Interview with Professor Jan White
What is ecological identity and attachment? Jan White and Marina Robb discuss:
- What do we mean by ecological identity?
- What kind of play drives can be met by nature to deepen the relationship?
- How attachment theory can be applied, physiological processes that operate as nature meets the play drive that expresses a deep psychological need.
About Professor Jan White
Jan White works as an independent consultant across the UK and internationally, Jan is a leading thinker and writer on outdoor play and advocate for high quality outdoor provision for services for children from birth to seven. She is honorary Professor of Practice with the University of Wales Trinity St David and co-founder/ strategic director of Early Childhood Outdoors, the National Centre for Play, Learning and Wellbeing Outdoors.
With thirty-five years’ experience in education, Jan has developed a deep commitment to the consistently powerful effect of the outdoors on young children. She has developed national support for early years outdoor provision with Learning through Landscapes and Early Excellence, and designed post-graduate courses at the Centre for Research in Early Childhood. She is an Associate with Early Education, convenor of the Landscapes for Early Childhood national network and has provided training, conference keynotes and consultancy for a wide range of early years settings.
Jan has received national awards for both her books, Playing and Learning Outdoors (now in 3rd edition) and Every Child a Mover, is editor of Outdoor Provision in the Early Years and collaborated with Siren Films to make the award-winning training DVDs Babies Outdoors, Toddlers Outdoors and Two Year-olds Outdoors. Her ground-breaking initiative with MuddyFaces, Making a Mud Kitchen has significantly influenced the outdoor play experiences of young children throughout the UK and is available in ten languages. Their new joint project, Opening Up the Outdoors now aims to take this a great deal further!