Acquiring Peace Through The Outdoors : The effect of outdoor settings in the management and resolution of conflicts between preschool students from the teachers’ perspective

Sammanfattning: Promoting values of respect, understanding, empathy and developing in the students the necessary skills to be part of a peaceful and comprehensive society is one of the responsibilities of the educational system. This mission, in the context of the Swedish preschools, is also compatible with the characteristic use of the natural and outdoor environments of the Scandinavian countries as learning and experiential settings. The aim of this research paper is to study how the outdoor spaces can affect the understanding andthe resolution of conflicts between students in the preschool stage from the perspectiveof the teachers. Therefore, the main tool for the collection of the data were the semistructured interviews carried out with different educators from different Swedish preschools. Using thematic analysis as the designated qualitative approach to analyse thedata, different themes and sub-themes were addressed throughout the answers from theinterviews and organized based on 3 different sections: experience in outdoors, conflicts in the preschool, and the outdoors in the resolution of conflicts. The results presented the teachers’ experience regarding outdoor education; their understanding of the differenttypes of conflicts in the preschool stage; the role of the different parts involved, and themethods used to understand, manage, and deal with issues between the students; lastly, how the use of outdoor settings and its benefits can promote conflict-management skillsamong the students. Thus, the outdoor settings possess a beneficial effect on the social, emotional, and personal development of the children, these being key factors for the promotion of peaceful conflict-resolution strategies from an early stage.