Forest School

FOREST SCHOOL originated initially as an institution for the health improvement and education of physically weak children who were lagging behind in school studies due to their poor health compared to their peers. At the heart of the Forest School lies the widespread application of an open-air regimen. This regimen is now beginning to be applied more and more widely in the system of school and preschool education, and not only as an educational and therapeutic-auxiliary measure, but also for purely prophylactic purposes—in order to place children in conditions of healthy upbringing. The Forest School, which apparently received its name because the first school (Charlottenburg; 1904) was set up in a pine forest, is gradually being transformed into an "open-air" school. The latter is gaining popularity in Germany, England, and America, partly as an auxiliary school for the weak and backward, and partly as a new "reformed" school serving normal children. Besides suburban ones, such schools began to be formed within city limits—sometimes on the flat roofs of houses. For weak and lagging children, either separate pavilions are built, or separate classrooms are set aside and adapted in large schools for classes with open windows, which requires not only the improvement of heating but also special clothing for the children. In New York, one room in every school building is set aside as an open-air classroom. In these classrooms, a temperature of no less than 10° is maintained. Open-air schools have found wide application in the West as well. At a number of conferences and congresses abroad and here, it has been repeatedly pointed out that every normal school should strive for a regimen typical of an open-air school. A special place is occupied by the "sun school" organized in 1910 by Rollier in Leysin. In this school, children remain under the rays of the sun for a prolonged time. Similar "sun schools" also exist in France. Under the name "forest schools" (Waldschule) in Germany and Austria, one can also encounter institutions that function only in the summer (in the warm season), accepting groups of children for a relatively short time (about a month)—a kind of summer health school or a variety of summer colony school. The question of organizing Forest Schools in Russia arose for the first time in 1912 (Congress of Public Education Workers and the I All-Russian Congress of Pediatricians). In 1913, the Lefortovo Guardianship for the Poor set up a Forest School in Moscow in Sokolniki. Despite several years of its existence, this experience remained unused before the revolution. In 1918, on the initiative of V. M. Bonch-Bruyevich, an experimental forest school was founded in Moscow in Sokolniki, which is currently under the jurisdiction of the Institute for the Protection of Children's Health of the People's Commissariat of Health; gradually, forest schools for physically weak children began to spread across the territory of the Union (Moscow, Kostroma, Nizhny Novgorod, Novgorod, Oryol, Ufa, Nevel, etc.). The very idea of the necessity of organizing Forest Schools has taken deep root in the USSR. In ordinary forest schools, weakened children are usually admitted for 6 months, i.e., for a period during which it is possible to put the child not only through a course of a strengthening regimen but also through a systematic pedagogical process, which, like the entire rest of the school's regimen, is subordinated to the main idea—the health improvement and strengthening of the child through the purposeful use of the sun, air, water, strengthening exercises, and rational nutrition. The experience of forest schools in Soviet conditions leads to the following basic provisions for their organization. A forest school as an institution for weak children is set up outside the city or on its outskirts, provided there is convenient tram and other transportation. A plot for a school of 50 people should have an area of at least 1-2 hectares. A special area is set up for sun and air baths. In case of inclement weather, there should be a canopy or a veranda open on the sides under a roof. For the winter time, glazed verandas are necessary. In a school for 50 people, the following premises are usually arranged: a room for reading and writing—30-40 m², 1-2 rooms for drawing and drafting of 40 m² each, a workshop of 60 m², a room for staying in free time of 60 m², a changing room of 15 m², a kitchen of 20 m², a dining room of 0.75-1 m² per student, a teachers' room of 12 m², a medical office of 12 m², a duty attendant's room of 7.5 m², a washroom, a restroom; the height of the premises is 4 m. Forest schools are set up both for day students, provided there is convenient communication with populated areas, and for those living in the school. In the latter case, bedrooms for 5-10 people each are necessary, calculated at 6-8 m² per person, with a height of 3-5 m, an isolation room with an area of 28 m², and a duty nurse's room of 5-8 m². In the interests of protecting boarding schools from the introduction of contagion, it is undesirable to mix day students with those living permanently in the same school. Heating can be central, Dutch, or Utermöhle stoves. Devices for constant access of air in summer and winter, day and night, to all children's premises are necessary. Well-arranged transoms satisfy this goal; the installation of a wooden frame covered with muslin, inserted into the opening of a window vent, is also permissible. The temperature in the rooms in winter with constantly open transoms should not be lower than 9-10°. Furniture in the Forest School should be light and portable so that children can carry it themselves from the rooms to the air and back, depending on the weather conditions. For lying in the air, a wooden frame covered with canvas seems most convenient. In order to make sufficient use of the air regardless of the time of year and weather conditions, children in the Forest School must be provided with appropriate clothing. In the climate of the central zone of the Union, it is necessary to have three sets of clothing—for the summer, winter, and autumn (as well as spring) seasons. In addition, for lying in the air in winter, warm blanket-bags are necessary. The pedagogical staff of the Forest School must also be provided with appropriate clothing. The selection of children for the Forest School must be carried out very carefully and cautiously; children are selected from schools of the standard type. Indications for admission are 1) prolonged anemia, 2) chronic malnutrition, 3) tuberculosis without local manifestations of the process (chronic tubercular intoxication, according to A. A. Kisel). Contraindications are 1) cases of severe tuberculosis, 2) severe lesions of the circulatory organs, 3) severe nervous phenomena (epilepsy, chorea, hysteria, etc.), 4) mental and moral deficiency, 5) contagious skin diseases: favus, syphilis, ringworm, scabies, as well as ozena. The main factors of the Forest School regimen are 1) the greatest possible use of outdoor air, 2) sufficient nutrition, 3) correct hygienic distribution of the children's day. All classes and work of the children are, if possible, moved to the air, not excluding the cold season. As the experience of the Forest Schools and sanatorium institutions of Moscow has shown, provided there is sufficient supply of appropriate clothing and the selection of suitable activities, it is possible to conduct most classes in the air. Written assignments are performed in rooms, alternating with oral lessons conducted in the air. The very method of teaching in the Forest School differs from that in an ordinary school in the sense of greater visuality and proximity to the surrounding nature. Observation shows that children in the conditions of the Forest School achieve much more compared to an ordinary school, even with less time spent on studies. In addition to a sufficient total number of calories, depending on age, children should receive mixed, varied food at regular intervals 4 times a day. Sample menu: in the morning—a hearty breakfast, e.g., porridge or scrambled eggs, bread with butter, coffee with 1/2 cup of milk; lunch: soup or cabbage soup, for the second course—meat or fish with potatoes or other vegetables, a glass of milk; in the evening—tea with milk or a sandwich, bread, butter, ham or cheese; supper: porridge and fruit jelly (kisel), 1 cup of milk. It is necessary to provide children with a sufficient amount of vitamins. Hygienic habits that are mandatory in the Forest School include skin care, oral hygiene, washing hands before every meal, and training in maintaining cleanliness and order in the room and with belongings. Skin care consists of daily washing of the skin up to the waist or in a shower with room-temperature water and a weekly soap bath. In summer, it is also necessary to wash feet daily before sleep (if there is a boarding facility). Sample winter schedule: from 7:30 to 8:30 AM—getting up, measuring temperature, morning toilet, cleaning, medical examination (morning toilet: cold shower, washing or sponging, brushing teeth, etc.); from 8:30 to 9:30 AM—breakfast; from 9:30 to 12:30 PM—school lessons (4 lessons with breaks for games in the air).

In summer, at 11 a.m., sun baths and a shower; from 1 to 2 p.m., lunch; from 2 to 4 p.m., afternoon rest in the open air; from 4 to 4:30 p.m., temperature measurement, tea with a snack; from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., club work (workshops, singing, organized games, sports, entertainment, and gymnastics); from 6:30 to 7 p.m., dinner; after dinner, from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m., club and circle work; from 8:30 to 9 p.m., evening toilet, preparation for sleep. Self-service is introduced as one of the elements of social education. Labor processes accessible to the contingent of children in the Forest School are as follows: making beds, tidying up belongings and classrooms, wet sweeping, wet dusting, duty during meals, washing tea dishes, carrying firewood, gardening, vegetable gardening, and certain types of manual labor—all with dosage and individualization. Physical exercises with strict selection, individualization, dosage, and under the control of a doctor are one of the factors of physical culture conducted in the Forest School. At the head of the institution stands a doctor; assisting him is an experienced nurse or feldsher. For every 20 children, there is one educator. In the case of a boarding school, special governesses or a corresponding increase in the number of educators are necessary.

Self-service is introduced as one of the elements of social education. Labor processes accessible to the contingent of children in the Forest School are as follows: making beds, tidying up belongings and classrooms, wet sweeping, wet dusting, duty during meals, washing tea dishes, carrying firewood, gardening, vegetable gardening, and certain types of manual labor—all with dosage and individualization. Physical exercises with strict selection, individualization, dosage, and under the control of a doctor are one of the factors of physical culture conducted in the Forest School. At the head of the institution stands a doctor; assisting him is an experienced nurse or feldsher. For every 20 children, there is one educator. In the case of a boarding school, special governesses or a corresponding increase in the number of educators are necessary.