Utomhuspedagogik : En studie om förskollärarnas förhållning till och arbete med utomhuspedagogik

Sammanfattning: Abstract The purpose of this paper is to investigate teachers´attitudes to and work with outdoor education in preschool. The aim is also to identify the opportunities and barriers that exist to conduct outdoor education. In my research I have interviewed six preschool teachers in a medium sized municipality, where five of the teachers worked in the suburbs to the Big City and one teacher worked in the downtown Big City.   All respondents in the study were in favor of conducting outdoor education. The respondents claimed that it promoted children´s health and motor skills. The result also shows that the teachers saw a great opportunity for learning related to outdoor education, by using the resources of nature. A major advantage of outdoor education was considered in the fact that different subjects could be integrated in an outdoor environment. The result also shows that the conditions and circumstances of the preschool outdoor environment varied in the different preschools. Another obstacle that emerged from the study was that some children lacked proper clothing for outdoor education. This was, according to the respondents, due to the carelessness of the parents, but in some cases also in varying economic relations. However other theories that teachers would be afraid to engage in outdoor education due to uncertainty, that the kids don´t want to go out and that outdoor education is only about science, was proven wrong. My conclusions are that teachers have a positive approach to outdoor education and that they have strategies for how outdoor education should be conducted. It is concluded that the main obstacle for conducting outdoor education is that children lack proper clothing. Although the preschool teachers felt that outdoor education leads to learning, my conclusion is that it´s impossible to answer if and when learning takes place, if it takes place outdoors in the preschool outdoor environment, indoors or outside the preschool altogether.