Children’s education in ‘good’ nature: Perceptions of activities in nature spaces in mobile preschools

Abstract

In the Nordic countries, there is a culturally rooted understanding of nature as a ‘good’ place for children. The aim of the article is to deconstruct this understanding by exploring how different mobile preschools – buses that bring children to different places on a daily basis – relate to nature spaces and children’s learning and well-being in them. Based on critical theorization of place and the nature/culture divide, we argue that, while there exists an idealization of nature within the mobile preschool tradition, the ways that nature is viewed as ‘good’ for children differ depending on the children’s ethnic background and residential area. The results show that compensatory ideas are especially vivid when it comes to migrant children who live in multi-ethnic neighbourhoods. Education in nature, aiming at freedom and agency, brought forward in the preschool curriculum in the Nordic countries, seems more reserved for children who already have the right kind of cultural background and language. The ‘other’ children, however, are more likely to receive an education aiming to compensate for something perceived as missing – that is, the ‘right’ kind of capital regarding ‘nature’.

The rhythmicity of daily travel: young children’s mobility practices along the mobile preschool route

“…The mooring places vary, although the direction is recurrently out of the city and into the countryside, and the destinations of choice are legitimized with reference to their nature and safety qualities. This collection of destinations is similar to other mobile preschools in Sweden (Gustafson and van der Burgt 2015), thereby following representational ideas of 'Nature's good' and 'Outdoor education' in ECEC (Halldén 2003;Harju et al 2020). We learn for instance that Mondays are destined for a natural playpark in a small forest just a few miles outside the city.…”

“…The back and forth journeys are scheduled to thirty minutes each way, while time at the destinations varies depending on place and activities. Owing to the fact that destinations are foremost outdoors and daily activities are planned at 'nature' places, the mobile preschool presents itself as an educational option of place (Harju et al 2020) (rather than of mobility). The mobile preschool in the study is located in a middle-sized town in southern Sweden and comprises a permanent group of 16 children between the ages of three and five and three teachers, one of them assisting as a bus driver.…”

“…The mobile preschool destinations are in this same way made specific from representational relations between place and early childhood activities. For instance, destinations in remote rural areas are narrated to enable the child's real and free movements (Ekman Ladru and Gustafson 2018;Harju et al 2020), while children's movements in urban areas are restricted and legitimized by safeguarding routines and gestures, such as walking in line (Ekman .…”

Understanding Conceptions of ‘Nature’ for Environmental Sustainability: A Case Study in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand

“…The conception shared by 19% of respondents that 'nature' is the outdoors is consistent with research by Hazula-Delay [12], who found when exploring conceptions of 'nature' that a common conception shared across their respondents was that 'nature' is 'out there'. Furthermore, the conception that the 'outdoors' is 'nature', along with interchangeable use of the two terms, is common across human-nature relationship literature (e.g., most recently, Harju et al [28], Sachs [29], White et al [30], Meredith et al [31]). This conception further explains the popularity of concepts such as biophilic design, the aim of which is bringing outdoor elements inside [32].…”

Sustainability education and social inclusion in Nordic early childhood education

“…Nature education, we argue, is one area in which such exclusionary processes are at work. Free outdoor play and explorations in "nature" have important roles as cultural practices that are taken for granted in early childhood pedagogies in the Scandinavian countries (Gulløv, 2012;Halldén, 2009;Harju, Balldin, Ekman Ladru & Gustafson., 2020). This involves strong expectations of 'sameness' (Gullestad, 2002) in children's relations to nature, as children are expected to "naturally" engage in outdoor play in all kinds of weather, and to enjoy it, just as parents are expected to support these practices, for instance by ensuring the right kind of outdoor clothing.…”