Peter Bentsen

Towards an understanding of udeskole: education outside the classroom in a Danish context

In the past decade, an increasing number of Danish public, private and independent schools have introduced regular compulsory education outside the classroom for children aged 7–16 as a weekly or biweekly ‘outdoor school’ day – known in Danish as udeskole. An analysis of this form of outdoor education, its impacts and provision has been undertaken. Findings suggest that udeskole can add value to normal classroom teaching especially with regards to health, social and well-being perspectives. Future recommendations include collaborative strategies between researchers, local government sectors, and educational and landscape planners and managers to improve the impact and provision of udeskole in the Danish school system. Further, it is important to understand this grassroots movement of devoted teachers from both an educational and green management perspective.

The nature of udeskole: outdoor learning theory and practice in Danish schools

An increasing number of Danish teachers have started introducing school-based outdoor learning as a weekly or biweekly ‘outdoor school’ day for school children—often called udeskole in Danish. Although at least 14% of Danish schools practise this form of outdoor teaching with some classes, it is not mentioned in the national curriculum and little is presently known about the nature of udeskole. Drawing on a conceptual framework about different curriculum domains, we explore outdoor learning theory and practice in Danish schools. We describe and analyse the advocated pedagogy and didactics of the Danish udeskole movement as well as current practice through a review of the literature and a nationwide survey of 107 responding teachers. We also reveal discrepancies between the advocated and practised outdoor learning curriculum. Finally, we present recommendations on how to bridge these gaps and develop the practice further.

Comparing apples and pears?: a conceptual framework for understanding forms of outdoor learning through comparison of English Forest Schools and Danish udeskole

Using a conceptual model focused on purposes, aims, content, pedagogy, outcomes, and barriers, we review and interpret literature on two forms of outdoor learning: Forest Schools in England and udeskole in Denmark. We examine pedagogical principles within a comparative analytical framework and consider how adopted pedagogies reflect and refract the culture in which they are embedded. Despite different national educational and cultural contexts, English Forest Schools and Danish udeskole share several commonalities within a naturalistic/progressive pedagogical tradition; differences appear in the degree of integration within national educational systems. Global calls for increased connection to nature and recent alignment of results-driven school systems in both countries influence their foundational principles, perhaps leading to greater convergence in the future. We argue that close attention to pedagogical principles are necessary to ensure better alignment of purpose and practice to elicit specific outcomes and enable comparison between different types.

School Nurses’ Experiences With Motivational Interviewing for Preventing Childhood Obesity

Motivational interviewing is a counseling method used to bring about behavior change; its application by school nurses for preventing obesity in children is still new. This study, based on in-depth interviews with 12 school nurses, shows how school nurses adapted motivational interviewing and integrated it into their daily practice along with other methods they knew from the past. Three dilemmas for school nurses were revealed: when the child was severely overweight and the parents did not perceive this as a problem, when the child and the parents were at different stages of motivation to change, and when applying an individualized approach such as motivational interviewing for preventing a complex societal problem, in this instance obesity. The study raises an important issue to consider, with implications for school nursing and obesity prevention: motivational interviewing as either a counseling method or a prevention strategy.

Green Space as Classroom: Outdoor School Teachers’ Use, Preferences and Ecostrategies

Abstract More and more Danish teachers have started introducing curriculum-based outdoor learning as a weekly or biweekly ‘outdoor school’ day for school children. This move towards schooling in non-classroom spaces presents a challenge for green space managers. Basic managerial knowledge related to what, who, when and where has thus far only been supported by anecdotal evidence, but seems fundamental to the decision-making of a range of green space providers. The present study aims to describe, characterise and discuss outdoor teachers’ use, preferences and ecostrategies in relation to green space. A nationwide survey was conducted among Danish teachers practising outdoor teaching (107 respondents), and it showed that a majority used and preferred forest areas. The outdoor teachers used mainly school grounds and local green space for their outdoor teaching with a majority using the same place or mostly the same place and preferring natural environments with easy access. We recommend that green space managers try to accommodate the ecostrategy preferred by outdoor teachers, i.e. visits to local and well-known places.

Conceptions of place: approaching space, children and physical activity

In this paper, we argue that place mapping is useful for approaching childrens conception of place and that this is of relevance when designing physical activity interventions. We contend that socio-material factors influence childrens perception and use of places, and are crucial to understand in relation to their use of local neighbourhoods for physical activity. A place mapping of childrens understandings and everyday use of their local neighbourhood in suburban Copenhagen was conducted with a fifth grade elementary school class. The mapping and subsequent analysis resulted in three categories of relevance to childrens conceptions of place; located social experiences, experiences of the unknown, and childrens contested spaces. We argue that such knowledge can provide useful information in the development and evaluation of activities that promote physical activity in urban spaces.

A quasi-experimental cross-disciplinary evaluation of the impacts of education outside the classroom on pupils’ physical activity, well-being and learning: the TEACHOUT study protocol

BackgroundEducation Outside the Classroom (EOTC) is a teaching method that aims to promote schoolchildren’s learning, physical activity (PA), social relations, motivation, and well-being. EOTC activities are characterized by teachers using the local environment in their teaching, and involve innovative teaching methods, child-led approaches to problem-solving, experimentation, cooperation, PA, and play. EOTC has become common practice for many teachers in Scandinavia; however, only case studies have evaluated its impacts.The TEACHOUT study aims to evaluate the impacts of EOTC on Danish schoolchildren’s PA, social relations, motivation, well-being, and learning.MethodsTEACHOUT is a quasi-experimental, cross-disciplinary study. Sixteen schools participated, containing 19 EOTC school classes and 19 parallel non-EOTC classes, with a total of 834 children aged 9 to 13 years. Measures of the children’s social relations, motivation for school, well-being, and academic performance were collected at the beginning and end of the school year. Data on PA levels were collected over ten-day periods during the school year using accelerometers. The amount and characteristics of the actual EOTC provided in both EOTC and non-EOTC classes were monitored day-to-day throughout the school year, using an online teacher survey platform. The effects of EOTC are mainly analysed by comparing EOTC pupils to non-EOTC (i.e. control) pupils based on their scores on the outcome variables (i.e. school performance, well-being, motivation, and social relations) at the end of the school year, adjusting for the baseline values (from the beginning of the year). The impacts of EOTC on PA are evaluated by comparing the total as well as context-specific amounts of PA of children participating in EOTC to those of children in their parallel non-EOTC classes. Furthermore, the interdependencies between PA, social relations, well-being, motivation, and learning are explored using path analysis. To help describe and understand the processes that have led to the quantitative outcomes, qualitative case observations of children’s practices and interactions in EOTC as well as classroom teaching were carried out and combined with qualitative interviews about children’s perceptions of these practices.DiscussionThe TEACHOUT study represents a holistic multidisciplinary approach to educational and school health-promotion research through its study design and combination of scientific disciplines and methods, as well as its focus on the interdependent relations between learning, PA, social relations, well-being, and motivation. This will result in a comprehensive picture of school health promotion and children’s health and well-being, which will broaden the understanding of the potential benefits of EOTC in school health promotion and primary education. These results can be used to inform and guide future policy and practice.

Measuring Children's Physical Activity: Compliance Using Skin-taped Accelerometers

Introduction Accelerometer-based physical activity monitoring has become the method of choice in many large-scale physical activity (PA) studies. However, there is an ongoing debate regarding the placement of the device, the determination of device wear time, and how to solve a lack of participant compliance. The aim of this study was to assess the compliance of Axivity AX3 accelerometers taped directly to the skin of 9- to 13-yr-old children. Methods Children in 46 school classes (53.4% girls, age 11.0 ± 1.0 yr, BMI 17.7 ± 2.8 kg·m−1) across Denmark wore two Axivity AX3 accelerometers, one taped on the thigh (n = 903) and one on the lower back (n = 856), for up to 10 consecutive days. Participants were instructed not to reattach an accelerometer should it fall off. Simple and multiple linear regressions were used to determine associations between accelerometer wear time and age, sex, BMI percentiles, and PA level. Results More than 65% had >7 d of uninterrupted, 24-h wear time for the thigh location and 59.5% for the lower back location. From multiple linear regressions, PA levels showed the strongest association with lower wear time (thigh: &bgr; = −0.231, R2 = 0.066; lower back: &bgr; = −0.454, R2 = 0.126). In addition, being a boy, being older (only for lower back), and having higher BMI percentile were associated with lower wear time. Conclusion Using skin-taped Axivity accelerometers, we obtained 7 d of uninterrupted accelerometer data with 24-h wear time per day with a compliance rate of more than 65%. Thigh placement resulted in higher compliance than lower back placement. Achieving days with 24-h wear time reduces the need for arbitrary decisions regarding wear time validation and most likely improves the validity of daily life PA measurements.

Outdoor Education, Life Long Learning and Skills Development in Woodlands and Green Spaces: The Potential Links to Health and Well-Being

Formal and informal education and learning in woodlands and green spaces can play an important role in contributing to people’s health and well-being. Two mechanisms are outlined which might explain this: (1) through general exposure to nature when undertaking educational activities outdoors; (2) through active ‘hands on’ intensive and/or extensive contact with nature gained through learning outdoors. Outdoor learning, what it is and what it involves is described as well as three learning theories particularly relevant to outdoor learning. The links between outdoor learning and health focusing on the two mechanisms outlined above are explored in detail. Conclusions highlight potential ways in which to encourage the use of woodlands and green spaces to deliver learning, and health and well-being outcomes.

Bridging gaps between intentions and realities: a review of participatory exhibition development in museums

During the past decade, museum professionals have increasingly involved external participants in exhibition development. In this paper, we review empirical studies of this popular approach to participatory exhibition development practice, with regard to methods, degrees of participation, rationales, obstacles and facilitating factors. These influences include cultural differences between external participants and museum professionals; level and form of museum control; participant characteristics and motivations; and management of disagreements. Based on our findings, we formulate implications for practice, policy and research, which are also relevant across a wide spectrum of professions that apply participatory design, e.g. city planning, health promotion, landscape architecture and product development.