Trainee teachers' perceptions on outdoor education

Abstract

Getting pupils closer to nature seems essential, even more, after the pandemic. Therefore, schools and teachers have to take active part in this process trying to hold as many outdoor classes as possible. The implementation of this methodology requires well prepared teachers, which depends on teacher training institutions. In this regard, 551 trainee teachers from Serbia, Croatia, Hungary, Spain and Norway were surveyed in order to analyse their perceptions about outdoor education (OE), filling out a questionnaire composed of 11 questions, most of them were Likert-scale. The aim was to determine whether the students considered OE effective and important, and whether they are satisfied with the knowledge they get during their studies. The results were analysed separately by countries and were compared among the five countries. They show that trainee teachers find OE important and effective to get pupils familiar with nature. Trainee teachers are planning to use this method; however, they are not satisfied with the knowledge received during their studies. There are significant differences on trainee teachers’ perceptions depending on which country they study in. These findings give a good basis for further research, and help universities to prepare their students more effectively for using this method.