Meta-Thematic Analysis Of Research On Forest School-Based Practices: A Comprehensive Review

Originally developed in Scandinavia, forest schooling encourages children to study by removing them from the confines of their homes and schools and allowing them to engage in outdoor endeavors. The aim of this study is to analyze the results of qualitative research on forest school-based practices in early childhood education with the meta-thematic analysis method and to see the effects of forest school-based practices on child development as a whole by combining the results. For this purpose, meta-thematic analysis of qualitative studies was conducted by subjecting them to content analysis with the document analysis pattern. The meta-thematic study identified children's cognitive, social, and emotional development as the primary foundations. A total of 725 research studies were initially identified, and their selection process was illustrated using a flow diagram. Out of these, 12 studies—sourced from national and international databases—were selected for detailed analysis. The results of the analysis showed that forest school-based practices have positive effects on children's cognitive, social-emotional, motor and language development areas. Nonetheless, these applications exhibit some adverse characteristics such as cold weather, insufficient planning, lack of knowledge etc. yet, alternatives exist to mitigate these drawbacks.