TY - CONF
T1 - The role of Professional Networks as Incubator for Outdoor teaching - From Grassroots to national impact
AU - Barfod, Karen Seierøe
AU - Bølling, Mads
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - “Udeskole”, regular Teaching Outside the Classroom, is widespread in Scandinavian countries and emerging in other Northern European countries. Developing from grassroot initiatives, teachers have experienced lack of inspiration (van Dijk-Wesselius et al., 2020) and a feeling of standing alone with the outdoor teaching practice at the schools (Barfod, 2017). To cope with these barriers for using Udeskole, a strong independent network has formed in Denmark in 2007 with major impact on practice, policy and research, “UdeskoleNet”. The network gathers researchers, teachers, nature-guides, pedagogues and others with professional interest in outdoor teaching, thus forming a community based on interests and visions across research and practice, with strong collaboration between the fields. Although being a grassroot movement, the network has been invited to discussion of school development in Municipalities and in The Danish Parliament. In this presentation, the thoughts and strategies developed during the lifetime of the network are presented and discussed. Emphasis in this experience based presentation will be on how we work with maintaining the network's independence, openness, motivation to proceed, and cross-sectoral foundation. How do we establish, maintain and develop experience based, durable and enjoyable communities in a busy everyday life? As pioneers in establishing sustainable networks concerning outdoor teaching with staying power, we introduce the ideas, values, and visions behind the network and its structure, that have inspired European colleagues and national teacher educators to establish meaningful communities for increasing outdoor teaching in schools.
REFERENCES
Barfod, K. S. (2018). Maintaining mastery but feeling professionally isolated: Experienced teachers’ perceptions of teaching outside the classroom. Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning, 18(3), 201-213.
van Dijk-Wesselius, J. E., Van den Berg, A. E., Maas, J., & Hovinga, D. (2020). Green schoolyards as outdoor learning environments: Barriers and solutions as experienced by primary school teachers. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 2919.
AB - “Udeskole”, regular Teaching Outside the Classroom, is widespread in Scandinavian countries and emerging in other Northern European countries. Developing from grassroot initiatives, teachers have experienced lack of inspiration (van Dijk-Wesselius et al., 2020) and a feeling of standing alone with the outdoor teaching practice at the schools (Barfod, 2017). To cope with these barriers for using Udeskole, a strong independent network has formed in Denmark in 2007 with major impact on practice, policy and research, “UdeskoleNet”. The network gathers researchers, teachers, nature-guides, pedagogues and others with professional interest in outdoor teaching, thus forming a community based on interests and visions across research and practice, with strong collaboration between the fields. Although being a grassroot movement, the network has been invited to discussion of school development in Municipalities and in The Danish Parliament. In this presentation, the thoughts and strategies developed during the lifetime of the network are presented and discussed. Emphasis in this experience based presentation will be on how we work with maintaining the network's independence, openness, motivation to proceed, and cross-sectoral foundation. How do we establish, maintain and develop experience based, durable and enjoyable communities in a busy everyday life? As pioneers in establishing sustainable networks concerning outdoor teaching with staying power, we introduce the ideas, values, and visions behind the network and its structure, that have inspired European colleagues and national teacher educators to establish meaningful communities for increasing outdoor teaching in schools.
REFERENCES
Barfod, K. S. (2018). Maintaining mastery but feeling professionally isolated: Experienced teachers’ perceptions of teaching outside the classroom. Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning, 18(3), 201-213.
van Dijk-Wesselius, J. E., Van den Berg, A. E., Maas, J., & Hovinga, D. (2020). Green schoolyards as outdoor learning environments: Barriers and solutions as experienced by primary school teachers. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 2919.
KW - learning, educational science and teaching
UR - https://ioerc10.org/
M3 - Paper
T2 - 10th International Outdoor Education Research Conference (IOERC)
Y2 - 4 March 2024 through 8 March 2024
ER -