Course overview

Outdoor education is on the rise in Europe and beyond and there is an emerging trend of integrating outdoor learning activities in formal education and bringing the outdoors inside. Not only does outdoor education help students become in tune with their surroundings and gain an appreciation for the natural world, it also plays an important part in bringing what they learn in the classroom into real life through application and observation and highly contribute to their personal and social development
This course is designed to provide teachers and other education staff with the basic skills and tools to lead a range of group exercises and challenges, problem solving games, experiential activities in the nature, on school sites, in local parks as well as in urban settings.

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MAIN Objectives

This course aims to provide participants with tools, ideas and best practices as well as practical experience and first-hand knowledge on how to integrate outdoor education in formal education.
The general aim of this course is to foster excellence and innovation in education by equipping teachers and education staff with the basic knowledge and skills to integrate outdoor education activities in their education programmes.
Thanks to this course the participants will:

• Get acquainted the key elements and growing trends related to outdoor education and teaching outside the classroom;
• Learn and discuss the principles and the cultural aspects of outdoor education;
• Learn how to design, plan and deliver inspirational outdoor education activities;
• Experience and practice environmental and outdoor education working methods and approaches;
• Get to know and experiment practical activities and group games that could be used and integrated in a real course;
• Learn how to use outdoor education for personal, social and relational development (e.g. self.confidence, team building, leadership…);
• Exchange best practices and share experiences about outdoor education with teachers and education staff coming throughout Europe;
• Network with individuals and organizations working in the education field in Europe through everyday cooperation and team-building activities.

target audience

This course is open to: teachers, trainers, school and education managers, educational counsellors,  school staff, adult education staff, higher education staff, non-governmental organization staff, public servants, policy makers.

standard daily programme

Please find below the standard indicative daily programme that will be personalized on participants needs and professional profiles.
Our standard program comprises 7 days of course, of which the first one is dedicated to networking, preparation and cultural immersion and the last one to follow up, specific needs and cultural activities. Please note that we always do our best to accommodate the specific needs of our participants in a flexible way, including but not limited to budget restrictions and travel arrangement. Participants can choose to arrive 1 day before the start of the course and/or leave one day after the end of it in order to enjoy a deeper cultural immersion. Upon specific request we can organize longer or shorter versions of this course.

Sunday	-  Participants arrival  -  Individual orientation and information about the venue and the city   -  Networking activities  -  Guided visit in Bologna (optional)  -  Welcome dinner
Monday	-  Course introduction  -  Teambuilding activities  -  Competences ex-ante evaluation  -  Key principles and benefits about outdoor education and outdoor learning  - The value of outdoor education for personal, social and relational development  -  Cultural activities in Bologna and traditional Italian aperitif
Tuesday	​ -  Out in the nature  -  Philosophy, theory, and practices of experiential education and environmental education  -  Experimenting journey wilderness-based experiences, team building activities and orienteering exercises in the nature  -  Real cases experiences and reflections on current teaching practices and styles
Wednesday	-  How to design, plan and deliver outdoor education activities  -  Site & risk assessment and health & safety issues of taking students into nature  -  Practical work: designing and planning outdoor educational activities  -  Guided visit in Florence or Venice (optional)
Thursday	-  Teaching in the nature  -  Practical work: delivering outdoor educational activities in the nature  -  Debriefing, feedback and best practice sharing about environmental education
Friday	-  Teaching outdoor in urban settings: outside the classroom there isn’t only nature  -  Experiencing group exercises and challenges, problem solving games, experiential activities in Bologna  -  Creating your own outdoor teaching style  -  Dinner in traditional Italian restaurant
Saturday	-  Space for discussion of future cooperation and planning follow up activities  -  Course roundup and final evaluation  -  Validation of learning outcomes and certification ceremony  -  Additional training session tailored to specific needs (optional)  -  Cultural activities or additional guided visit in another major Italian city (optional)  -  Participants departure

methodology

We tailor the working methods based upon participants’ needs, attitudes and professional profiles in order to ensure high productivity, effectiveness and transferability into practice.
The standard methodology is highly practical and participative with hands-on approach that comprises real-job examples, case studies examination and simulations. We embrace collaboratively working methods that foster mutual learning and cooperation among participants. Our focus is on learning outside the classroom in an interactive and international environment. The pedagogical methods that we use are based upon experiential training, group and peer activities, learning-by-doing and best practices’ exchange.
About half of the training course will take place in the nature giving the possibility to the participants to have a first-hand experience of outdoor learning and to practice together with fellow teachers and education staff and with the support of the trainers.
Morning Wrap-up and brief daily evaluations are foreseen to ensure quality of education and to adapt the learning programme to participants' needs better tailoring the education.
Free time has been planned to give to the participants time to assimilate the concepts, develop further the group activities, ask trainers for further clarifications, etc. Networking and cooperation among participants will be supported and stimulated at each stage.
We organize optional social, networking and cultural activities in order to give participants the opportunity to know Italy as well as to exchange best-practice and establish professional cooperation and links.
The training and staff team is multinational thus giving a full European dimension to the course.

sessions planned

You can find below the sessions planned. If none of these dates suits you please mind that we may organize an additional session ad-hoc for your school if there are at least 6 participants interested so feel welcome to contact us at office@ifom.info to let us know about your needs. When adding an ad-hoc session we may be able to organize it in your language.

Bologna, Italy
​30/09/2018 - 06/10/2018
23/06/2019 - 29/06/2019
​29/09/2019 - 05/10/2019

costs and erasmus+ funding

Teachers, trainers, headmasters and any other staff of education organizations are eligible to receive an Erasmus+ grant covering all the costs to attend our training courses including travel, board and lodging, cultural activities and all fees. Our training courses are tailored to be fully funded by Erasmus+ and we offer different options to ensure that the Erasmus+ grant will be sufficient. Read more about Erasmus+ funding, shall you have any problem with your grant please let us know and we will see how to accommodate your needs.
 
The most common option that we offer costs EUR 1220 and includes course fee, certification and support fee, accommodation in single room, all coffee breaks, 3 meals per day, walking tour in the venue’s city and local transport during the training course. Based on your preferences and budget you can request different services, a less inclusive/cheaper package or you can choose to organize the board and lodging by yourself and opt to just attend the training course. Read more about how we take care of your subsistence.

Certification and validation of learning outcomes

At the end of the course, each participant will be awarded a certificate of attendance including a description of training content and as well as its starting and end date, together - if requested -  with the Europass Mobility Certificate.
We support the participants in every step of certification an d validation of learning outcomes with specific focus on European instruments and Erasmus plus requirements such as staff mobility/learning agreement, quality commitment and Europass mobility certificate.
We experienced that schools and education organizations may require additional documents to certify the competences learned or the presence in the training course. Upon request we can provide additional certification and reporting documents as well as we provide photos of the training course and a sum-up video that can be used for visibility and dissemination purposes.