Why The Outdoors Must Be An Indispensable Part of Every Early Learning and Child-Care Program

To turn the historic federal promise to a national early learning and child care system into reality, bilateral negotiations are currently taking place. More physical facilities where children learn and get care must be built and licensed in order to increase accessibility for all young children in Canada. What sort of spaces, though, will these be?

Teachers of young children all throughout the country are redefining early learning and care outdoors in light of the expanding amount of evidence showing how it has major developmental benefits for kids.

Governments should pay attention to this growing grassroots movement because it has consequences for early childhood educator training, laws, and capital infrastructure.

Ideal situations for learning

Outdoors, kids are free to walk about, pursue their hobbies, take chances, and push their physical boundaries. Children as a result become more content, energetic, inquisitive, self-assured, and cooperative. Outdoor settings of the highest quality foster the best learning environments.

The outdoors is also a healthy environment that reduces the chance of spreading airborne viruses, which is a topic we can keep benefiting from in the future, as the COVID-19 pandemic has shown.

The theory, practice, and approach to outdoor early learning in Ontario are the topics of my Ph.D. study. I’ve come to believe that each early learning and childcare program should include a sizable amount of high-quality outdoor learning.

Here are some ideas that governments should be thinking about as we start to create a national system in Canada that supports and encourages outdoor learning.

Outdoor areas must be part of the infrastructure.

We frequently picture buildings when we consider the capital infrastructure expenses for early learning and care, but we also have to carefully consider outdoor places and redefine them as outdoor places for learning. Currently, laws across the nation only call for a maximum of seven square meters of outdoor area per child. That is only a parking space’s width and depth!

Fortunately, there are existing evidence-based design recommendations for creating superior outdoor learning settings. High-quality outdoor learning environments should be a requirement for any new building or renovation projects if early learning and care infrastructure monies are to be used to build new spaces.

Schools, nearby green spaces

Of course, it can be difficult to get outdoor space in many urban areas. But modifications can be made.

First, schools, which frequently have outdoor space, can provide early childhood education programs. This would make the most of current resources and be advantageous for all school students. This was accomplished by the Nova Scotian government with its four-year-old pre-primary program. Recently, the state and the federal governments announced a new budget for outdoor learning settings.

Second, collaborations with local governments and parks organizations can promote access to public green spaces. Partnerships can aid in securing access to facilities like bathrooms and running water.

All members of the neighborhood would benefit from investing in excellent natural play areas in school yards and neighborhood parks. Knowing that access to green space is unequal in Canada, this is particularly crucial.

Nature and forest schools

We must support early learning initiatives like forest and nature schools where kids spend most of the day outside.

As of right now, every jurisdiction’s early learning and care requirements demand an indoor space in order to be granted a license to operate. However, when programs are expected to take place primarily outside, such buildings are a poor and needless use of funds. During bad weather, community structures like houses, cabins, and shelters might offer enough room for protection.

Washington state in the US recently granted outdoor preschools licenses. Budgets for pilot programs showed that operational costs for outdoor programs are about 30% lower than for conventional early learning and care initiatives.

The Cloudberry Forest School in St. John’s, Newfoundland, has just begun a three-year pilot study to investigate the authorization of outdoor early learning and care projects. Soon, their knowledge will be useful to other jurisdictions.

Training for educators

The educational background of the personnel who work with children has an impact on the quality of early learning and care. Most post-secondary early childhood education courses offered nationwide at this time do not specifically train teachers for outdoor instruction. However, this is quickly altering.

New post-secondary reforms are happening in New Brunswick, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. A “Two-Eyed Seeing” strategy is being adopted by Humber College in Ontario, where both Indigenous and non-Indigenous viewpoints affect early education and play on the land. The Calls to Action of the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission serve as a direction for some of their work.

To help satisfy the pressing demand for skilled educators, current evidence-based professional learning materials and training programs might be expanded up and linked with vocational methods to educator training.

To develop its early learning and care system, Canada needs 20,000 new employees annually, the majority of whom must be teachers who will interact with children directly. Untapped potential for recruiting can be found in outdoor early learning.

If given the assistance to make the switch, passionate experts in the fields of parks, conservation, and outdoor education may rethink their careers in early childhood education. More men may be drawn to early childhood education if recruiting is done for outdoor activities. The fact that teachers say being outside has enhanced their well-being and professional engagement may help recruit and keep more early childhood teachers.

Scotland as a global role model

Scotland’s early learning and care program was recently extended, and its policy places a strong emphasis on outdoor play and learning. The foundation was created by a grassroots movement formed by early adopters and later backed by government champions.

The Scottish government also created a comprehensive collection of materials for teacher development, play space design, and implementation guidelines to assist outdoor programming. Scottish organizations, local authorities, and the government collaborated to make it possible for early learning and care programs to utilize their neighborhood green areas. Canada ought to follow the example set by this.

The federal government should establish an infrastructure investment for early learning and care, along with the growth of post-secondary programs for early childhood educators, according to a recent recommendation from the Public Policy Forum. Children shouldn’t have to rely on an educator’s good intentions as government and educational programs develop in order to have access to high-quality external learning; the solution lies in sound policy and funding, and all sectors of government have a part to play in this.

One of the biggest social investments in recent years will be the creation of a new early learning and care system for the entire country of Canada. In order to improve the quality of child care and the wellbeing of both children and teachers, it is imperative that we envision and create a system that takes into account young children’s intrinsic needs and desires for outdoor learning.

Read the original article on PHYSORG

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