Mel is a Senior Lecturer within Early Childhood Studies. She leads modules in Children’s Voices (rights and justice), Play and Playfulness, and Research in Early Childhood. Mel joined Bath Spa in 2018, previously working as a senior researcher and lecturer at UWE and Plymouth University. She has experience as a mentor, trainer, creative outdoor practitioner, environmental educator and arts therapist in early childhood settings, as well as within educational, cultural and health contexts both nationally and internationally.
Mel’s research focuses on environment-society relationships. Her chief two interests are play and politics, or in her words, eco-social justice. Play encompasses creativity, improvisation, relationships (both eco and social), and the expression of wellbeing and growth so essential to survival. Mel’s focus on everyday eco-social justice focuses on how children and families participate as citizens in making our worlds and identities, alongside collective, community-based responses to climate change and business as usual.
Scholar of Forest School
Mel is an internationally renowned scholar of forest school. Her work investigates how we overcome cultural, social and political barriers, and how forest school practitioners and participants respond to our current eco-social crises. She completed her PhD (an ethnography of the experiences of Forest School practitioners) at the University of Gloucestershire in 2014. Her subsequent research on forest school includes collaborative partnerships and systemic change, the impact on wellbeing and attainment, and inclusive practice for disadvantaged children.
Episodes coming soon
As a guest on our new TTS Talking podcast series, Mel offers practical guidance for adopting the Forest School approach in settings across the globe.
Mel’s episodes, alongside guest speaker, Sarah Lawfull, explore the 6 principles of Forest School, the benefits of incorporating this approach in the Early Years and the role of the adult vs the child.
