Take It Outside: Administrators Perspectives of the Role of Nature in Outdoor Schools

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The perspectives of 24 Administrators of nature-based, early education settings were examined in the context of children's degree of contact with nature. Differences in perceived educational experience were examined as a function of whether schools identified as Forest Schools or not. Administrators reported children's time and contact with nature were higher than schools that identified as Forest schools. However, not all schools that identified as Forest Schools had high levels of direct contact with nature and wildlife. Conversations with Administrators revealed a split between schools with large amounts of time outdoors focused on “primal skills” for students and those which were nature-based, with more of an education focused. These findings suggest the need for further examination of outdoor-based early education and more research into the difference between “outdoor education” and “nature-based” education settings.

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