‘Reading Woods’ with Teachers in Icelandic Schools in the 21st Century

Abstract

The curriculum development project, ‘Reading Woods with Schools’, focused on cross curricular outdoor education in Icelandic woods. The participants were 105 teachers from twenty-two elementary schools: these teachers were trained via an in-service teaching course and given a woodland area prior to the project. The aim was to ascertain how teachers could utilise woodland in enabling students to gain an understanding of the ecosystem of the woods, use of the woods in craft, learn about sustainability and understand that woods are resources that influence the wellbeing of the human race.

The article outlines the curriculum project ‘Reading Woods with Schools’ and reports on a survey that was undertaken in order to examine teachers’ views and experiences, in terms of the use of local woods in projects. One teacher from each of the participating schools reflected on the project and answered the survey. The main aims of the survey were to examine how the activities were organised, to what extent the woods were used, hindrances in using the woods for schools, knowledge gained via the project and what kind of support the schools required in running the project. The survey concluded that the activities were mostly dependant on teachers’ initiative, as outdoor education is not a part of the Icelandic National Curriculum (Menntamalaraduneyti, 2010). Furthermore, teachers must have access to outdoor education training, educational materials, good facilities and it is important to establish an online database, featuring a collection of different projects, for teachers to access during their courses.