Investigating outdoor education in Finland and Australia: positioning outdoor education as curriculum

Abstract Outdoor education is often missing in formal curriculum, especially in primary education. With our experience living and working in Finland and Australia, we investigated this situation, revealing important similarities and differences relevant to understanding outdoor education. We highlight some of the differences between the two education systems that impact outdoor education, having learned more about these differences by interviewing primary school teachers involved with teaching and organising outdoor education in both Finland and Victoria, Australia. The different approaches to outdoor education in primary schools in each country illuminate the local and situated character of outdoor education. Importantly, the comparison also highlights similarities, revealing unique educational potential in outdoor education that goes untapped via the curriculum integration strategies espoused in both countries. This educational potential is expressed via the unity of (ad)venturing and environ(ment), which are often separated into physical education and environmental studies, thereby splitting outdoor education and removing the educational potential of their situated unity. Accessing this potential requires improving curricular support for teachers and schools in outdoor education, documenting unique outdoor education content in appropriate ways, and enabling access to resources available to mainstream subjects. Even though Finland and Australia are often considered education leaders internationally, as exemplified via PISA, more work in curriculum development is needed in these countries to better account for the learning that happens uniquely in outdoor education. We argue that an optional curriculum in outdoor education is required in both Finland and Australia to support the work already being done by teachers.