A report released by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) [25 November 2010] and funded by the Growing Schools Programme, claims that teaching gardening to children and young people with special educational needs has a positive impact on their development.
The RHS funded a SEN Schools Project Officer to work with 95 pupils aged four to 16, and their teachers, across Six SEN Schools in Sussex. Some students were on the autism spectrum, while others suffered from Cystic Fibrosis, Behavioural, Emotional and Social Difficulties (BESD), hearing impairment and Dyslexia.
The emphasis of both student and teacher training sessions was to give students practical, hands-on gardening experience and for teachers to learn skills so that they could work with the pupils between visits. The practical and process-orientated nature of gardening was seen to be particularly appropriate to the visual and learning-through-doing needs of some of the participating students.
“Working with 95 eager children and young people and their enthusiastic teachers has been demanding, fun and very, very productive,” says Hayley Young, RHS SEN Schools Project Officer. “I could see my young gardeners changing as the year progressed. Growing in confidence, being more interested in what was going on and interacting better with other children and adults.”
The report found that pupils showed an improved level of participation in activities and embraced a new level of responsibility for their own learning and progress. Those who had previously preferred to work independently developed improved team skills. And gains in confidence and self-esteem also encouraged students to persevere with challenging tasks.
One Year 9 pupil commented: “Gardening is a useful thing as it calms me down. It’s a relaxing thing to do. I hope I come back to work in the poly tunnel in Year 10. It has been a good experience.” Another Year 6 pupil enthused: “I will do gardening forever.”
Teachers were also enthusiastic. One teacher from Newick House School, Sussex said: “I think that a lot of our pupils learn much more when they are doing practical things. By doing gardening they learnt about other subjects at the same time such as Maths, English and science. Lots of our pupils learn by doing and having hands on experiences. That’s where gardening is really, really important in our school.”
The findings of the pilot project have enabled the RHS to support two further SEN projects over the next few years. A Project Officer has been appointed to work with SEN pupils in mainstream schools in West Yorkshire and Hayley Young will look at opportunities for older secondary pupils to follow accredited horticulture courses to increase their chances of work experience and employment.
The full report, case studies and resources are available on the RHS Campaign for School Gardening website.
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