Are they doing Zombie Apocolypse or Outdoor Learning?

The first time I saw this article, I had my palm right at my forehead (FAINT!). Have they become so dumb at their Public Relation Showcases and their understanding of Education and Children Development? 

At a very surface level of criticism, this PR Stunt is incredibly stupid to use this photo out of all the thousands of photos that they have spent a lot of money to get. Faint… 

Firstly, WHY IS THE CHILD IN “ARMOUR”? OMG. Are they preparing her to go for war or for a zombie apocalypse? Those are gears used for high impact and (usually) transport equipment. Why would a kid need to wear it while on the “playground”? I know most modern urban city folks bubble-wrap our kids. I didn’t know that we have evolved to “armour” wrap now. How do we want our children to grow up healthily with all these ‘wraps’? Just name me one person you know who came out from a sheltered childhood being reasonably healthy. Anyone? Children need to experience certain risks, get some cuts, bruises and scrapes – that’s called growing up. The absence of it will lead to lower immunity, poor mental health and other detrimental effects. Please remove those “armour” when letting our children play outdoors or at playgrounds. They are not so fragile. 

If the playground’s Equipments and Environment pose risks that are so high that they require “armours” meant for High Impact Accidents or even Zombie Apocalypses 😆, then why would one even allow such equipment in the space for young children? Are they nuts? Do they not truly care about the welfare of the children? 

Honestly, based on the picture, the Playground set is already incorrect in many ways. Firstly, they shouldn’t pad the planks, but should instead pad the edges of the mental platforms (at the most). Secondly, the materials of the playground are not meant for the outdoors, especially in tropical outdoors like Singapore. Those fibrous and metal materials would wear out in our climate very quickly. Within 3 months after installation, the items would be barricaded and labelled “Under Maintenance” etc. This would gradually lead to it becoming an expensive white elephant and a waste of money. 

Now, to the two “leaders’ ‘ who are obviously there for the photo showcase: Why would you both hold the hands of the child in a manner that would cause the child to lose her own sense of balance on the playground equipment? By holding the hand in this fashion, where the little girl’s wrist is turned like an eagle’s beak, they didn’t give support and instead put the girl’s body in an awkward balancing position. I wonder if there were other EC or OE educators or consultants there. If so, why did no one say anything or advise them otherwise?

And for those two leaders who are supposed to lead the fields of Education, Community and the Development of Children, they obviously show little to no understanding of children development. 

The little girl would have probably balanced herself much better without their help. That’s the truth. Ask a paediatric or child physical development expert, they would concur as well. 

I’m so furious and triggered by this Picture (in particular) and the article, because they talk about Outdoor Learning / Education, and all their presentable crap, but yet they release such a clownish photo. 

This clownship presents a wrong impression of Outdoor Learning and Education. It paints a view that OE and OL is a dangerous endeavour where we prepare to fight zombies. (Ok, maybe some of us in the OE and Nature Education do have the ability to survive Zombies when it happens because of our deep practice, lol) 

Outdoor practice is a lot about the flow, facilitation and the deeper understanding of the environment, people, development and dynamics. A lot of Outdoor Education practitioners are highly competent and sensitive to all those things I mentioned above. It’s probably safer to be outdoors in their hands, then in the hands of these clowns who are regulators and policy makers. Yet, whom do we pay more and value more? We are all are guilty, are we not? 

The clownship shown also entails the very likely downfall of our children’s ability to take risks, be creative and to explore. Their health will be impeded by the excessive “armour for zombie” mindset of the clowns who wield power to dictate how schools and educators ought to work with our children.

What Outdoor Learning in Early Years Education should be is to build the mindset and culture of young children towards exploring, playing and taking risks in a truly safe (in terms of physical & psychological) environment. 

If the environment is not safe, then we ought to remove the risks (e.g. if there is a nail protruding out). To do proper risk assessment of the environment, and not simply pad everything. We can’t be ‘padding’ our children in such a way when they get older. 

In terms of the adults (teachers & parents) who are a crucial part of our children’s development, we could reduce excessive control of curriculum and rules, and TRUST THEM to co-create their own community of growth that focuses on the children’s wellbeing. To let it be more discussion-driven than policy-driven. Not everybody wants OL or is ready for it. It takes time to build upon their experiences, and to develop the mindset and culture to persist and appreciate the journey. 

The adults (including the clownish-leaders) need to experience for themselves the play, exploration and risk-taking aspect of Outdoor Education. I have faith that with experience, people would be able to gain a better understanding. And from there on, all adults would be able to do a better job in our roles (parents, teachers, administrators) in raising our children. 

Our children are naturally born with the ability of exploration, play and risk taking, even those who are seemingly disabled. It’s innate in kids. We need to empower them, and not beat the innate explorative ability out of them through our guilt-driven protection, conditional compliance and ‘wrapping’ tendencies.

We have spent 8 years doing Forest School and building a community of Practitioners and Parents who can practise our Forest School pedagogy even when it’s not easy. But we also have the bandwidth to respect one another when one is not ready. We trust and empower our children. It is already possible. 

So please, stop the clown-like nonsense of degrading the great work of Parents, Practitioners and our Children in the Forest School and Outdoor Learning/Education community, and do your job in supporting these amazing communities.

Written by : Darren Quek
Edited by : Wei Shimin