2020 news and events
View our 2020 digest archive
04.12.2020
PRinOL webinar
This year, instead of our usual PRinOL conference, we are holding a webinar on 27 January 2021 from 1 – 2.30pm. Invited speakers will discuss their success stories in outdoor learning during the pandemic – something that we need to cheer us through the short winter days!
Please register by emailing us at PRinOL@plymouth.ac.uk by 26 January 2021. Sending us an email means that you will be happy for us to contact you with the link to the webinar nearer the time.
CPD
- The National Curriculum Outdoors – Meet the Authors webinar on the 1 December, at 4.00pm–5.00pm
- Children's Environmental Health Summit 2020, webinar on the 16th of December, at 6.30pm–8.00pm
Digest 06.11.2020
News
- Movie: The Beginning of Life 2 – Outside
- Go Out and Learn project webinar, 17 November 2020, 10am (CET). Flyer.
- SWEEP, Investing in Nature for Health hub has been launched
Jobs
- Mountain Training discipline demographics research, closing date: 15 November 2020.
CPD
- 2 day outdoor learning Practitioners Award for teachers and TAs.
- Subject leader Award for Outdoor Learning.
Book
- Exploring Teacher Recruitment and Retention: Contextual Challenges from International Perspectives, edited by Tanya Ovenden-Hope, Rowena Passy
- I love my world, by Chris Holland
Digest 04.09.2020
Report
Connection with nature in the UK during the COVID-19 lockdown
Webinar
SWEEP Webinar: The Plymouth Green Minds project, 25 September 2020, 1pm.
Book
Wellbeing from Woodland: A Critical Exploration of Links Between Trees and Human Health, by Alice Goodenough & Sue Waite
Digest 07.08.2020
Survey
- Outdoor Learning Research Hub Survey. This survey is a collaboration between Dr Chris Loynes, Central Outdoor Learning Research Coordinator, Professor Heather Prince, NW OL Research Hub Coordinator and Drs Jill Clark, Eric Fletcher and Lucy Tiplady, NE OL Research Hub Co-coordinators. More information about the OL Research Hubs Initiative.
Digest 03.07.2020
Events
- 7th webinar of JCES Webinar series: “Parental involvement in education among low-income families” Speakers: Dr Aileen S. Garcia and Dr İbrahim Hakki Acar, Moderated by Dr Mehmet Mart, 7 July 2020, 16.00 (Central European Time, no registration needed).
Publications
- Place as partner: material and affective intra-play between young people and trees by A. Goodenough, S. Waite & N. Wright
- Children’s preferences for schoolyard features and understanding of ecosystem service innovations – a study in five Swedish preschools by Ellen Almers, Per Askerlund, Tobias Samuelsson & Sue Waite
- The National Curriculum Outdoors series of books
Digest 22.05.2020
News
- Coronavirus lockdown: Can nature help improve our mood? – BBC article
- Coronavirus: Research to look into impact of lockdown on young children's contact with nature – Nursery World article
- Report from the Erasmus+ NANOL Project (Nurturing Affinity with Nature through Outdoor Learning in Special Places)
Events
Second webinar of JCES Webinar series: Circumstance of ECEC during COVID-19: Norway, Croatia and Turkey, moderated by Mehmet Mart, 28 May 2020, 2pm (Central European Time).
The Power of Place: Authentic Learning Through Place-Based Education webinar, Speakers: Tom Vander Ark, Emily Liebtag and Nate McClennen, 26 May 2020, 3pm (EasternDaylightTime).
Survey
Teacher Efficacy and Attitudes toward STEM (T-STEM) Survey (For primary teachers only).
The impact of COVID-19 on outdoor learning among children, for children and young people, parents and carers, teachers, and Children’s workforce.
Outdoor Learning in KS2/3: Plants and Play People Up-Skilled (Project PaPPUS):
For the teachers and TA’s of KS2/3
For the young people in Yr 5, 6, 7, 8
Digest 03.04.2020
Event
- Using School Grounds Around the Globe for Learning and Play, 15 April 2020, 9-10am webinar seminar. Even though most of us are staying home right now and on-site school is closed, we can still share our experience about designing and using great school grounds. ISGA, in partnership with the Children & Nature Network, will host its first-ever webinar, Using School Grounds around the Globe for for Learning and Play! Our own Sarah Brady and Kerry Logan will be the presenters. Join us on April 15. Please register using the link.
Digest 06.03.2020
Event
8th Annual International Adventure Conference, 7-11 December 2020, call for abstract deadline: 30 March 2020, Queenstown, Aotearoa, New Zealand.
Job
Research Fellow in Educational Sciences/pedagogy at the University of Stavanger, Norway, Deadline: 29 March 2020.
Digest 07.02.2020
CPD
- Wild Tribe Outdoor Learning Practitioner Award, course dates: 2 and 3 March 2020, Dunstone Primary School.
Fund
- Funding Available to Get Girls and Women Active (England), deadline: 25 February 2020. Grants of up to £10,000 are available to not-for-profit organisations, schools, voluntary or community clubs, registered charities or community interest companies for projects that get girls and women active. The funding is being made available through the This Girl Can Community Fund who are looking to support a wide range of different projects that could include Bollywood dance, walking, boxing and yoga, etc. For exceptional projects the grant figure could exceed £10,000.
Digest 10.01.2020
CPD
- Public Health Dorset: Stories from the Healthy Places Project Webinar, 6 December 2019
- Ecotherapy Practice Course, March-September 2020, Residentials: Glenbervie, Whangarei, New Zealand; Tutorials: Online.
- Environmental investment for health outcomes: what does the evidence say?, 31 January 2020, Live stream. 1pm (UK Time). Dr Becca Lovell, Lecturer in Biodiversity and Healthy Policy at the European Centre for Environment and Human Health (ECEHH), will be presenting our second webinar as part of the SWEEP project ‘Informing environmental investment for health and wellbeing’.
Events
- Making it Happen: Outdoor Learning in the Primary School Curriculum Research into Practice Conference, 22 January 2020, Marjon University, Plymouth, England.
Books
- Experiential Learning and Outdoor Education, Edited by Jim Parry and Pete Allison.
Call for Paper
- 19th Conference of the European Institute for Outdoor Adventure Education and Experiential Learning, 14-18 October 2020, Marburg/Germany
- Call for chapters: EECERA OPL SIG BOOK: Learning and playing outdoors: questions of pedagogy, purpose and intention, The EECERA Outdoor Play and Learning SIG group is creating an edited textbook as part of the EECERA research series. We would like you to consider contributing a chapter. We expect the chapters to be between 6-8 thousand words though there is some flexibility here. The expressions of interest should be received by jane.waters@uwtsd.ac.uk by the end of February 2020. These should be up to 800 words in length and should demonstrate a focus on one or more of the three main (overlapping) themes of the book: 1) adult's role, 2) pedagogical decisions, 3) cultural contexts in outdoor play and learning. We would hope for some theoretical consideration of practical situations based on empirical evidence.
- Call for Papers for a Special Issue on Science & Environment Education in Early Years, Journal of Education in Science, Environment and Health (JESEH), Deadline: 31 January 2020.
- Call for Papers for Meta-Analysis Special Issue by Research on Education and Psychology Journal in April 2020.