A Whole-School Approach to Outdoor Learning
A Northern Norway school shows how regular, leadership-backed outdoor learning can become part of school identity, though teachers had few chances to share practice.
Research, reports and guidance on education outside the classroom and outdoor education, with a plain-English summary of each and a link to the original. New items are added every week.
The library began with Education Outside the Classroom: Applied Research Readings 2010–2017(McNatty & Boyes, University of Otago, 2017). Later items were found, summarised and checked with AI assistance using the same method: every reference is checked against the publisher's record, every summary against the published abstract, and only items rated high confidence by two independent relevance checks are published. Summaries are a guide: read the original before citing it.
Research library
63 items
Encountering Literacy with/in Country
A settler Australian educator reframes literacy as relationship with Country and proposes storied reflective practice as professional learning for non-Indigenous educators.
Navigating the waterscapes: children's expressions and perspectives of water across Aotearoa, Norway, and Tanzania
Children in Aotearoa, Norway and Tanzania explored and expressed meanings of local water, and the study reveals tensions in how early childhood curricula address water.
Living in history: Recognising the challenges for outdoor educators and taking on the pedagogical responsibility (the 2023 Brian Nettleton Lecture)
Outdoor educators 'live in history' when teaching on Country. This lecture and its classroom application show non-Indigenous educators taking up responsibility for that teaching.
Practice guidance for education outside the classroom in Danish special schools: insights from a Co-creation process
Students, teachers and therapists co-created MOVEOUT-SPECIAL, a practice guidance for EOTC in special needs schools that recommends contextual, student and educational strategies.
Assets and liabilities for curriculum change: exploring teachers’ perspectives of enacting education outside the classroom
European teachers enacting EOtC during curriculum change identified few physical-setting barriers, and institutional supports appeared to dominate their considerations.
Beneficence as a driving force of continuing change to education outside the classroom: Teachers’ perceptions of a one-year implementation
Interviews with nine Danish teachers suggest that continuing to use EOtC relies on teacher competence, collegial collaboration with a shared vision, and management support.
Beyond The Classroom: Exploring Outdoor Learning in Canadian Schools
Interviews with Canadian children and educators, plus a geographical scan with policymakers, point to the interconnected support and buy-in needed at policy, administrator and educator levels for outdoor learning to benefit children.
The Impact of Nature Walks on Young Children Nature Connectedness: A Biophilia Hypothesis Analysis
Repeated nature walks in a local park elicited affective, cognitive and sensory responses to nature in Malaysian preschoolers. The authors see the walks as a low-cost, accessible way to foster nature connectedness.
Aboriginal Cultural Narratives and Ecology as Co-Teachers: Understanding Climate Change in the Sensory Classroom on Country
Research in four rural NSW schools found that student learning was enriched when local Aboriginal community members led teachers in climate change education, in settings enabling deep relationality with nature and Culture.
Wild Pedagogies in Early Childhood Education in Denmark Change Processes and Pedagogical Dilemmas
Bringing wild pedagogies into Danish early childhood institutions revealed two 'shoots of change': altering the place of nature in practice, and carving out time for more open approaches.
Outdoor education in NI: impacts and issues
A Northern Ireland Assembly research paper sets out the benefits of outdoor education, the barriers to it, potential lessons from elsewhere, and the key issues to address to embed outdoor learning in schools and other settings in Northern Ireland.
Different Journeys: Regional variations in English school residential visits and changes over time
A pilot analysis of data from the EVOLVE visit-planning system suggests that pupils at schools in the North of England are less likely to take part in residential visits than those in the South, and that provision has not recovered to pre-pandemic levels.
Towards flourishing: the understanding and experience of the staff in one Irish primary school of Forest School
Staff at one Irish primary school described Forest School as promoting children's connection to nature, offering a distinctive space for social-emotional development, and broadening the expression of teacher identity.
The Participation of Teachers in Greece in Outdoor Education Activities and the Schools’ Perceptions of the Benefits to Students
Few teachers in Greece take students outdoors, even though they see clear mental, cognitive and physical benefits.
Cynefin – Being of place. An investigation into the perspectives of first-language Welsh speaking hill farmers into the meaning of the word cynefin and the significance for education in Wales and beyond
Welsh hill farmers' understanding of 'cynefin', a word tied to one's relationship with place and land, has the potential to provide a counter-pedagogy in keeping with place-based and Indigenous approaches.
From McDonaldization to place-based experience: revitalizing outdoor education in Ireland
Irish outdoor education often looks like a standardised, 'McDonaldized' product, and the authors argue for a more place-based practice.
Outdoor Education Fatalities in Canada: A Comparative Case Study
Three Canadian outdoor education deaths shared administrative failings: undefined risk tolerance, risk creep, weak oversight and problems with parental consent.
Indigenous Storytelling, Cherokee Traditional Ecological Knowledge, and Place-Based Education
Combining Cherokee traditional ecological knowledge stories with place-based education helped middle school students reflect on cultural literacy, wellbeing and respect for nature.
Toward a Framework for ʻĀina-Based Pedagogies: A Hawaiʻi Approach to Indigenous Land-Based Education
This article sets out a Hawaiʻi framework for ʻāina-based pedagogies, grounding Indigenous land-based education in ancestral Hawaiian principles.
Support Factors and Barriers for Outdoor Learning in Elementary Schools: A Systemic Perspective
Canadian elementary teachers named four connected areas that help or hinder outdoor learning: teacher characteristics, systemic factors, culture and the environment. The authors call for systemic support.
‘Wow! is that a birch leaf? In the picture it looked totally different’: a pragmatist perspective on deep learning in Norwegian ‘uteskole’
Drawing on Dewey and pupils' experiences of learning outside the classroom, this Norwegian study argues that learning activities support deep learning when they involve both transaction and continuity.
Turkish pre-service early childhood education teachers’ perceptions and practices of nature-based teaching on professional experience
Ten weeks of nature-based teaching on placement boosted Turkish preservice early childhood teachers' confidence. The study also names barriers such as family and management attitudes.
Expanding the boundaries of learning
Drawing on examples from New Hampshire, Brooklyn, Detroit and Singapore, Hatch argues that sustaining learning outside school depends on understanding what makes unconventional approaches hard to keep going within conventional schools.