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Outdoor learning could offer a template for socially distanced education in Scotland, according to professionals who believe that the coronavirus pandemic could push parents and teachers to embrace the benefits of outdoor education.
While Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon warned that schools cannot reopen until August, The Guardian understands that local authorities are exploring how using outdoor space could optimize physical distance.
Scottish Children’s Minister Maree Todd said: “There are a growing number of fully and partially outdoor childcare settings in Scotland. This model could have many benefits in maintaining physical distance and minimizing the risk of transmission as part of the transition from confinement to early learning, childcare, and school. While specialized outdoor daycares are attuned to the needs of children who spend all day outdoors, other establishments are considering how to adapt their practice to allow them to spend more time in gardens and playgrounds. “
Outdoor experience is already part of Scotland’s “curriculum for excellence”, while many councils have ambitious plans to expand outdoor learning as they deliver on the Scottish government’s commitment to nearly double funded childcare this year.
Scotland’s educators and policymakers have been acting on an increasing weight of evidence about the exponentially positive impact of outdoor learning on everything from sight to risk assessment and resilience, but now professionals are convinced that her experience could provide a model for returning to school.
Since the shutdown began, several outdoor daycare centers across the country have become childcare centers for the children of key workers. Zoe Sills, who runs the nursery at the Earthtime Forest School in Elgin, explains: “When you have the natural world at your fingertips, you don’t need as many toys, which means fewer surfaces where the virus can be transmitted.” Each child is given a bag containing their own brush, crayons, and glue stick, then encouraged to reach out and find their own space for crafting activities.
Cameron Sprague, a senior team leader at Stramash Daycare, Fort William, who now also acts as a child care center, says: “It has always been the case that infection control is easier outdoors: we never have the situation of a child getting chickenpox. ” so a third of the school is out. “
Outdoor space allows social distancing to happen more naturally, says Sprague. “The weather has been on our side, so children can play freely outside. We have snacks and lunches to keep them from bunching up and washing their hands every hour. ”
“This could be the way that outdoor learning is promoted, but it is much more than infection control. Teachers need support to do this: there are not many things you cannot teach outdoors, you just have than think creatively. “
Kenny Forsyth, the executive director of the Stramash social enterprise, which runs outdoor nurseries in the Highlands, suggests that the responses to the challenges posed by the coronavirus are already embedded in outdoor settings.
“If you have an indoor nursery with four walls and one square meter per child defined by the local council, the number of children who can return will be limited by social distancing. You can better control and control the risk of infection outdoors, and we are a better choice, especially at the time of year. The biggest problem is that there aren’t enough of us to go around. “Forsyth estimates that less than 1% of daycare-age children in Scotland keep day-care centers outdoors.
Professionals are also interested in stressing that outdoor learning is a specialty that requires training and experience, rather than something that can be immediately transposed into mainstream schools that have a wide variety of outdoor spaces available.
“It is a major challenge to expect the national indoor establishment to suddenly understand how to deliver supplies outdoors all day,” says Forsyth. “But it would be a tremendous result for the country if the benefits of the outdoors were integrated into all schools.”
