A new partnership with the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) is helping student teachers use gardening to enliven primary education while they learn to become teachers at IOE, UCL’s Faculty of Education and Society.
IOE is connecting with the RHS’s Campaign for School Gardening to demonstrate how school-based gardening can be used to engage and inspire young learners. New teachers are being supported to explore how to creatively embed growing and gardening in their teaching of subjects across the primary curriculum.
“Developing young people’s awareness of nature and growing is key to building a sustainable future for us all,” explains Jane Tillin, Lecturer in Primary Education at IOE. “It is wonderful to see student teachers having the opportunity to explore the potential role of school gardening in supporting children’s knowledge and understanding across the primary curriculum.”
The collaboration features a series of workshops held at the Campaign for School Gardening’s schools, where gardening is already an established part of the curriculum. Student teachers learn about the value of introducing growing and gardening skills at an early age and the benefits children gain through connecting with nature. They observe lessons taught by the schools’ teachers and explore curriculum links and approaches to planning before leading Campaign for School Gardening activities with pupils themselves.
