In 2016, the CM Torres Vedras (PT), the kindergartens Naba (HR) and Gupca (EE) participated in an Erasmus+ Contact Seminar in Turku (FI) within the field of school education, more specifically, Early Childhood Education and Care. Following the seminar, these organizations decided to join forces and design a project on the importance of playing and of structured physical activities, namely outdoor activities, in early childhood education and care. The 3 partners invited then a partner in Norway, as a country that already uses outdoor activities as a common practice during preschool education. The final partnership established involves 2 Universities – Portugal and Norway and 4 organizations from Portugal, Estonia, Croatia and Greece, besides the project coordinator that is a Local Authority. This international action-research project aims at promoting the practice of outdoor education through a play-based and physical activity approach in preschools. Inspired and supported by the kind of pedagogical approach widely spread in Norway, our project aims specifically at: -Drawing changes on the perceptions of policy makers, teachers, caretakers and parents on the possibilities of the outdoor as a rich and valuable environment for preschool children's learning, development and well-being. -Improving pedagogical competences of preschool teachers and caretakers working with children in the outdoor environment, adopting physical activity and play based strategies. Directly involved in the project there will be the following participants: -Preschool staff members (educators, caretakers, auxiliary staff) -NGO staff members -CM Torres Vedras – department of education and physical health staff -Queen Maud University – research team -FMH – Human Kinetics Faculty (University of Lisbon) – research team In terms of project management, this project mixes traditional waterfall and critical path methodologies. The project management work packages are organized in 4 groups that include interdependent and chronologically overlapped tasks that will allow monitoring the progress of project activities. For project implementation, the activity milestones coincide with Activity Work Packages, detailed into different tasks, actions with a timeline that is somewhat rigid. Each activity is defined from the findings and conclusions reached in the preceding one, nonetheless, they are interdependent when it comes to the delivery of final outputs, because they all contribute to their definition. The methodological framework constituted by 4 approaches is operationalized across the different stages of the project, in order to address the project’s goal: -Conceptual – conceptualization of data collection materials and subsequent training activities. -Descriptive – portraying children’s perceptions and behaviour in the socio-physical environment. -Participant – active involvement of teachers and children as active co-researchers in the project. -Comprehensive – producing scientific knowledge (papers, reports and other outputs) based on the juxtaposition of the three previous methodological approaches. The tangible project results will be: O1 Teacher’s training resources pack O2 Didactic-pedagogical resources pack for teachers and caretakers O3 Outdoor Activities Guidelines and Recommendations for Preschool Education For these outputs, there will be the following activities: -Devising of data collection resources pack for different stakeholders -Assessment of outdoor use by children -Devising of training resources -Implementation of training for different stakeholders (short-term joint training event) -Reassessment of outdoor use by children from different stakeholders’ perceptions -Composing of scientific and pedagogical resources For a greater impact in all countries, dissemination actions include three local multiplier events in HR, EE and EL and one international final seminar in PT. The following impacts are expected with the project: -increased awareness (and change of attitude) on the importance of education through the use of physical activity and outdoor risky play -increased ability to contribute to the child’s development, physical and motor, social, emotional and cognitive -knowledge transfer to others, acquiring skills on giving feedback and self-reflection -opportunities for play and learning in a stimulating environment (material and organisational conditions, new methods and techniques) -new use of the outdoor preschool space/playground, promoting new skills and competencies -child development promoted through outdoor education – holistic approach (connecting with nature) -raise awareness with the national authorities of the need to review the national curricular guidelines for preschool education -increased number of scientific work on this project subject in the partnership countries -inclusion of outdoor activities in national curricular guidelines for preschool education -reach organizations such as: EC, OECD, WHO
Moving and Learning Outside (MLO) was an international action-research project that aimed at promoting the practice of outdoor education through a play-based and physical activity approach in preschools. The knowledge and scientific background about cultural differences regarding the approach to preschool learning processes between Northern and Southern European countries were the starting points to devise this project. In Northern countries, the preschool curriculum and practice are predominantly based in play and child led strategies, in which autonomy and the contact with natural environments are privileged. While in the South, the pedagogical practices are strongly defined by the pursuit of academic success and standardized adult led processes, which privilege indoor sitting activities to foster the learning of writing, reading and counting skills. Therefore, the underlying motivation behind the MLO project was to devise a set of practical tools that could be useful to change this paradigm, in order for children in preschools to use the outdoor as a place where they can learn and develop through outdoor play, autonomy, independent movement, contact with nature and their communities. The project involved 7 partners, from 5 countries, working as an organism where each part contributed to the whole, having a specific role. (1) The educational community- children as main actors, parents as informants, educators and caretakers as participating observers - kindergartens Naba from Estonia, Matije Gupca from Croatia, and Conquinha, Agrupamento de Escolas Madeira Torres, from Portugal, and the ONG Payzontas, from Greece. (2) The investigators who analyzed all results and transformed them in new practices and guidelines - Faculdade de Motricidade Humana, University of Lisbon, from Portugal and Queen Maud University College of Early Childhood Education, from Norway. (3) Local policy maker and disseminator actor – Torres Vedras Municipality, who allowed the results to reach schools, teachers, local community, parents, children and other stakeholders. The participants were selected based on the objectives of the project: preschool education, physical activity, play. The objectives were: -Drawing changes on the perceptions of policy makers, teachers, caretakers and parents on the possibilities of the outdoor as a rich and valuable environment for preschool children’s learning, development and well-being. -Improving pedagogical competences of preschool teachers and caretakers working with children in the outdoor environment, adopting physical activity and play based strategies. They were achieved through the implementation of different activities and tasks involving children, preschool staff members, parents and municipality staff: -Initial assessment: to enable the partners to make an initial diagnosis of the opportunities and perceptions regarding outdoor play in each preschool; -Create a Teacher’s Training Resources Pack (Output 1): that would empower teachers and caretakers with the knowledge and skills to implement a set of practices to enhance children’s physical activity and play in the outdoors. -Devise a set of 12 activities (Didactic-pedagogical Resources Pack for Teachers and Caretakers) based on the initial assessments to promote children’s physical, motor, social, emotional and cognitive development in the outdoors (Output 2). -Finally, define Outdoor Activities Guidelines and Recommendations for Preschool Education are presented (Output 3) to be made accessible online to researchers, teachers, practitioners, play advocates, organizations, municipalities, policy-makers and other relevant stakeholders who have an interest in promoting children’s outdoor play in educational settings. The creation of these 3 Outputs met the common purpose of changing adult perception regarding the benefits of outdoor play, making it possible to execute by anyone who wants to provide training for teacher and caretakers, foster a change of mentality in parents and in preschool staff and promote play-based and physical activity in preschools. It is possible to say that the participation level and quality of work carried out exceeded the initial level of expectations. The awareness of teachers/staff, parents and local community for the importance of outdoor play became an important discussion which will certainly continue in the future MLO contributed to empower teachers, caretakers and educators to transform their daily practice with children, providing the preschool and staff with the necessary tools, skills and competences to improve and promote playing outdoor, allowing a change of mentality and paradigm in this matter and promoting a better and healthier lifestyle for the children, thus contributing to: 1) help preventing early school leaving, (2) improving children’s future academic results and (3) changing behaviors and adopting healthier life styles.