Findings

From the very first planning session all of the children in the teaching group were completely engaged in the process. They were all able to contribute their ideas on how to help the children they were teaching. They were able to give step by step directions to small groups in a way that was engaging and understandable for the children they were teaching. It was so informative for my own practice to watch the simple ways that they made connections with the children they were teaching. The child friendly language and encouraging techniques used were very impressive and gave me ideas on how I could use these in my own practice in the future.

For the duration of the project, it was evident that all children were deeply engaged within the planting and growing process. One child acting as teacher said “I really liked teaching other people, it was a lot of fun planting.” Children were involved in the planning and implementation of the project and guided it in a way that they saw fit. The practical nature of the project aided this as the teaching group were able to give hands on advice and demonstrate their own learning to others. The more sessions that went on the more autonomous the teaching group were. They were able to lay out resources to be used, teach meaningful lessons and put away the resources used for the next session. This indicated that the more autonomy the children felt in the teaching group the more their engagement with the project grew. Teachers also reported increased engagement within the classroom setting.

Blob Tree Assessments (Wilson and Long 2020) were used at the beginning and end of the project to compare how the four children in the teaching group were feeling. These assessments allowed the children to colour in a Blob that represents how they felt at that moment. Comparing the Blobs from the start of the project to the completion indicated an overall trend towards more positive attitudes and feelings. It has been argued that having a connection with nature can improve childrens overall wellbeing (Keenan et al 2021). As the planting session went on I witnessed the elation and joy in the teaching groups faces when they were able to teach someone something new. It was evident the pride they felt in themselves and their actions which allowed their confidence to grow.

The teaching group were able to make connections with others around the school that they may not necessarily have done so otherwise. This was evident with children passing one another in the school corridor saying hello and playing with one another in the playground. The teaching group were able to demonstrate kindness to children with different backgrounds and abilities also positively impacting on not only their wellbeing but the wellbeing of others. By regularly connecting to nature and others the children in the teaching group felt the benefits.

Conclusion

From observations and comparisons of data the project was successful in improving the teaching groups engagement and wellbeing while also positively impacting on confidence levels. The children were able to experience a child led project where their views and opinions were crucial and valued. All children who took part in the project (whether that be the teaching group or those learning a new skill) were enthusiastic and engaged.

Next steps for this project could be running the group throughout the academic year using a bigger sample of teaching groups where each group could focus on teaching a specific skill relating to a certain type of plant. For example one group could teach about planting potatoes, another group carrots. The children in the groups could become “green guardians” and promote the benefits of planting throughout the school.