Inclusive Education through Forest School

This volume examines how Forest School can contribute to more inclusive educational environments by reshaping the conditions under which children participate, learn, and are recognised. Rather than treating outdoor learning as inherently inclusive, it explores how pedagogy, relationships, environmental design, institutional structures, and opportunities interact to shape a learner agency to foster—or inhibit—participation. Drawing on research in inclusive education, outdoor and environmental education, disability studies, experiential learning, and critical realism, the book combines conceptual analysis with an empirical case study of an English primary school. It examines how practical and collaborative activity, responsive facilitation, sustained engagement with a place, and flexible learning structures may support the participation of diverse learners, including pupils identified with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), while also considering the broader questions of social justice, accessibility, culture, language, socio-economic inequality, and environmental justice. The book also addresses the practical and institutional conditions required for inclusive Forest School provision, including programme design, risk-benefit assessment, professional learning, curriculum integration, family engagement, and leadership support. It concludes by identifying the priorities for future research and policy, offering a theoretically grounded and practically relevant resource for researchers, educators, school leaders, teacher educators, and policymakers interested in inclusive, experiential, and environmentally responsive education.