Te Waiora - Ngā Tau 0-10
The final Te Waiora curriculum presents wellbeing as including taha taiao, with outdoor experiences and kaitiakitanga as part of Māori-medium learning.
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
Outdoor school-based nature education programs improve social life and vitality: evidence from a six-wave longitudinal study on Italian secondary school students
In a study of 203 Italian students, outdoor programme participation was linked to early gains in social identity and civic engagement, but later effects were inconsistent.
Outdoor Activity-Based Physical Education to Enhance Physical Literacy, Physical Fitness, and Environmental Awareness among Elementary School Students
An eight-week outdoor activity-based PE programme was linked to large gains in physical literacy, fitness and environmental awareness for fifth-grade pupils.
Personal health impacts of adventurous outdoor learning
This open-access analysis proposes physiological and neurological pathways through which adventurous outdoor learning may affect stress, mood and cognition.
Learning that lingers
Young women who did a compulsory 28-day school outdoor programme still recognised enduring learning years later, and some recalled significant difficulty.
Wellbeing effects of outdoor education programs for students over time: a scoping review
Across 20 studies, most results showed outdoor education programmes improved students' wellbeing. Benefits appeared in short and extended programmes and sometimes lasted weeks, months or years.
Outdoor education and sustained student wellbeing: a scoping review
A review of 20 studies found 80 per cent reported positive wellbeing outcomes from outdoor education, sometimes lasting months or years.
Developing emotional intelligence through affective outdoor learning
In New Zealand rock climbing and kayaking, students developed emotional intelligence through peer and adult support. Teachers and instructors played a key role in building a supportive culture.
Are they ready? A narrative literature review of pre-program physical and social-emotional preparation for adolescent outdoor education participants
A narrative review gathers evidence on physical and social-emotional preparation for outdoor education participants, with recommendations for practitioners.
Nature Play as a Catalyst for Outdoor Learning, Engagement and Wellbeing in Australian Primary Students
A 10-week nature play programme for Year One students in Sydney was linked to significant gains in mathematics, along with children expressing joy, autonomy and a growing awareness of their relationship with nature.
Low-stakes, high-interest learning: a hermeneutic phenomenological study of children learning mathematics outdoors
Primary children experienced regular outdoor maths as safe, inclusive and liberating. The authors call this 'low-stakes, high-interest' learning that reduces anxiety and builds confidence.
Beyond crisis management: ethical principles and trauma-informed care in outdoor learning and outdoor adventure therapies
This article argues that ethical outdoor learning needs more than managing emotional crises. It should weigh doing no harm, promoting wellbeing and participant autonomy, with trauma-informed care as a guiding framework.
‘A completely different space’: Teachers' perspectives on disadvantage, access to nature and outdoor learning
UK teachers in disadvantaged areas see nature as a calming, freeing space for children but feel that systemic constraints limit outdoor teaching.
Risky Outdoor Play and Adventure Education in Nature for Child and Adolescent Wellbeing: A Scoping Review
All 40 studies in this scoping review linked nature-based risky play and adventure education with positive development, but parental anxiety and liability concerns still limit practice.
Nature Play in Primary School: Supporting Holistic Development Through Outdoor Learning
A 10-week Bush School programme for Year One students in Sydney supported wellbeing and engagement and did not harm reading or maths outcomes.
Wellbeing, Sense of Belonging, Resilience, and Academic Buoyancy Impacts of Education Outside the Classroom: An Australian Case Study
A four-week residential EOtC programme at an Australian secondary school was followed by significant gains in Year 9 students' sense of belonging and a modest rise in academic buoyancy.
Opportunities for belonging and becoming: using outdoor learning programmes with adolescent students
Educators from an Australian whole-cohort camp and an English programme for excluded students both described outdoor education creating opportunities for belonging and for students to re-engage and rebuild identity.
A Nature-Based Intervention and Mental Health of Schoolchildren
A large Quebec trial found that two hours a week of outdoor classes for 12 weeks did not reduce overall mental health symptoms in 10–12-year-olds.
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.
Looking back: the lasting impact of outdoor education for adolescent girls
Young women looking back on a month of immersive school outdoor learning in remote New Zealand said it shaped their identity and wellbeing well beyond school.
Building resilience and teaching learners about sustainable living through outdoor swimming and water safety learning
Norwegian primary teachers used outdoor swimming and water safety lessons at a local beach to build learners' resilience and teach about sustainable living.
Synergies of affordances and place-based relationality in Forest School practice: implications for socio-emotional well-being
This conceptual paper argues that Forest School should combine Western affordance theory with Indigenous place-based relationality to support children's social and emotional wellbeing.
“When the real stuff happens”: A qualitative descriptive study of the psychosocial outcomes of outdoor adventure education for adolescents
Connections with others, real responsibilities and genuine challenges in outdoor adventure education appear to support adolescents' psychosocial wellbeing.
The Ocean, Blue Spaces and Outdoor Learning
Edited by AUT's Mike Brown, this book explores the educational side of people's engagement with the ocean and 'blue spaces'. It includes a chapter on surfing and wellbeing in Aotearoa New Zealand.