Benefit-Risk Assessment Template
Risky play is an important component of nature-based pedagogy. It assumes children are capable—including being able to measure the risks of an activity. However, we as educators support the development of this skill. One way we do that is conducting benefit-risk assessments.
These benefit-risk assessments, done with and/or without the children, makes us much intentional about identifying the reasons to do an activity (benefits), the ways someone might get hurt doing that activity, how likely that is to happen (risk), and steps we can take to minimize the risk. This can be summarized in three questions:
What are the benefits of doing this activity?
How might we (or nature) get hurt doing this activity?
How can we keep ourselves, each other, and nature safe doing this activity?
The Benefit-Risk Assessment Template is a tool to help guide you through answering these questions. It will help you identify the benefits, hazards, risks, and actions to take to mitigate risk around an activity.
The answers to the three core questions of the Benefit-Risk Assessment become the foundation for your written policies and protocols—as well as the foundation for ongoing conversations between adults and children.
Click here to download a Word document template for completing your own benefit-risk assessment in your nature-based education program.
Looking for more on risk? Check out these resources:
Want more on Risky Play and its benefits? Check out our Risky Play e-course!
Inside The Grove is a site assessment template, detailed protocol template, policies and procedures outline, and a video that explains how to use all these tools and more to develop policies and procedures. The Grove is a consulting, professional development, and resource library all in one! Click here to learn more or sign up.
