Outdoor Education - Perceptions Regarding its Efficiency and Opportunity

Given the importance of outdoor educational practices for the psycho-physical development of young preschoolers, the question arises whether the interdisciplinary formative action would have other benefits, such as social inclusion, if it were carried out predominantly in free, open spaces. The present study investigates the perceptions of teachers on the dimension of outdoor education in an attempt to establish the benefits, the degree of efficiency in optimizing preschooler learning, as well as their holistic psycho-physical development. It is also of interest to identify constraints or disadvantages of this type of education, which has as its specificity the organization of the instructive-educational action outdoors. The interpretation of the data reveals the undeniable contribution that outdoor education has on the development of preschoolers as a whole. At the same time, difficulties in its implementation have been identified due to the unpredictability of the physical-geographical environment, resource management, especially on the child-child interrelational dimension. Thus, effective outdoor learning requires certain types of outdoor space, certain attitudes and practices on the part of adults, high levels of direct involvement of teachers in the work with children. Although effective pedagogy maintains a balance between structured games and unstructured activities, the current orientation is towards capitalizing on a dynamic interaction of children with their own learning experiences, including from the point of view of cognitive acquisitions.