乱伦秀

A research project exploring how the wellbeing of children living in areas of high deprivation can be supported through working with artists in familiar outdoor places.

This project is funded by the听Arts and Humanities Research Council (AH/S006206/1). It started in December 2019 and will run until August 2022.

Team

Project leader

• Professor

Partner

Collaborators

• Dr , IOE
• Dr Elsa Lee, Anglia Ruskin University (ARU),
• Ruth Sapsed and artists from CCI.

Background

Global interest in children鈥檚 wellbeing is growing and is now central to major international policy documents regarding children鈥檚 life quality (e.g. UN Sustainable Development Goal 3: Good Health and Wellbeing).听Research suggests that children鈥檚 wellbeing is linked to developing positive learning attitudes and coping successfully with change; conversely, low emotional wellbeing can lead to mental health problems.听Critically, one in six children in England suffer a mental health illness and suicide is the third leading cause of death in young people, and this figure is higher for vulnerable groups, such as those from low-income households (NHS, 2020).听

The Covid-19 pandemic has further had a detrimental impact on previously healthy children and adolescents鈥� mental health - for example, studies have shown that for some young people, smartphone or internet addiction through lockdown were further associated with increased depressive symptoms.

In an effort to combat these urgent problems, schools are increasingly expected to support mental health and wellbeing but receive few resources to do so. Substantial benefits for wellbeing may be derived from contact with nature and lack thereof in childhood has been found to be a predictor for adulthood depression.听Despite this, in the last 30 years the number of children regularly playing in wild places in the UK fell by 90% (Natural Childhood Report, 2012) and children living with high deprivation are significantly less likely to have access to green spaces.听

HM Government鈥檚 鈥極ur 25 Year Plan to Improve the Environment鈥� (2018) explicitly states a commitment to helping people improve their health and wellbeing by using green spaces, with a particular focus on disadvantaged areas.听An innovative way to approach this is through art in familiar outdoor places - there is evidence that arts can improve wellbeing and social inclusion - however, individuals with low socio-economic status have less access to the arts than their more affluent counterparts and the arts are increasingly marginalised in school curricula.听

This participatory study is situated at the intersection of these three issues: a concern with children鈥檚 wellbeing, their apparent disconnect with the natural environment, and a lack of engagement with the arts in school curricula.

It builds on Amartya Sen鈥檚 work on human capabilities as a proxy for wellbeing, developing the term eco-capabilities to describe how children define what they feel they need to live a fully human good life through environmental sustainability, social justice and future economic wellbeing (the three pillars of sustainability).听

The research focuses on the nature-based interventions of our project partner, arts and wellbeing charity Cambridge Curiosity and Imagination (CCI).听

Aims

The main aims of the research are to:

• elicit children鈥檚 eco-capabilities, what we define as how children articulate what is important to them, or what they feel they need to live a fully human good life, through environmental sustainability, social justice and future economic wellbeing (i.e. the three pillars of sustainability)
• consider how working with artists in nature in response to familiar, local spaces influences children鈥檚 wellbeing, as measured both using children鈥檚 self-defined list of eco-capabilities, as well as an extended measure of subjective wellbeing, and
• use these findings to contribute to policy and pedagogical practice relating to arts-based education in nature.

Research questions

The overarching research question addressed by the research was:

• How does working with artists in nature influence children鈥檚 wellbeing?

To address this, we are seeking answers to the following sub-questions:

1. How does working with artists in nature support children鈥檚 wellbeing?
2. How does working with artists in nature influence children鈥檚 perceptions of eco-capabilities?
3. What are the mechanisms for change to wellbeing using arts-based practice in nature?

Methodology

The research methodology draws on arts-based research (ABR), a transdisciplinary approach to knowledge building that combines the tenets of the creative arts in research contexts and provides an inclusive approach to engaging disenfranchised perspectives, such as those of children.

Within the methodological framework provided by ABR we took a participatory approach to data collection, engaging children in the development, implementation and evaluation phases of the project.

Data collection was undertaken using a case study approach to working with children in two primary schools in East Anglia identified as being in areas of poverty and deprivation with minimal cultural provision and infrastructure.

Research included 120 children aged 7-10 years across four classes, two in each school.

Methods of data collection were designed to explore the practice of project partner CCI in each school through eight full-day creative adventuring days and included:

1. Pre- and post- intervention wellbeing questionnaire with children.
2. Pre- and post- intervention full day research workshop which included: children drawing their 鈥榟appy place鈥� and reflecting on what makes them flourish, and walk-and-talk interviews with children around their school reflecting on their relationship with outdoor spaces.
3. Within the eight days of creative adventuring, teachers, artists and researchers worked collaboratively to keep field notes to capture significant moments across the day, each focusing on their individual fields of interest.
4. All teachers and artists undertook a focus group discussion and individual interviews at the end of the creative adventuring days.

Outputs

Films

Articles and chapters

• Walshe, N., Perry, J., & Moula, Z. (2023). . Sustainability, 15, 12290.
• Moula Z., Walshe N., Lee E. (2023). 鈥淚t was like I was not a person, it was like I was the nature鈥�: . 听Journal of Environmental Psychology, 90, 102072.听
• CCI and 乱伦秀 (2023) Artscaping: A Guide to establishing arts-in-nature opportunities in your school,听
• Walshe, N. (2023). Arts-in-nature practice improves mental health and connection with nature. IOE Policy Briefing.
• Moula, Z. and Walshe, N. (2023). . The House, 17 April 2023.
• Cambridge Curiosity and Imagination (2023)
• Walshe, N. and Perry, J. (2022). . Teaching Geography, 47(3), 94-97. 听
• Walshe, N. and Perry, J. (in publication 鈥� Spring 2023). Nurturing eco-capabilities for transformative learning and wellbeing. Primary Geographer.听
• Walshe, N., Moula, Z. & Lee, E. (2022) . Sustainability, 14(6), 3582.
• Moula, Z., Palmer, K. & Walshe, N. 听(2022) . Frontiers in Psychology 鈥� Health Psychology.
• 听by Nicola Walshe on Schoolsweek (Nov 2021).
• Moula, Z., Walshe, N., & Lee, E. (2021) . Child Indicators Research, 14 (4), 1653-1675.
• Walshe, N., Lee, E., & Smith, M. (2020). . Journal of Education for Sustainable Development.
• Walshe, N., Lee, E., Lloyd, D., & Sapsed, R. (2020). . In: Burnard, P. & L. Colucci-Gray (Eds) Why Science and Art Creativities Matter: STEAM (re-) Configurings for Future-Making Education. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill. pp.337-357.
• Lee, E, Walshe, N., Sapsed R., & Holland, J. (2018). In A. Cutter Mackenzie, K. Malone and E. Barratt Hacking (Eds) Springer International Handbooks of Education. Research Handbook on ChildhoodNature: Assemblages of Childhood and Nature Research.
• Walshe, N. and Moula, Z. (2021). . National Association of Environmental Education, 126.

Podcasts

• What do we need to empower and educate young people about the environment? Listen to the Research for the Real World podcast, season 11 episode 4

Recorded seminars

• Walshe, N. (2022).
• Walshe, N., Sapsed, R., Pereira-Stubbs, F. and Holt, J. (2021). Introducing artscaping: creative adventuring for children鈥檚 wellbeing. Cambridge Festival.
• Walshe, N. and Sapsed, R. (2020). Talking Eco-Capabilities Webinar: Lost words and found connections 鈥� adventures into language and literacy through nature.

News

• MP sees work of IOE project that supports children鈥檚 wellbeing through art in nature

Poster presentations

• Walshe, N., & Moula, Z. (2021). Eco-Capabilities: Teacher and artist reflections on nature-based art interventions for children's wellbeing. Presented at: European Conference of Educational Research. Walshe, N., Moula, Z., & Lee, E. (2020).
• Eco-Capabilities: Making nature explicit in children鈥檚 drawings about wellbeing. Presented at: North American Association of Environmental Education.

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