An evaluation of Primary BA (QTS) trainees’ efficacy for engagement within green spaces to develop effective outdoor pedagogies for a broad and balanced primary curriculum.

A longitudinal tracking study to map students’ professional development, impact on wellbeing, personal values/cultural backgrounds on their willingness and ability to engage with teaching outside the classroom. Research shows that not only is exposure to outdoor opportunities good for children and young people’s mental wellbeing, it is recognised to impact on attainment and motivation to learn across the curriculum. With this understanding, LJMU Initial Teacher Training (ITT) programmes have introduced training and qualifications in outdoor complementary pedagogies. Already trainees are involved in planning and teaching outdoor science lessons and are trained to Level 1 Forest School Association (FSA) qualifications at Level 5 on the BA (QTS) Primary Education programmes. Trainees are offered further opportunities to add to these FSA qualifications at Level 6 and in 2017/18 academic year 22% of the cohort opted into this. Given that so many schools highly value teachers with FSA qualifications, it is surprising that this uptake of the higher level FSA qualifications has been so low. As products of the iGeneration, are trainees’ levels of engagement in extending their outdoor learning pedagogies limited by their own exposure to the outdoors as children and their own levels of NDD? Alternatively, is the determining factor behind their motivation to teach outdoors influenced by the high level of structure and didactic teaching observed on school placements imposed by recent educational reforms to the curriculum? This PhD programme will follow primary trainees on the ITT programme to map their experiences, attitudes and professional development in outdoor pedagogies, an area of research yet to be explored fully given the research focus on outcomes and/or experiences of children’s learning in the outdoors.