Outdoor education in children’s services: the pedagogical coordinator as an indispensable professional resource for looking to the future

Abstract

The contribution, starting from follow-ups related to a participatory research path that investigated a three-year aimed of a process of ‘teacher professional development Research’ at educational services, designed and co-built together with a group of municipal pedagogical coordinators and environmental educators of the Municipality of Bologna. The contribution was drawn up starting from a first follow-up meeting related to a teacher professional development Research path that investigated a three-year training process aimed at educators and teachers of 0-6 services designed and co-built together with a group of coordinators pedagogical and environmental educators of the Municipality of Bologna. At the basis of the initial training path there was an emerging educational need: the need to accompany infant-toddler centers and preschools to consider outdoor spaces, natural and urban, as privileged educational contexts to encourage a sustainable development perspective and guarantee a dimension of well-being learning through the recovery of the relationship with the environment and the territory in line with place-responsive education (Smith, 2002). Through the gaze of pedagogues, outdoor education appears to be in line with the renewed pedagogical guidelines focused on the need to promote collective and interinstitutional work to pay greater attention to the spaces and times of education. Directions also traced by the PNRR and essential for supporting the professional skills of educators and teachers who give, today more than ever, sense to the actions of pedagogical coordinators.