Student and teacher perceptions of the outdoor experience on traditional playgrounds: a case study

ABSTRACT

Outdoor education fosters student well-being, development and learning. However, many schools restrict outdoor experience to their own playground, and to times considered recess. This case study, which examined student and teacher perceptions about the outdoor experience on traditional playgrounds, was conducted in an urban school in the Basque Country with an asphalt playground whose only resources were related to sports. We conducted five focal studies with 40 students, and administered a questionnaire to 78 teachers in Primary and Secondary Education. The results obtained made clear the dissatisfaction of both students and teachers with the use of the playground and with the opportunities it offered. However, they also identified areas for improvement and suggested future lines of work. It is essential to promote a dynamic of reflection on outdoor spaces that includes student participation as well as training teachers and raising their awareness.

KEYWORDS:

• Outdoor education
• student perceptions
• teacher perceptions
• participation
• playground

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/14729679.2022.2160992.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Inaki Larrea

Inaki Larrea, PhD in Education, is a lecturer and researcher at the Faculty of Humanities and Education Sciences at Mondragon Unibertsitatea. His interests focus on the areas of education, pedagogy, and psychology, particularly in exploring the relationships between different educational experiences and environments and children’s and students’ learning and development.

Alexander Muela

Alexander Muela, PhD in Psychology, is a Professor and a Researcher of Psychology at the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Spain. He currently teaches subjects related to educational psychology, psychological treatment in the Degree in Psychology as well as in the Master in General Health Psychology and in the University Master in Psychology: Individual, Group, Organization. He has participated in several research projects and has published numerous articles in high impact journals. His lines of research focus on the study of the implementation and evaluation of programmes for the improvement of child welfare in the educational field.

Oihana Imaz

Oihana Imaz graduated in the foreign language specialty in Early Childhood education and Primary education (Mondragon Unibertsitatea) and she completed a master’s degree (University of Turku) in Learning, learning environments and educational systems, specializing in the use of outdoor spaces and children’s risk-taking behavior. She has been a teacher at the Faculty of Humanities and Education Sciences in Mondragon Unibertsitatea. Among her significant projects, there are formation sessions with other research partners on the use and organization of outdoor space in schools in the Basque Country.