‘Wisdom begins with wonder’  Socrates

And wonder is inspired through nature!

Inside-Out nature aims to give the necessary pedagogical knowledge to develop practitioners’ own practice in their own setting.

The consultancy, training and services we provide are backed with theoretical and practical knowledge and give each participant the competence and confidence to use the outdoor environment as a learning resource with children, young people and adults. 

The Scandinavian tradition of using nature and the outdoor environment as a learning resource and not simply as a place for children to ‘let off steam’ has become an important aspect of pedagogy inDenmark– where the majority of kindergartens and early year’s settings use the outdoor environment all year round.

Over the past decade there has been a growing interest in using the outdoor environment with children and young people in theUKas a way of developing skills and increasing motivation for learning. Recent research studies illustrate that using the outdoors as a learning resource is highly beneficial for physical, mental, social and emotional development in children, young people and adults.

Each outdoor environment is unique to each setting and a pedagogical knowledge is essential to understanding not only the ‘what’ to do, but also the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of the learning processes – it is through pedagogy that a sustainable and truly developmental way of practice emerges.

Inside-Out Nature is based in both the UK and Denmark.

Jane Williams-Siegfredsen is director of Inside-Out Nature and started the company ten years ago on a part time basis – it has now grown into the leadingDanishForestSchooltraining and consultancy organisations. Jane is a former primary school teacher and lecturer in early year’s atBridgwaterCollege, and was one of the team from Bridgwater that visitedDenmarkin 1993 and took back the ideas that started the firstForestSchoolinBritain. Jane now lives inDenmarkand works full time for Inside-Out nature, she spends her time providing training throughout theUK, giving conference presentations, writing about children and nature, organising residential study trips toDenmark, and playing in the forest with children and pedagogues from the surrounding nature kindergartens.