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Wintry conditions, including ice and snow, last for six months of the year in northern Scandinavia, and thus strongly influence many preschool outdoor educational practices, but there has been little research on their impact and implications. To address this gap, we have explored preschool teachers’ experiences of everyday outdoor practices during the winter in the region. Through an analysis rooted in post-human and new materialist perspectives, we have identified human agents as well as non-human agents and their complex intra-actions between variations in ice and snow (e.g. ice-crust and sticky snow). In addition to illustrating how non-human, temporal agents may directly affect outdoor preschool practices, our study shows that diverse intra-actions in human-nature encounters play important roles in the becoming of ice, snow and associated (un)sustainable values. The results indicate a need for further critical examination of how preschool children’s outdoor encounters are framed by seasonal and climatic changes.

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) is a vital arena for addressing sustainability issues, since values, attitudes, and behaviors are founded during the early years. As sustainability crises intensify, research has shown that eco-anxiety is growing among children and youth. Besides sustainability knowledge and skills, ECEC teachers also need to support children's notions of hope and how to be change makers. In this way, they need to mobilize their own hopes and action competence. In this study, we explore what drives ECEC student teachers' future work with sustainability and how they build hope and action competence. The study was conducted within a qualitative paradigm with an online questionnaire directed at student teachers (n = 50) at two universities in Finland and Sweden. A reflexive thematic analysis was adopted. The results show six different themes that illustrate the professional, personal, external, and internal aspects that drive them to work for Early Childhood Education for Sustainability (ECEfS). Furthermore, through a theoretical lens, the results can be understood as an issue of care and of the relationship with oneself, the children, and the world. The results suggest some rethinking of how we can better prepare future student teachers in ECEC to engage in sustainability education.

HUS, hållbar utevistelse vid storförskolor är ett nationellt forskningsprojekt i samverkan med Umeå kommuns förskoleverksamhetunder åren 2021–2025. Projektet är tvärvetenskapligt, vilket innebär att vi som medverkar kommer från olika områden såsom utbildningsvetenskap,pedagogiskt arbete, miljöpsykologi, samhällsmedicin, idrottsvetenskap och landskapsarkitektur och att vi här arbetar gemensamt med flera olika perspektiv och kunskaper.

Många förskolor i Sverige byggdes under 70-talet vilket betyder att de snart är 50 år, och är därför i behov av renovering eller heltersättas av nya. Samtidigt har vi i dag en ökad befolkning i städerna och behovet av nya platser på förskolorna har ökat. Att ge alla barnen plats på förskolan, och att bygga förskolor med rymliga och funktionella förskolegårdar i städer där grönytor har minskat som följd av förtätning kan därför vara utmanande. I vårt forskningsprojekt vill vi undersöka vad den förändring som svensk förskola genomgår med sina förändrade byggnader, utegårdar och begränsad tillgång till natur innebär för barnen som vistas där dagligen. Vi vill lyfta både det positiva och det som kan vara problematiskt och behöver utvecklas.

Vårt samarbetsprojekt är finansierat av FORMAS, en statlig förvaltare som stödjer forskningsprojekt i samverkan med aktörer i praktiken och som vill bidra till en hållbar samhällsutveckling. Det är också vårt mål med HUS projektet - att den kunskap vi kan skapa gemensamt med förskolorna i Umeå kan bidra till att skapa utemiljöer, och förhållningssätt till dessa, som stimulerar barns rörelse och hälsa, relationsskapande med varandra och naturen för en hållbar utveckling.

En del av vårt projekt har handlat om att dokumentera de medverkande förskolornas utemiljöer och den verksamhet som bedrivs där, utifrån pedagogernas perspektiv. Vi har också låtit barnen själva berätta om, och visa vilka platser på sina gårdar som de helst leker vid. I denna projektdokumentation finns därför alla de medverkande förskolorna beskrivna med sina berättelser tillsammans med våra olika forskningsresultat från de olika delstudierna och övergripande slutsatser. Förhoppningsvis kan våra exempel och lärdomar också fungera som inspiration för andra kommuner och förskolor som vill arbeta med,och utveckla sina utemiljöer på ett hållbart sätt. Den här projektboken har under de första åren fungerat som ett levande dokument och som en tidig återkoppling till våra deltagare. Nu när projektet avslutas i december år 2025 har vi adderat resultat och slutsatser från våra delstudier samt summerat våra erfarenheter av detta mångåriga projekt.

Som projektledare vill jag uttrycka min tacksamhet och glädje över förmånen att få ha arbetat tillsammans med dels forskarkollegor från många olika fält och olika delar av landet och dels er inom Umeå kommuns förskoleverksamhet samt Teknik och fastighetsförvaltningen. Det har varit värdefullt och inspirerande att vi under flera år har fått samlas och uppmärksamma aktuella och relevanta frågor för förskolans uteverksamhet som ett bidragtill en mer hållbar samhällsutveckling.

Tack till er alla!

Annika Manni, projektledare Umeå universitet

This article aims to explore how extended education in Sweden, School-age educare (SAEC), is responding to education for sustainable development (ESD), since these two educational practices have not that often been combined nor related in research. The exploratory findings are based on a small-scale case study in one municipality; including three in-depth examples from practice. The results reveal different kind of activities in the centres visited, as well as different approaches to education for sustainable development within SAEC. The cases show activities related to traditional outdoor environmental education, to social justice and global issues, and also as meaning making through play-based activities. The results were further analysed in relation to core concepts within extended education as well as ESD, exploring the "missing link", but also new possibilities of ESD when part of an extended educational practice. The main conclusion of the analyses is that SAEC activities related to ESD offers education through sustainable development by active participation in various forms and contexts, as also currently suggested in policy and by scholars. By explicitly focusing ESD in the educational context of Swedish school-age educare, a missing link in this area of research was pinpointed paving the way for further research, and increased awareness in practice.

In this article we explore how children's opportunities for subject-related learning in Nordic early childhood education and care (ECEC) depend on intra-actions between the physical environment, gender norms, and the relevant learning content. We apply a socio-material perspective and draw on three Swedish ECEC studies, in which the learning content was related to physics, dance, and environmental sustainability, respectively. The analyses illustrate how socio-material intra-actions encouraged or impeded certain bodily encounters, thereby encouraging or impeding certain kinds of subject-related learning.

Knowledge about how quality in extended education is defined, formulated, and communicated regarding quality-related problems in educational practices, and school leaders’ roles in these processes is limited. This article presents findings from research focusing on educational quality in extended education in Sweden (commonly known as School-age educare) is defined by school leaders in one Swedish municipality. The data examined written documents associated with governance and organizations of School-age educare created by school leaders at different levels of one Swedish municipality. The analysis of data was based on the concepts of Bernstein’s pedagogical codes (2003), and from Scherp and Scherp's School organization model (2007). The results revealed that the educational-pedagogical code dominated, and the leisure-pedagogical and social-pedagogical codes only appeared sporadically in the analyzed documents. A new ‘educational-economic’ pedagogical code emerged during analysis. It included formulations indicating that quality can be addressed by economic actions. The analyzed documents revealed power structures between different levels of school leaders, and also a lack of shared understanding and definition of quality in extended education. School leaders should discuss, and agree on, what quality in extended education includes and not only rely on quantitative and measurable aspects of this educational practice.

Background: Outdoor time and play are crucial for children’s learning and development, impacting various physical, cognitive, and social aspects of their well-being and socio-emotional growth. In Sweden, new preschools are increasingly built as multi-story facilities, accommodating larger cohorts of children while often reducing outdoor space. This trend raises concerns about the quality of outdoor environments and their impact on physical activity (PA) opportunities. This study aims to explore outdoor total PA and PA levels among children in traditionally and newly designed preschools across varied outdoor play environments. The primary research question was: How does total outdoor PA differ among children attending traditionally designed versus newly designed preschools, and across different types of outdoor play environments? The hypothesis was that children’s total outdoor PA is higher in preschools with higher-quality outdoor play environments, and, among preschools of similar quality, those with traditional designs are associated with higher PA levels than newly designed ones. The secondary research question was: How do outdoor PA levels differ among children attending traditionally designed versus newly designed preschools? The hypothesis was that children attending traditionally designed preschools engage in higher levels of outdoor PA than those attending newly designed preschools.

Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 106 children aged 3-5-year-olds from six (3 traditional and 3 newly designed) strategically selected preschools in Sweden. Data for total PA was collected with accelerometers (ActiGraph GT3X+) among 106 children. Data for PA level (n = 371 observations) was collected through observations. The preschool outdoor play environments were assessed using the Outdoor Play Environment Categories (OPEC). Multiple regression was used to assess how preschool type (traditional/newly designed) and OPEC predicted total PA. Chi-square test was used to explore differences in PA levels.

Results: The result showed that children in newly designed preschools (p = 0.019 for forenoon and p = 0.049 for afternoon) and children in preschools with higher OPEC (p < 0.001 for forenoon and p < 0.001 for afternoon) had higher outdoor total PA than their children peers. In contrast, observations showed that PA levels differed among children in traditional and newly designed preschools (p = 0.005), with those at traditional preschools having higher proportions of moderate movements.

Conclusions: The present study showed that children in newly designed preschools, and children in preschools with higher-quality outdoor play environment, had higher outdoor total PA than their children peers. In addition, that children in traditional preschools had higher proportions of moderate movements compared to newly designed preschools. These results emphasise the importance of balancing environmental design and unstructured PAs to support diverse and engaging outdoor PA opportunities for children. Further studies should explore how social dynamics, spatial organization, and activity flow within newly designed preschools across different outdoor play environments contribute to higher total PA and different PA levels among children.

This article investigates views and discourses on outdoor play in preschool teachers talks about their playgrounds and outdoor practices in Swedish preschools. Included were a strategic sample of teachers from newer, larger preschool facilities with more programmed outdoor space, and teachers from older, more traditional facilities containing more nature. Through interviews with 38 teachers at 21 preschools and a thematic analysis inspired by socio-material theory, we identified three main themes: The meanings and limits of free outdoor play, the view on nature and children’s encounters with nature,and dangers and risks in the playground. Within these themes, we show how the teachers’ views construct discourses related to the outdoor educational places and spaces that are available. Furthermore, changes in preschool curricula as well as in the playground material and design are active agents in constructing discourses on outdoor play, including risks and limitations, beyond teachers’ own beliefs on children’s needs.

In this chapter, we report from a 4-year study of the systematic work at an organizational level towards a whole school approach to sustainability. Aiming to extend the individual good practices on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) to include all schools in the municipality, a process of school development began in 2019, and was studied for 4 years until 2022. Through a narrative approach, we describe the process and its critical events. Different dimensions of the school improvement model devised by Scherp and Scherp are also identified and analysed. The results show that a cyclic process, including not only different actions but also reflections, is important for improvement and, furthermore, that the holistic idea is an important dimension that should guide structures as well as teachers’ professional development towards more successful work with ESD in a whole-school organization.

This article focuses on the methodological experiences that emerged from a study investigating how teachers valued their daily encounters with children in early childhood education. Early childhood teachers often balance the demands of documentation with time spent with children, so have little time to reflect on their practice. Furthermore, participation in research projects tends to be both time-consuming and distracting from the practitioners' perspective, without providing immediate opportunities for professional development. The purpose of this article is to elaborate on the use of a mixed-methods approach that combines a quantitative digital tool (an application) for collecting data with the use of short qualitative interviews in order to explore methodological aspects in educational research. The pros of this mixed-methods approach include flexibility, the instant overview of data, and the reflective potential offered to the participants, as well as the researchers. The teachers had the opportunity to 'set the agenda' when giving their own definitions of valuable encounters and then reflect on their experiences in their own words. This gave them a strong voice. The main risks of this method concern the dependence on technical devices and software. The authors argue that there is potential in the reflective methodology used in this study to bring research and practice closer in comprehensive knowledge creation. This methodology offers a respectful way to gather information from practice and simultaneously provide opportunities to change.