I don’t have an issue with a “Forest School Leader – Level 3 Training” happening in Singapore, conducted by someone from overseas. I would even welcome them IF they are really good and capable, cos we can uplift the education sector collectively. But I have strong personal opinions about Wildlings Singapore and the current FSL3 training providers in the region.
Forest School Education
(FSE, started by Sarah Blackwell)
v
Forest School Learning Initiative
(FSLI, started by Chris Dee)
These two entities have fought for many years in the United Kingdom, over who was the one doing it right. Their members and themselves went online to verbally flame each other from time to time. I got to observe it while being part of the UK Forest School Training facebook groups years ago.
Both of them wanted to get into the Asian Regional Market as well. FSLI came first to Australia, then Malaysia in 2018-19. FSE went to Thailand. FSE wanted to enter Singapore through me, but their cost was too high, and wouldn’t have made sense for me at that time to bring them in, while I’m busy keeping FSS alive.
At that time, it was still run by mostly British trainers who flew in from the UK, like Chris and Sarah themselves. Though the context may not be as strong, the content and delivery were still of a certain quality. Many of the Forest School Practitioners in the region from the 2018 – 2019 did their training there.
Covid hit, and both organizations pivoted to online training very quickly in order to survive the global lockdowns. As they tried to move the training into a more digitally accessible medium, they started to water down some of the essence of the training. I had coaches who went for their online training, and felt like they were not given the same rigour as the one I attended in Sheffield, UK in 2016. I saw their materials and assignments, it lacks the depth and rigour. But they still sold the FSL3 Trainings at the same price. I was honestly quite disappointed at that time.
FSLI then entered Singapore through Kowabunga and Dulwich College in 2021-22. I emailed to offer myself as a collaborating trainer (voluntary) to bring more Singapore/local context. I really wanted good quality training in Singapore and the region, because if we start off on the wrong foot, it will affect the overall ecosystem and value. But I was rejected by Kowabunga and Dulwich. The trainer appointed to do this particular run was a Dulwich College Teacher who had less than 1 year of FSL3 at that time. (FYI: In the UK, you need to be L4 to train others on FSL3. And to be an L4, you need to show at least 2-3 years of experience doing FS, followed by an L4 training.) FSLI was not complying with the Forest School standards of Training set by their own Country and Association at that time.
They did hybrid training for a few days in Singapore, and completed the rest online. The quality wasn’t very good for those of us who truly understand Forest School.
The FSL3 is watered down a lot at this stage now.
I personally don’t agree with the way they (FSE, FSLI) or many of the British Forest School training organisations are going about doing Forest School Training in Singapore or the region. It feels like a white-centric colonisation in the form of Forest School. It’s almost like the white superior race is here to tell us what we should be like in our education, now that they have learnt it a few decades ago.
Err.. hello.. the Indigenous People of the Archipelago have been at it for thousands of years. The modern day Forest School concept was only truly coined the past hundred years.
The British trainers coming to our region have never once tried to engage and co-develop a more local context of FS Training with us. In my opinion, they have always seen it as a market to conquer and colonise. They want to expand their influence and reach, so as to gain power and position in the region, using the white-superiority complex that many people inherently have in their perspective and believe.
I often thought to myself, why can’t the local people of the Malayan Archipelago be proud of our own Nature-based pedagogy and practice. Why do people only recognise the white ones? Will Forest School Singapore and what we do be treated differently if I had been a white person, instead of this yellow-brown mix.
I went to Liverpool, UK in 2024 to attend the first Forest School Research Symposium, organised by the Forest School Association (FSA, the leading association body for FS in the UK). No individuals or representatives from FSE or FSLI were there. When I was at the symposium, I understood from the FSA staff and UK Forest School researchers, that they don’t quite agree with the notion that FS Training is done online. Their impression of FSE and FSLI is generally not a positive one as well.
“In essence, this commodification and marketisation means that Forest School activities become more standardised, controllable, and efficiently delivered. Perhaps counterintuitively, this may result in a less skilled work force. Qualifications exist in the UK to train and validate Level 3 Forest School leaders (a level of education below that of a first year undergraduate degree) to allow them to “design and run a Forest School programme” (Forest Schools Education, n.d.). My concern is that commodification of the Forest School experience, utilising lower skilled practitioners who deliver a range of Forest School activities in a standardised performance, with less developed conceptions of play or understandings of the philosophy of friluftsliv, may be unaware of the impact of the cultural context in which they practice and the significance of the place to this practice (for discussion of culture and place in outdoor education see Quay, 2016)”
– “A critique of Forest School: Something lost in translation”
By Mark Leather, University of St Mark & St John, England
Claire Seabrook of Wildlings:
Discrimination, Dishonourable and the Parasite of the Community
My gripe with Wildlings goes way back…
In 2018 when I first met Claire Seabrook. Claire came to FSS for an Introduction Training with me at Rifle Range Nature Park. After the training, she attended an attachment visit with my Thornbill Thursday class. She got to experience a moment in the session when I argued ferociously with an NParks officer about the children climbing a tree in the park.
After that in 2019, she started Wildlings Singapore. I personally advised and supported them by sharing their work and business to others. I even wrote an article about them in our December 2019 FSS newsletter.
In early 2020, Kelly Goddard, one of the Forest School coaches with us, told me that she cannot continue working part time or volunteering with us, because she signed a full time contract to work at Wildlings, and the contracts stated that she cannot work/volunteer in other FS-es. I was bewildered. In the FS greater community, it is an unspoken rule that coaches are free to work/volunteer at other FS-es, as it improves the overall capability of all coaches, to be able to learn from different environments, leadership and practices. In the end, we will all benefit from the open source community.
But Claire from Wildlings apparently doesn’t think so. At that time, Wildlings started getting their first private site at Dempsey Hill’s Core Collective. Claire chose not to be part of the “Sister Community”, a wider ecosystem of FS-es and Nature-based Program Groups in Singapore, even though I personally invited her.
In 2020, during Covid, Claire actually contacted me for advice regarding how to face the Lockdown rules and what she can do to navigate the challenges. I offered my advice at that time (as I would to all the other Forest Schools in Singapore and the region), as I felt maybe she stray off the values of Nature because of the cost of the new site. But I was wrong.
I heard from many people who worked in Wildlings at that time that Claire wants to monopolise the market. She is not here to share, but to destroy others and win it all. From this point on, many stories and issues started to pop up that showed the true character of Claire Seabrook of Wildlings…
1. Wildlings posted online in 2021 about the cutting of a tree in their private location. The way they described the process and intention showed little connection and understanding of the land and Nature. They shared that going into the wild forest is dangerous and therefore all who does it is wrong
[Unfiltered thoughts in my head: So all our ancestors were wrong? This is very disconnected, and arrogant. WTF]
2. I heard from ex-staffs from Wildlings about Claire telling them that free Play has no learning value. That they have to have structured activities to validate learning.
[Unfiltered thoughts in my head: Google Forest School and Play, read what value is in them. Why would a person who doesn’t believe in play and Forest School continue such an initiative? Is money and market monopolisation all that she wants?]
3. Wildlings started running their session in Dempsey at 12 hours x 7 days rate. The staff working there were stretched to their bones. The land was worn to the ground. Barren spots started to appear from the over-usage of the land. They added plastic playground equipment and coverings to circumvent the barren land, with little to no regard about the land or Nature’s rhythm of rest.
[Unfiltered thoughts in my head: This is just exploitative. Absolutely not a representation of the Forest School essence and practice.]
4. In Wildlings, there were times where Claire would show racial preferences to the caucasian staff over the local staff (such as sending the caucasians to training instead of the locals, even though the locals were full timers, but not the caucasians).
[Unfiltered thoughts in my head: This is discrimination.]
5. Go google Forest School Singapore. You will find that Wildlings has their website title on google search result as “Forest School Singapore”.
[Unfiltered thoughts in my head: When did we ever sit at Wildlings? That is Sly. If you are so good, why not use your own capability, why use our name on their own page. Shameless and Disgusting]
6. Claire told a friend of mine (whom she was discussing a wildling deal at that time) that she thinks Darren is very unprofessional.
[Unfiltered thoughts in my head: After helping them in the early days and seeking my ‘unprofessional’ advice in Covid. These are the words she placed on another. This is the kind of person Claire is.]
The despicable behaviours of Claire gave Forest School a bad name. Many good practitioners and parents who worked or engaged there, left with an extremely bad experience with Claire.
My International FS friends asked me how I feel and navigate these kinds of parasites in the community and ecosystem.
I reconcile with all that by accepting her as a parasite in Nature.. an important part of the ecosystem. Every being is different. They all serve a purpose. Maybe they are there to make the rest of us better.
PS : I do give them credit for their Marketing and Advertising Prowress, to give the Forest School name more visibility in Singapore. haha.
Enough
Taking a Stand
Personally as a human being, I do not like them or agree with those despicable behaviours. And today is the day, I pour it all out on this plate.
I feel compelled to put this out now, because I’ve had enough of the colonisation, discrimination and disrespect that locals get, while the work presented by the folks who act colonisingly, gets propped up because we Asians have some superiority complex about a “Highe-coloured” race.
They get away with being lousy and poor, just because of their skin colour and accent? Ask any local teaching assistant or good Teacher in any International Schools in Singapore or around the world. It happens so often in International Schools, that it’s been normalised.
Mind you not all Europeans and foreigners are like that, I’ve met many good folks from Italy, Denmark, Spain, England and more. They are brilliant individuals and communities whom we learn a lot from. I’ve forged great friendships across the world through all that connection.
But hey, that doesn’t mean those poor character people, who come around to jeopardise children’s life and well-being because they want to take over the market and exploitatively profit, deserve to get away with it.
I take it upon myself to speak up, because there is a fire in my belly right now, that has been simmering for years.
On a personal note, I restarted Forest School Singapore via the Training and Research direction in 2026. This work is my livelihood, and I’m currently at the building phase (with little financial return, but 100% outreach and sharing of the value, to the government (CC & MOE) and the people of Singapore and the region).
I live and support my family on my own account. I float or drown by the success of what I am doing now. That is the risk and fire that I took on.
When I realise FSE @ Wildlings is coming into the Training scene in Singapore even though there is already FSLI @ Dulwich College, it was clear to me, that it is time for me to speak up, to not only protect the community and practice of Forest School in Singapore, but also to protect my own LIVELIHOOD. Don’t mess with someone’s livelihood, you will face a different intensity of their wrath. Mark my word.
Do not take my word as the truth.
Find it out for yourself.
I will be more than happy to be wrong and corrected about all these. If these colonising parasites disagree with my points and wish to correct it, I welcome them to challenge me in an open debate in front of a public audience. I’m happy to be shot down and called out for speaking up.
But till I’m proven wrong, I take my stand.
Written by : Darren Quek (Founder, Forest School Singapore)
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