Researching Care Farming through Doctoral Studies

I've have been involved in education for almost twenty years and during that time I have worked in schools, universities, local authorities and charities as a teacher, leader and advisor. My specialisms are supporting children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities and those at risk of exclusion from school and helping vulnerable families with complex needs.

In 2018 I was supporting a young person at risk of exclusion from school, when I heard about a local care farm. After my first visit I knew I wanted to learn more about how care farms operated and supported individuals education and wellbeing.

My initial investigations were purely for my own interest but in 2019 I decided to apply to study for a Doctor of Education with a focus on exploring green care and care farming.

Initially I knew very little about the topic and tried to find out as much as possible by reading papers, articles, reports and books. Looking back, the first year of my study was focused on reading about and visiting care farms to look at the structures in place, the similarities and differences between the farms and the successes and challenges of setting up a care farm.

Year two was focused on further reading into the wider green care discipline and the place of social horticulture and animal assisted interventions within care farming. I also used the time to gain a greater understanding of the different theoretical frameworks being used within care farming and green care.

The Doctoral journey so far has been interesting and challenging in equal measure and the scale of the task should not be underestimated. As I move into my final year of study and with a sharpened research focus on 'Care Farming an impossible task' I look forward to my next phase of qualitative research gathering and sharing my results in 2022.