Research and Documentation of Outdoor-Based Teaching in Teacher Education—The EOT Project

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter presents the five-year national research and development project ‘Enabling outdoor-based teaching’ (EOT), focusing on the actual integration and practice of outdoor teaching in teacher education in Switzerland. Teachers’ own outdoor learning experiences are an essential condition for practicing outdoor teaching, as professional life history is a major factor influencing teachers’ decisions on whether and how to implement outdoor sequences in their teaching. There is a current trend for professional development in outdoor education, yet the majority of teachers, experienced and novice, use it rarely. Positive effects of outdoor learning on children’s skill development are widely confirmed by research.While the number of case studies that describe and analyze aspects of outdoor teaching increases, the importance of it for Swiss teacher education is still unknown. Documenting the practice of outdoor teaching and investigating the attitudes of pre-service teachers and teacher educators towards outdoor teaching provide a basis for deeper knowledge on its essence, methods and practice. Furthermore, results from the project can be transferred directly into the practice of participating universities and lead to recommendations on the holistic integration of outdoor learning and teaching in teacher education.