Outdoor education contributes to educators’ mental health, professional development, and self-careThis theoretical article explored how outdoor education might offer educators a range of benefits, including improving their mental wellness, self-care, and capacity to connect with young people pedagogically. Thus, outdoor education could be as important for educators as it is for students—especially at a time when many teachers struggle with stress, compassion fatigue, and professional burnout.
The three Canadian authors—with expertise in mental wellness, applied teaching, and outdoor education scholarship—met as a focus group to discuss three research questions: What are the potential mental wellness benefits for educators who engage with outdoor experiences in their professional practice? What improvements could be observed among educators who engage with outdoor experiences in their professional practices? Can educator participation in outdoor experiences develop personal and professional self-care? They recorded their 90-minute focal discussion, transcribed it, and analyzed their anecdotal claims thematically to form the basis of their case for the benefits of outdoor education for teachers.
These experts in psychology, mental health, teaching, and outdoor education agreed that teacher participation in outdoor education could be a preventative measure to reduce teacher stress and burnout. The paper highlighted three themes: Teacher Mental Health Benefits, Teacher Development, and Self-Care. In terms of mental health benefits, the authors believed that outdoor education could benefit teachers’ emotional balance, meaning and purpose, mental toughness, and physical endurance. In terms of teacher development, they argued that outdoor education could build teachers’ knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors. Finally, they argued that outdoor education could serve as a potential site of self-care for educators.
These professionally informed claims built a conceptual case for the potential of outdoor education to improve educators’ well-being, pedagogy, and relationships with students. In spite of potential barriers to practicing outdoor education, the authors articulated many teacher benefits of outdoor education based on their professional experience, but these claims were more anecdotal than empirical. Thus, the authors recommend future empirical studies that document the broad spectrum of benefits that teachers might experience when they take their students outside.
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