THE BENEFITS OF SCHOOL EDUCATIONAL GARDENS
Abstract
This article traces the historical evolution and contemporary relevance of educational school gardens, highlighting their pedagogical, social, and ecological roles. Emerging in the 19th century with reformers such as Fröbel and Pestalozzi, school gardens evolved from practical agricultural plots into complex learning environments that integrate science, health, and civic education. After periods of decline in the mid-20th century, they experienced a revival through ecological movements, positive education, and initiatives like the Edible Schoolyard Project. Today, organizations including FAO, UNESCO, and WHO promote school gardens as aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals, supporting the well-being of school communities, better learning, environmental education. The article emphasizes recent developments in Eastern Europe, including Romania, where NGOs, academic institutions, and European programs foster new initiatives. It concludes that school gardens represent holistic educational tools, advancing important key dimensions: academic performance, health and well-being, socio-emotional development, and ecological responsibility.
The history of educational school gardens is lengthy and culturally varied, reflecting changing perspectives on health, education, and the interaction between humans and the natural world. They are a pressing necessity, in the current context of urban, ultra-technological life, lacking constant and direct contact with nature, especially for children, who need to develop various skills and maintain their physical and mental health.
They have their roots in the early 19th century, when educational reformers like Friedrich Fröbel[1] and Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi[2] promoted hands-on, outdoor learning. The Kindergarten’s creator, Fröbel, saw the garden as a metaphor for a child’s growth, a living space where observation, care, and curiosity might thrive, according to Brosterman[3]. Therefore, school gardens started being established in late 19th-century in Europe, especially in Germany and France, by pioneering educators, in order to provide controlled soil contact while teaching botany, discipline, and also moral values. At the same time, educators like Fannie Griscom Parsons[4] started urban school farms in the United States of America, with the goal of teaching kids, particularly those from immigrant families, the importance of collaboration, cleanliness, and civic duty.
As people’s lives became more threatened during the war periods of the 20th century, the idea of the need for urban gardens, including in school environments, became more prominent, including in Eastern Europe, dominated by the Soviets after World War II. Their educational aspect was still little taken into account, being considered more of a source of food, unsatisfactory and disorderly, during the postwar period, as industrialization and urban migration intensified, interest in school gardens declined in many Western countries. But in the 1970s and 1980s, they saw a renaissance propelled by movements for ecological education and alternative pedagogies influenced by Waldorf and Montessori methods[5]. Later positive education, promoted by Martin Seligman within the interdisciplinary Well-being Theory, since 1995, as the the head of the American Psychiatric Association, showed the success of a intra- and extracurricular intervention at Geelong Grammar School in Australia. The project, started in 2008 and running, constantly offers valuable results in relation with activities in gardening. The students involved have lower levels of academic stress, relate more easily, and have a higher degree of satisfaction and involvement.[6]
Initiatives like The Edible Schoolyard Project, which was started by Alice Waters[7] in Berkeley, California, in the 1990s, marked the beginning of the modern revival of school gardens. This program demonstrated how gardens can educate not just science and nutrition but also social responsibility and ecological ethics by including cooking and gardening into the academic curriculum, as academically reported in Edible Schoolyard [8] book.
Organizations like the FAO, UNESCO, and WHO now encourage school gardens, which are in line with the Sustainable Development Goals, especially SDG 13 (Climate Action), SDG 4 (Quality Education), and SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-Being). These initiatives acknowledge school gardens as comprehensive learning spaces that support students’ health, social responsibility, and environmental stewardship in addition to academic success.
Educational gardens have recently made a comeback in Romania and other Eastern European countries, frequently thanks to the work of private investors, NGOs, academic institutions, or European initiatives like Erasmus+, which support environmental education and wellbeing in both rural and urban schools, but less noted in schools than in public spaces, as small educational farms[9].
As we can see, school gardens have changed throughout time from being practical plots to becoming vibrant, multidisciplinary learning environments. Their ability to engage students with real-world issues like health, sustainability, and cooperation, as well as to raise a generation that is not just more informed but also more grounded and compassionate, is what will ensure their continued relevance.
Currently, the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) is a reference institution in promoting and supporting educational garden initiatives in the school environment[10]. Through a series of educational resources and specialized programs, the RHS facilitates the integration of gardening into the school curriculum, pursuing the multidimensional development of students. In this regard, the RHS offers various teaching materials, including lesson plans, practical guides and activities dedicated to observing and studying biological phenomena, accessible free of charge to teachers[11]. The institution also organizes online training courses for teachers, such as „Getting Started with School Gardening” and „Basic Horticulture Skills for School Gardening”, designed to strengthen horticultural skills and promote sustainable practices within schools, even offering prizes for the activity.
The expected results of these initiatives, as declared by the RHS, are multiple and are reflected in both the cognitive and socio-emotional development of students. Interaction with the natural environment contributes to improving physical and mental well-being, reducing stress and encouraging a healthy lifestyle. Integrating gardening into different subjects — science, health education, geography, arts — provides an interdisciplinary approach to learning, which increases the relevance and attractiveness of the educational process. Furthermore, students develop awareness of social responsibility and ecological ethics through direct contact with the principles of biodiversity and sustainability. Gardening activities also support the formation of essential life skills, such as self-confidence, resilience, communication and collaboration skills.
In conclusion, the benefits associated with implementing educational gardens in the school environment can be systematized into four major categories:
Academic achievements, which reflect the improvement of school performance through an interdisciplinary approach that integrates science, art and health education;
Health and physical well-being, including the promotion of healthy eating, increasing physical activity levels, strengthening the immune system and contributing to mental health;
Social and emotional development, which involves cultivating positive emotions, stimulating collaboration and community spirit among students;
Environmental responsibility, which aims to raise awareness of the importance of biodiversity, sustainability and responsible ecological practices.
These dimensions reflect a holistic approach to education, in which interaction with the natural environment serves as a vector for the cognitive, emotional and social development of students.
It is therefore imperative to engage actively in the implementation of such initiatives within Romania’s urban school environments, beginning with carefully designed pilot programs. These should be systematically monitored and evaluated in order to generate robust evidence on their educational, social, and health-related outcomes, thereby creating a solid foundation for their gradual institutional integration and eventual large-scale adoption at national level.
Author: Ioana Petrache
Bucharest, August 2025
How to cite this article (APA 7): Petrache, I. (2025, August 20). The benefits of school educational gardens. Horticultura Urbană. http://horticulturaurbana.ro
Notes:
[1] Heiland, H. (republished 2020). Friedrich Fröbel. DE, Rowohlt E-Book
[2] Gutek, G. L. (1968). Pestalozzi & Education. USA, Random House
[3] Brosterman, N. (1997). Inventing Kindergarten. UK, Harry N. Abrams
[4] White, S. (2024). Heroines of Horticulture: A Celebration of Women Who Shaped North America’s Gardening Heritage. (n.p.): Schiffer Publishing
[5] Edwards, C. P. (2002). Three approaches from Europe: Waldorf, Montessori, and Reggio Emilia. Early Childhood Research and Practice, 4(1)
[6] Norrish, J. M., & Seligman, M. E. P. (Eds.). (2015). Positive Education: The Geelong Grammar School journey. Oxford University Press
[7] https://www.countrysideclassroom.org.uk/resources/1702
[8] Waters, A., Duane, D. (2008). Edible Schoolyard. USA, Chronicle Books
[9] https://fermapedagogica.ro/
[10] https://www.rhs.org.uk/education-learning/school-gardening/resources/plants-across-the-curriculum
[11] https://www.rhs.org.uk/education-learning/school-gardening/resources
Bibliography
Books:
Christopher, K. R. (2019). The School Garden Curriculum: An Integrated K-8 Guide for Discovering Science, Ecology, and Whole-Systems Thinking. Canada, New Society Publishers
Gutek, G. L. (1968). Pestalozzi & Education. USA, Random House
Heiland, H. (republished 2020). Friedrich Fröbel. DE, Rowohlt E-Book
Norrish, J. M., & Seligman, M. E. P. (Eds.). (2015). Positive Education: The Geelong Grammar School journey. Oxford University Press
Waters, A., Duane, D. (2008). Edible Schoolyard. USA, Chronicle Books
Studies:
Edwards, C. P. (2002). Three approaches from Europe: Waldorf, Montessori, and Reggio Emilia. Early Childhood Research and Practice, 4(1)
Websites:
https://edibleschoolyard.org/about-us
https://www.countrysideclassroom.org.uk/resources/1702
Illustrations:
- Courtesy of RHS School Gardening Awards | Teaching Resources | Countryside Classroom
- The Education Benefits of School Gardens
