Concerns about childhood obesity and the educational attainment gap between children from disadvantaged and advantaged backgrounds led the Scottish national government in 2016 to enact a policy that would provide more opportunities for young children to play and learn outdoors. The plan was to greatly expand the number of outdoor play programs (OPPs) in Scotland. Two questions framed a related case study: (1) How and why did outdoor play in the form of Outdoor Nurseries become a focus of Scottish policy for Early Learning and Care programs? (2) What are the perceived opportunities and barriers to the implementation of this policy?
Data for this study was based on government document review, 25 stakeholder interviews, and 7 site visits. A review of the documents revealed a growing appreciation of “curricula that embrace an enriched, flexible, and coherent approach that supports outdoor play”. The review of the documents also revealed a shift by the Scottish government away from risk aversion to an appreciation of risk benefit analysis. Information gathered from interviews and site visits indicated that the emphasis on outdoor play began as a bottom-up initiative. Early adopters of OPPS served as model programs. The fact that these programs were perceived to be of higher quality than traditional nursery programs eased concerns about children's well-being and led to key policy personnel supporting the policy. Through interviews and site visits, the researchers identified a number of barriers to implementation, including parent and educator attitudes and funding and cost issues.
Overall findings indicate that what began as a bottom-up movement to provide more outdoor time for young children was met by a top-down government-led policy agenda. Findings also highlight the importance of flexibility in the implementation of Outdoor Play Programs. OPPs can function in a variety of ways in terms of location and access, hours of operation, and child attendance (full time, part time, etc.).
This case study suggests that OPPs can play an important role in providing increased opportunities for young children to be outdoors. In doing so, they may also help address other related societal problems, including educational achievement gaps between children from disadvantaged and advantaged backgrounds.
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