, the emotional support for them to be able to safely explore and learn in their preferred way.
SPEAKER_00You know, they're not silly. But we know that we do tick boxes. In fact, we tick just about all of the same boxes that traditional schools do, including the very important non-academic ones, the general capabilities and the cross-curricular priorities, but there's no agenda behind it because we don't have to meet them.
SPEAKER_01No, it naturally happens because when you're engaged in an environment that is where the learning is in context, the cross-curricular priorities and those general capabilities just occur naturally.
SPEAKER_00We also see this in regards to our early years program. The early years framework works best outdoors because you can achieve all of the outcomes in a way that's integrated and child-led and so authentic. Because again, adults aren't creating the experiences for children, children are creating the experiences for themselves. It's just such a natural fit outdoors.
SPEAKER_01It really is. And I think the more that people actually look into the forest schooling philosophy and match that with uh either the early years learning framework or the curriculum, they can see how easily we can embed the content and to embed the ideas and the outcomes that we're looking for our children within the curriculum in a way that really is authentic and is child-led.
SPEAKER_00So respect and autonomy is the first way that we're different. Some of the other ways that we're different are the fact that there's no grading. Because we've chosen not to be a government school and rather an outdoor recreation program, there's no grading. So children don't feel as though they have failed if they haven't reached a particular milestone by a particular time or at the same time as their peers. What we often find is Vicki and I often found as high school teachers that many of our students wouldn't even apply themselves because they knew before they'd even started the assessment that they were going to fail because they didn't have the time to learn the skills. Whereas at forest school, failing is a really important part of what we do and we frame it positively. So, for example, we constantly say in our holiday programs that failing can be or is fun. But for example, raft building, the most fun you can ever have during our raft building programs is when your raft doesn't work and you end up in the creek with your friends.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. And we say that, you know, like how much fun we rob ourselves of if we try and nail it the first time around. We use examples when we're briefing them. Like so we actually explicitly will say to them, if your raft doesn't work, then that's okay, you're gonna have a lot of fun. And the ones that raft the rafts that, you know, are sinking to the bottom, they're the squeals of delight that we hear from children and the and the the moments that they'll remember. And they've still got so much time to actually perfect it if Ian goal for them is to have a floating raft. So you know, there there is this whole the process and and the the fact that we are not looking for perfection. We just want you to enjoy yourselves and to have an opportunity to be creative and to think about different ways of doing things.
SPEAKER_00And again, because the focus is on the process rather than the product, it doesn't matter if they don't get a raft that floats.
SPEAKER_01Exactly.
SPEAKER_00On the flip side of that, we know full well that failing can hurt and it can be really disappointing at Forest School because our children might not have achieved their intrinsically motivated goal. Instead of being upset by the fact that they got a bad grade, they're upset because they set out to achieve something really particular and they had their heart set on it, and they might not have been able to do that yet. And that's the other focus at Forest School is you might not be able to fire strike today, but you're building up your hand skills, you're building up your knowledge, and maybe not next week or the week after, but one day you will get it and you'll be more proud because you did it on your own.
SPEAKER_01Exactly. And the important part too here is that we can then help them through with emotional regulation in those times of disappointment and frustration and and explain to them and be there supporting them through those emotions and allowing them to feel that and not trying to, you know, do it for them so that we often will see that sometimes is that a parent or even sometimes an educator might come in and complete the task for them to try and shield them from the hurt, the disappointment, the pain they might internally feel, instead of letting them experience that emotion and have someone there to support them and say it's okay to feel disappointed. And we do feel upset when we make a bow and arrow and it snaps. You've spent all morning whittling and crafting and being so particular, and then the final stage it breaks, that is heartbreaking. We do experience that and that's okay as well.
SPEAKER_00It's the only way we build emotional resilience is to experience those and be supported that way and for it to be modeled, how to deal with that.
SPEAKER_01Exactly. So wildlings is different because we don't rush them to learn the new skill, we give them the time and the space, and then and then the additional way in which we're different is that we do actually allow them to participate in risky and adventurous activities. So sometimes we forget that uh we we are a safe place for children to come and experience and being trusted to use tools or to work with dangerous elements like fires. We forget how important it is for children to be engaged in these sorts of activities. With all of the research that I'm starting to come across, even with indigenous knowledge and how important it is for them, for children to come along with them into countries so that they can learn. They're teaching their children from a very young age how to manage fires and how to use bush medicine. And we're we're trusting them with our very important information from a very young age. And I think that that's a really critical part of that process as well.
SPEAKER_00That's part of that respect and autonomy, isn't it? Is that we absolutely wholeheartedly trust the children in our programs and that they we know that they are capable and able to of managing these tools. If we model these skills, then children are going to be able to use them more safely, unsupervised sooner.
SPEAKER_01Exactly. And there is, and we've talked about this before, there's the risk in not allowing children to experience risky things.
SPEAKER_00By enabling children to use these tools, we gift them our trust, and by gifting them trust, we gift them confidence. And that is the key in a healthy emotional toolbox.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00Another way that we're different is that traditionally kinesthenic learners can be overlooked in classrooms sometimes, whereas at forest school it's quite the opposite. So we find children that may not be succeeding academically in classrooms, they come down to forest school and they thrive. So this may sometimes be the only opportunity in a school or classroom setting where they can be seen to be thriving and being good at something by their peers. So again, it's giving these opportunities for children to thrive at skills that they're good at that they may not be able to showcase in a traditional setting.
SPEAKER_01And this is where we see those leaders really shining. So those children that maybe haven't had an opportunity to step into a leadership role, really find their feet and be able to display this skill set and this leadership. We've even seen examples in our programs. We've had older children coming along and parents, you know, expressing that they were concerned that their child hasn't had many opportunities to show examples of leadership and were completely blown away that by the end of the first session, those skills that they were really concerned about were just coming out thick and fast. And they were just so incredibly grateful and you're proud of their child, and to actually be able to observe it in this and so quickly was really, really powerful for them. And I think that that's that's one of the really again, until you see it in action, there is just so many examples of of why outdoor learning, forest schooling, and places where children can have this, you know, freedom of walls and freedom of freedom with time to be able to demonstrate these really critical skills that we need in order to be successful all the way through life.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think again, when we look at schools and and the model of academic learning, it it's really focused on the 33 odd percent of students that are going to head to university. So, where are the 66 odd percent of students finding these successes? So is really fantastic for students that are perhaps disengaged from school. We run programs for disengaged youth, and when we turned up to the classroom, they were drinking Red Bulls and um you know, came in in a cloud of cigarette smoke. And you know, as an educator, you walk in and you really wonder how these sessions are going to go and if you're going to be able to make an impact. But the the one particular boy stands out in my mind who came in swearing, and you know, I'd earmarked as, you know, this is a student that I'm going to have to do some work with. And by the end of the session, he had put up a shelter on his own, started a fire for his peers in the rain. And he was just so proud of himself that he had been able to showcase these skills. He wasn't succeeding academically at school, and this was a chance for him to show that he was useful. He was a useful man.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that he had purpose. And I think that's a really important thing. I think a lot of even adults are starting to realize that we all just want to feel like we are purposeful in some way. And if we're completely surrounded in activities that make us not feel that way, we're starting to see negative mental health outcomes, which is, you know, the opposite of what we are trying to achieve with our education system.
SPEAKER_00On that note, during the holidays, we had two or three different families. Uh the parents came and spoke to us and said, Oh, I'm a little bit concerned about, you know, little Johnny or whatnot, uh, making friends. Um, he struggles to make friends at school. Um, he's often on his own out in the bush or playing in the gardens. And and we couldn't pick these children in a lineup because they are amongst their peers at forest school, you know.
SPEAKER_01A level playing field. They don't know how old everyone is, you know. There's so many unknowns, and so they don't have there's no comparison from the start. It's just like we're one one big group all coming together to do something fun.
SPEAKER_00And we attract like-minded children. So we attract the naturalists and the wildlife warriors and the survivalists and you know, the outdoor kids, the wildlings that like to climb and run and jump and use their outdoor voices. So, you know, those three separate families contacted us or spoke to us afterwards and had said that they had never seen their boys so happy and never had seen them fitting in and feeling so comfortable in their own skin within a program before. And how can you know you can't put value on that?
SPEAKER_01That sort of feedback, yeah. It's exactly the sort of feedback that lets us know that we're working within our values and and that we are hoping, hopefully delivering exactly what what we aim to achieve within our programs, and that is just so incredibly heartwarming.
SPEAKER_00Because where do these children find their place of belonging otherwise? Because school is very great if you look at Gardner's Multiple Intelligence and providing opportunities for the linguistics specialists and the mathematics specialists and even the interpersonal kind of specialists. But what about the naturalists? Where do where do they go to find and showcase their skills in the outdoors and horticulture and whatnot and until they're able to get to high school and maybe specialise a little bit more in the sciences? It's um it's difficult for them.
SPEAKER_01One of our aims at Wildlings is to really model the alternative ways in which we can embed holistic learning for children and to show schools that there are ways that we can do forest schooling outdoor learning and allowing children autonomy and time within their own programs. So, what can you do now?
SPEAKER_00So, some of the things you can do is approach your PC. Better yet, get on your PC committee and talk to your teachers about what the school already does, what they've got planned for the future, because if you don't ask, you don't know. They may have plans already on the go, on the boil. Try and get your teachers on board. Many of them will be on board already, but they're just so time poor. Teachers are stretch, principals are stretch. If we want to see change in our schools, then we really need to help our schools ourselves.
SPEAKER_01And have conversations with other parents to see if you can have some like-minded voices that can unite and show support to your leadership and your teaching staff. If you want your school to know what you value in terms of what your child is taught, then you need to be a voice for your children. You need to let them know what that is. So we've developed a little resource that may be able to kick start this conversation with your school. So if you head to wildlingsforestschool.com forward slash free dash downloadables, you can find our outdoor learning appraisal cheat sheet. Now, this will help you to go through things like does the school have a provision for all weather learning? How are the children using their outdoor space for play? Now, this is just a resource that you can use to start some conversations with your leadership team or the teaching team about the outdoor learning that's already occurring and maybe some improvements or exciting plans that you can put in place to make nature play and outdoor learning more accessible for your children.
SPEAKER_00We just really need to emphasize that if we want to see change in our schools to help our children, then it's up to all of us to help make that change.
SPEAKER_01We've also got some exciting news in that we're in the final stages of completing a respectful communications course. There's limited spaces available, so make sure you jump on the website and join our mailing list so you don't miss out.
SPEAKER_00So today we talked about how we do things differently at Wildlings, how our focus is on giving children autonomy in their learning to build their independence and their creativity and their resilience. Next week we'll be chatting to Catherine and Jackie from the Nature School in Port Macquarie about how they do things differently to traditional schools and how their classroom is not defined by four walls. We hope you can join us next week, and until then, stay wild.