According to the report „Competence Requirements in ECEC“, University of East London, EC 2011, “both in academia and in international EU policy documents, there is a broad consensus that high-quality early childhood education has long-lasting beneficial effects on children and society, but that ECEC of low or mediocre quality may also harm children“. ECEC services are founded not only to facilitate the labour market or other aims but, above all “to improve the present and future well-being of children.” Positive child outcomes are a major goal of ECEC programmes all across Europe. Also, there is a similar consensus that „the competences of the workforce are one of the more salient predictors of ECEC quality“. Based on the opinion of Slovak Committee of the World organization for Early childhood Education, reviewing new State educational programme for pre-schools in Slovakia, 2015, there is a discrepancy in the number of performance standards in different educational areas, while more emphasise is put on mathematics and processing of information (47) than on health and physical movement of children (13). Therefore, the more balanced approach is recommended. Concrete educational programmes or relevant materials for teachers, supporting the elimination of this discrepancy, however, are currently missing. The need for relevant training programmes, focused on outdoor education, was clearly defined and confirmed by the Slovak pre-school teachers, participants of the online research, carried out by INAK in February 2016. Through this research, with 326 respondents, 286 - 88% of the total number expressed their interest in new training materials and resources for outdoor activities. Moreover, this interest was confirmed by cca 200 participants of the workshops carried out during the ERASMUS+ TAKE ME OUT I. project, in 8 regions of SK, in February 2018. The situation with integrating the outdoor approach in ECEC differs in European countries. The idea of using this approach, originated in Scandinavia in the 50ties, is nowadays practiced in many European countries, e.g. SE, DK, UK, DE, CZ etc. So called „Forest schools“, based on this approach, providing alternative to mainstream education, are well established in the UK (app. 300 schools). Few of them can be found in CZ (120), where they were officially recognized by the law in March 2016 (http://www.lesnims.cz/aktuality-na-uvodni-strance/lesni-ms-maji-sve-misto-ve-skolskem-zakone.html). Very few can be found in Slovakia (less than 20). In Denmark, it is common to integrate the aspects of the Forest school approach into the regular pre-school environment, linking it to official curricula. Research in the UK and Scandinavia, as well as all the other countries, where outdoor education is commonly used, shows many benefits of this approach on child´s development. Based on the proven benefits as well as very strong interest and need of the teachers and managers, expressed before, as well as during the implementation of TAKE ME OUT I., this project focuses on: - developing project outputs O1 – O4 related to previous project, which this project is closely linked to, further enhancing the support and implementation of outdoor education in ECEC and professionalizing the use of this teaching approach on the institutional level in the public kindergartens in all the project countries - improving the quality of ECEC services in the public sector through the use the project outputs and developing new training programmes supporting the skills of the pre-school managers on implementing outdoor education approach in their daily practice, in all partner countries – SK, EE, DK, CZ, (UK) with possible future use also in the countries outside of the current project partnership and on European level - supporting, strengthening and further developing a new European network of cooperating institutions established through TAKE ME OUT I., http://takemeoutproject.eu/ with great feedback and interest of all the involved institutions and target groups, addressing the outdoor education in ECEC, in order to support the use of new teaching approaches related to outdoor and sharing of best practices in this sector - taking outside as many children as possible in public kindergartens across Europe
In the project, we wanted to: - Continue spreading the idea of using the outdoors more in public kindergartens in partner countries and across Europe - Address and involve more kindergartens - Motivate school managers and teachers, provide them with training opportunities related to management, planning and implementation of the outdoor approach in their settings and practice - Brining outdoor experience to and providing more time outside for more children in public kindergartens in project countries and across Europe - Develop new outputs that would be available for school managers and teachers, but also parents of children in the settings, that use the outdoors more or who want to start using it: O1/Standards of the outdoor kindergarten, helping school managers with planning and adjustment of pedagogical documentation in relation to using the outdoors O2/Training programme on the outdoor education for kindergarten management, providing managers´ with the skills of coordinating the outdoor program in their setting, and developing basic frameworks for it O3/Outdoor learning guide for parents, that might help parents overcome their worries from their child being outside as well as help pedagogical staff implementing outdoor approach
In the EU, there is a consensus that high-quality early childhood education has lasting beneficial effects on children and society, but that ECEC of low or mediocre quality may also harm children. ECEC services are founded, also “to improve the present and future well-being of children.” The outdoor programmes make children healthier and happier, providing many benefits, the connection to nature, and pro – environmental attitudes, while fulfilling children developmental needs. Educational programmes or materials for teachers, for the implementation of outdoor approach in public kindergartens, where children have only limited access to nature and the outdoors, however, lack on the European school market. The need for relevant training programmes, focused on the use of the outdoors, was expressed by the teachers in Slovakia, in the research, carried out by INAK in 2016. In this research, with 326 respondents, 88% expressed the interest in new training materials and resources for outdoor activities. This interest was also confirmed by cca 200 participants of the workshops run in ERASMUS+ TAKE ME OUT I., in 8 regions of Slovakia, 2018. Based on it, we decided to apply for TAKE ME OUT II. – STEP HIGHER, with the aim to develop materials and training programme for school managers, motivate them and help to easier implement the outdoor approach in practice. The Take me out II project got approved in 2019, and we could continue with the promotion of the outdoor approach and develop the idea further.