Promoting Inclusive Education Through Participatory Design of Outdoor Learning Spaces: Insights from Italian Educational Services
Michela Schenetti, Linda Petrucci
Over the last decade outdoor education has become a topic of interest for Italian educational services, representing an opportunity to promote active teaching practices and transversal competences in the national context, in connection with the world. It is therefore necessary to reflect with educational intentionality on the purposes of outdoor spaces and their role in overall pedagogical planning. This study focuses on a participatory design process of outdoor spaces and describes the experience carried out in select educational services in the Emilia-Romagna region, with the active participation of educators, teachers and other stakeholders. The research findings are presented in the form of a set of guidelines, which represents a formal tool used to encourage participatory design practices and a benchmark for outdoor learning space planning.
Keywords
Outdoor learning environment, Teacher professional development research, Participatory design process, ECEC services.
