Forest School, Nature School and Outdoor Learning: The Difference

These get used as synonyms in marketing and they are not the same thing. If you are choosing a school or designing a programme, the difference matters.

Outdoor learning

The broadest term. Any teaching that happens outside. A maths lesson on a field is outdoor learning. It says nothing about frequency, method or philosophy.

Available to every school and requires no special training.

Forest school

A specific approach. Long term, regular, child led, same natural place, trained leader, managed real risk. It is a method with principles and a training structure behind it, not a synonym for going outside.

Usually a session within a wider curriculum rather than the whole of a child's education.

Nature school

A school, rather than a session. A whole institution built around outdoor and nature based learning, usually with the academic curriculum integrated into it rather than sitting alongside.

The term is unregulated in most countries, which means it covers everything from rigorous programmes to a normal school with a garden.

How to tell what you are looking at

Ask three questions.

How often do children go outside, and for how long. Weekly for a half day is a different thing from twenty minutes when the weather is good.

Who decides what happens out there. If the adult always decides, it is outdoor teaching rather than child led.

What happens when it rains. The answer tells you whether it is a principle or a preference.

Related

What Is Forest School and Persuading a Principal.