Roseleen Shanley / Reflections on The Natural Change Project

It is five weeks now since Knoydart and the first Natural Change experience. I have spent a lot of time thinking about the philosophy behind the project and the effect the experience will have on me, both personally and professionally.

When I returned to home and work I did feel a more heightened awareness of the senses. I found myself much more aware of sound and texture. The staffroom at school felt a very noisy place and I found myself standing back and looking in more as the conversations took place. I found that when I looked at pictures and paintings in my home, I could feel the texture within the paintings for example, the cat’s coat in one picture felt more real, yet I was merely looking at the picture. I found this quite strange at first. 

I went out on my usual walks with the dogs in the fields around my home, but again seemed to have more heightened awareness to sound and the textures of the straw, grasses and stones that I lifted. I was also more aware of where light fell and what sparkled in its glow.

                           The fields around my home

I wanted to share the beauty of where I lived and took some friends children to  the fields around my home and to the beach during the October holidays.  I got the opportunity to watch these children observe the world through a child’s eye. They would stop and pick up stones, watch a slug slither, have a little touch at it. We threw stones in the fields for the dogs to chase. The day at the beach was amazing. October in Aberdeenshire did not stop these children paddling in the sea, finding bird skeletons etc. Even a washed up onion became a toy to throw into the water or play football with. The day was magical as I watched them play and enjoy themselves. “This is the best day of my life” one said. They spied on people coming along the path with the binoculars, watched ships and wildlife. What a great time we had.

                                                     The beach where the children played.

I thought a lot about the school curriculum and the lovely sunny days when our young people are stuck inside and sitting at desks. Things are getting better thanks to The Curriculum For Excellence initiatives. Certainly when you take pupils outside into the environment you often see a transformation in many children. In my experience that childhood curiosity returns and for many, there is a new found confidence as they explore and play in the outdoors. So many great lessons take place and can cover most of the curricular areas. Life long learning experiences and memories take place in these situations. They require to be utilised much more.

I feel a great sense of wanting to enrich learning by using the environment more. I will outline some of the ways this could be done in my next blog.