Knowledgeable and enthusiastic adults are crucial to unlocking the potential of the outdoors.
Research has shown that practitioners are less confident about providing and supporting learning outdoors than indoors, especially for under threes, and this can be a major barrier to successful outdoor experiences for children from 0 to 5 years old. The British Association for Early Childhood Education recently released the Outdoor Play Survey, highlighting access to in-depth outdoor play training has been limited across the country.
Our early years training has been developed to build capacity for training and on-site support which practitioners need for creating effective outdoor provision and practice. Through this network of early years outdoor play specialists we put settings in touch with support locally and build capacity in LEAs for outdoor play training.
Accredited Trainers offer local, in-depth and on-going training programmes which have been developed so that outdoor provision can be examined in manageable steps; giving focused, achievable goals to make the most of existing space and facilities. Modules examine the specific needs of babies and toddlers or focus on particular parts of outdoor provision for 3-5 year-olds.
Our early years training is supported by the DfES Sure Start Unit, demonstrating the Government’s commitment to high quality outdoor experiences for both 0-3 year olds and for 3-5 year old children in the Foundation Stage, and a recognition of practitioners’ needs for training and support in this area.
If you would like a training event for your setting, please check our list of Accredited Trainers to see who might be available in your area. For larger events and conferences contact Mary Jackson at LTL for training in England, Wales or Northern Ireland and Aileen Thomas at Grounds for Learning in Scotland.
To find out more about how to become an Accredited Trainer, click here.
