CHANGE THE GROUNDS – Transforming spaces for learning activities Erasmus Project

Project Title

CHANGE THE GROUNDS – Transforming spaces for learning activities

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for school education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Quality Improvement Institutions and/or methods (incl. school development); Key Competences (incl. mathematics and literacy) – basic skills; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

Globally there is a growing wealth of evidence in support of taking children’s learning outside the classroom. Every Experience Matters Karen Malone (2008) reviewed over 100 studies drawing on research from around the globe identifying the positive impact of learning outside the classroom on children’s whole development.
Learning outdoors offers a wide range of benefits to all children and young people. It provides access to fresh air which encourages sustained pupil concentration levels and their alertness as well as supporting the development of a healthy immune system. Outdoor learning facilitates the opportunity to be physical and in turn develop physical literacy.
Social interaction is enhanced when pupils and staff work together outdoors. Not only does it foster a more relaxed raport between teachers and learners but it is also a chance for different individuals to excel by supporting different learning styles. It can be particularly beneficial to those with additional support needs such as ADHD. So why not take children outside to the school ground, which offers suitable conditions for outdoor learning?
In Slovakia, most of the lessons are taken indoor. Staying outside is more or less sporadically, not regular or systematic. But in survey Slovak teachers expressed their interest to implement the outdoor education at their schools. In contrast, in the UK, outdoor education is implemented in several schools and teachers are regularly trained to improve their skills. Germany is also partially successful, although it is mainly pilot projects not a national practice.

The project objectives were set as a result of internal research and communication between project partners to support the overall aim of the project – to support the skills of teachers for transforming the spaces for outside learning and develop children through meaningful outdoor education implemented in improved school yards.
The objectives were:
– To transform their school grounds or nearby public places for better outside learning.
– To motivate teachers to take their everyday learning outside.
– To offer the ideas for outside learning activities.
– To support teachers` confidence in application of new methods of outside teaching and learning.
– To gain skills of project partners in specific field of complex planning the re-design of spaces for outside learning.
– To provide guidance on how to ensure the sustainability of change through collaboration in the school community.
– The last, but not least, foster quality improvements, and innovation excellence at the level of education and training institutions, in particular through enhanced transnational cooperation between education and training providers.

To achieve the project goals, Slovak, German and British organizations shared their experiences and expertise, while each project partner adapted the project outputs to the needs of national target groups.
Learning through Landscapes (www.ltl.org.uk) is a UK charity whose priority is to promote benefits of outdoor education. The partner’s expertise is based on more than 20 years of experience in supporting kindergartens and elementary schools to implement sustainable outdoor education into daily practice.
Tree of Life (www.stromzivota.sk) is a non-governmental, non-profit organization that has been dedicated to environmental education and cultural heritage protection for 40 years. The organization prepares and coordinates environmental education programs in which approximately 150 schools from all over Slovakia participate.
The aim of the civic association INAK (www.trochuinak.sk) is to support and develop innovative approaches, to use creative methods in the educational process of children, youth and adults, to support lifelong learning and to improve the key competences of learners.
The Unabhängigen Institut für Umweltfragen (www.ufu.de) is a public research institute active in the field of conservation of natural resources, emission reductions, and promotion of participation, social justice and sustainable economics.

In this project, we created a handbook (O1) – a comprehensive guide for primary and high school teachers who seek to improve teaching outside, either through inspiring activities or directly transforming the school ground. The aim of the handbook is to help schools make the most of their schoolyard’s potential for regular and constantly improving outdoor education.
The content of the handbook is supported by online modules (O2) and suggestions for outdoor activities or school ground changes (O4). Links to these additional resources are provided in the relevant sections of the handbook. All materials were created in 3 languages – Slovak, English and German.
In addition to the handbook, we have also organized a pilot training course. The content of the course was implemented in training modules, and during the course we also introduced the outdoor activities available for download (output O4).

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 144710 Eur

Project Coordinator

Strom zivota & Country: SK

Project Partners

• INAK
• Learning through Landcapes Trust
• UNABHANGIGES INSTITUT FUR UMWELTFRAGEN – UFU – EV