Elevating Early Childhood Outdoor Pedagogy

Amanda Thomas is Senior Lecturer in Early Years Education at the University of South Wales, UK. She began teaching in a primary school in 1997 and successfully led the Early Years provision for over 10 years. Amanda also taught in further education for four years, training childcare practitioners. She was awarded her PhD in researching schemas in the Foundation Phase in 2018.Pavla Boulton is Senior Lecturer in Early Years Education at the University of Gloucestershire, UK. She has taught in primary, secondary and further education, and her main interests are in the pedagogies of outdoor learning and play. Pavla provides continuing professional development for external partners in understanding the holistic development of children and the affordances of outdoor pedagogy. She is currently a PhD student investigating pedagogies of outdoor learning.

• Introduction.- Schematic development: A deepening of the dialogue.- Outdoor pedagogy in Early Childhood Education.- The ingredients of Effective Outdoor Environments and how they can nurture schematic development in early childhood.- Rotational Schema and Loose Parts.- Trajectory Schema and Loose Parts.- Enclosing and Enveloping Schemas and Loose Parts.- Transporting Schema and Loose Parts Orientation and Positioning Schema and Loose Parts.- The Conclusion.