We examine the determinants that influence the frequency with which kindergarten and primary school teachers conduct outdoor teaching. Based on survey responses from 498 in-service kindergarten and primary school teachers from Luxembourg and Switzerland, we find that a variety of personal characteristics, teacher-job characteristics, school-variable attributes and school-fixed attributes are important determinants of outdoor teaching frequency. We provide policy-relevant suggestions designed to increase the frequency of outdoor teaching of teacher.

Main takeaways

  • Outdoor teaching is shaped by many factors, not just teachers’ personal preferences. The authors find that personal characteristics, job-related characteristics, school-level factors, and characteristics specific to individual schools all help explain how frequently teachers teach outdoors.
  • The school environment matters substantially. The findings suggest that whether a teacher teaches outdoors frequently is partly determined by the conditions and context in which they work—not simply by whether they personally like outdoor education.
  • Teacher characteristics matter too. Individual teacher attributes and job characteristics are associated with outdoor-teaching frequency, indicating that teachers’ circumstances and professional roles can influence their ability or willingness to use outdoor settings.
  • There is no single “magic bullet.” Because outdoor teaching frequency has multiple determinants, policies aimed at increasing it should use a combination of interventions rather than focusing exclusively on teacher training or motivation.
  • The paper has a practical policy orientation. The authors explicitly use their findings to propose ways of increasing the frequency of outdoor teaching.

The big-picture message

Outdoor education should be treated as an organizational and systemic issue, not merely an individual teacher choice. If policymakers and schools want children to spend more learning time outdoors, they need to create conditions that make outdoor teaching feasible and supported—while also addressing teacher-level factors.

My co-authors:

Daniela Müller-Kuhn is an advanced researcher at the Center for School Improvement at the Zurich University of Teacher Education, where she conducts research on student participation and outdoor learning in particular and supports schools through data-based school improvement. In addition, she supervises students in writing their bachelor’s and master’s theses and teaches a continuing education module on school improvement and participation as well as another on school improvement and outdoor learning. She studied sociology, education, and popular culture at the Universities of Zurich and Lucerne and has been working at the Zurich University of Teacher Education since September 2015. In 2021, she completed her PhD on student participation at the University of Zurich.

Andrea Fiedler is a German educational scientist, researcher, trainer, and consultant specializing in outdoor education and outdoor teaching. She is the owner of Outdoor Science SARL. She holds a doctorate from the University of Bonn and focuses particularly on the didactics of teaching outdoors, exploring how learning content, methods, learning environments, and teachers’ roles can be adapted to outdoor settings. Her work emphasizes nature as an authentic and engaging learning environment, with particular expertise in inquiry-based science education and teacher professional development. She also has a background in media education and explores how digital technologies can be meaningfully integrated into outdoor learning. Overall, her work connects educational research with practical approaches to help educators make effective use of outdoor environments for teaching and learning.

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