WELCOME TO POLICY Matters, a series from The Journal that takes a deep dive into the ideas and solutions proposed by Ireland’s politicians on some of the biggest issues of the day.

As part of the series, The Journal sits down with different spokespeople from across Ireland’s political parties to take a deeper look at what they believe needs to be done across areas like housing, health, the environment and childcare.

Over the course of the 2024 general election, we will be taking a special look at some of the proposals from different political candidates that might otherwise slip under the radar.

As part of that, we caught up with Green Party senator and general election candidate Pauline O’Reilly to talk about forest schools.

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AS PART OF their general election manifesto, the Green Party has included a number of proposals around ‘affordable, green schooling’.

Included among these is a pledge to oversee a pilot ‘forest school’, which the document describes as “a model of schooling for young children which has proven to be successful in Scandinavia.”

The Journal caught up with Green Party senator and candidate for Galway West Pauline O’Reilly to learn more about her party’s plans.

O’Reilly explained it like this: Forest schooling is essentially about outdoor education. Children will still do academic subjects but in a “different” setting where they can explore the outdoor environment.

And no, it’s not just for a couple of hours a day or a week, the Green Party wants to introduce a pilot model where most of the school day every week is spent outdoors, “rain, wind or shine.”

“There’ll be shelters. So it’s not as if you’re literally standing in the rain all of the time. You’re wrapped up every day to do that, to be outdoors,” O’Reilly said.

“If there was a willingness to go beyond the day a week, which we would hope that there would be, then you would have academic subjects outside. But currently, the way it operates is that it is very much hands-on in nature, outdoors, playing, going for a walk, jumping in puddles, you know?

“And we’re talking about primary school here. So it’s really before there’s serious exams coming up.”

O’Reilly explained that it is all about building a love and respect for the natural world. 

“The reason for it, from our point of view, is that you can’t protect what you don’t know.

“And it’s the things that you love that you are going to respect.”

The Green Party envision the pilot operating via the Department of Education on the basis of existing primary schools voluntarily putting themselves forward to take part.

“I don’t think it’s probably feasible to have large schools turning into forest schools. But certainly, if there are smaller schools that want to become part of the pilot, I think that that would be what we’re looking at,” O’Reilly said.

“It might sound a bit out there, but actually it works very well. They do it in the UK aswell, and kids love being outdoors.” 

O’Reilly made the point that when she was growing up, children spent much more time outdoors because there was no social media. 

“We weren’t online as much as our kids are. It’s really about trying to foster that within the school hours, because there is a lot less outdoor time by kids,” she said, adding that it also has the benefit of being another form of physical activity for children.

In terms of being prepared for the temperamental Irish weather, O’Reilly said funding would have to be put in place to make sure children have the appropriate outerwear like coats and shoes to participate, no matter what the weather on any given day.

“It’s still a relatively small amount of money. We’re talking about a pilot,” O’Reilly said.

And no, the concept isn’t literally confined to forests. Schools in urban areas may opt to take part but in green areas like parks – basically anywhere children can have the opportunity to “commune with nature”.

When it was put to O’Reilly that this concept might be a hard sell for many parents in Ireland, she countered that a lot of parents have already embraced the idea of outdoor preschools and love them.

“The overall premise here is that you protect what you love, and fewer and fewer of us, including adults, are spending time in nature.

“We know that the natural world is under threat, but we also know it’s better for us, our mental health and our physical health, to be surrounded by the environment.”