Interest in Forest Schools has seen a phenomenal rise in recent years around the Globe with thousands of children now experiencing this new context for learning. Forest Schools have also provided a new focus for researchers to find out more about the opportunities and benefits that can be derived from this specific form of outdoor learning.

Introduction 1. The Forest School impact on children: reviewing two decades of research 2. Reviewing two decades of research on the Forest School impact on children: the sequel 3. Does engagement in Forest School influence perceptions of risk, held by children, their parents, and their school staff? 4. Fostering children’s relationship with nature: exploring the potential of Forest School 5. ‘Sometimes there are rules about what girls can do’: a rights-based exploration of primary-aged children’s constructions of gender in Forest School 6. Encounters with Forest School and Foucault: a risky business? 7. Learning outdoors: the Forest School approach 8. The place of forest school within English primary schools: senior leader perspectives 9. Practitioners’ perspectives on children’s engagement in Forest School 10. Challenges and pedagogical conflicts for teacher-Forest School leaders implementing Forest School within the UK primary curriculum 11. Footprints in the woods: ‘tracking’ a nursery child through a Forest School session 12. Forest School in an inner city? Making the impossible possible 13. A bird’s eye view: comparing young children’s play in Forest School in England with Forest Kindergarten in Denmark 14. ‘Wow! Is that a birch leaf? In the picture it looked totally different’: a pragmatist perspective on deep learning in Norwegian ‘uteskole’ 15. A balancing act: a constructivist perspective of the adult’s role in Forest School in England and Forest Kindergarten in Denmark 16 The importance of recognising and promoting independence in young children: the role of the environment and the Danish Forest School approach