Beyond Disciplinary Knowledge

Outdoor Education and Experiential Learning in Teacher Faculty Development

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-760-6_20How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Experiential Learning; Teacher Training; Wild Pedagogies; GreenComp; Environmental Education; Sustainability; Professional Development

Abstract

The European Commission’s GreenComp (2022) document highlights the urgent need for educational frameworks that integrate cross-curricular sustainability competencies across all disciplines. Through a critical analysis of two European policy documents guiding educational practice in the field of sustainability, this paper aims to reflect on the need to develop experiential teacher training programs focused on promoting environmental awareness, environmental education, and a connection with the non-human world. The analysis covers immersive nature experiences that enable teachers to reconnect with the natural world, rediscover their ecological identity, and reaffirm their role as environmental educators. Prior research has demonstrated that outdoor learning experiences motivate teachers to integrate sustainability principles into classroom practice. This paper examines how outdoor experiential learning strengthens teachers’ environmental connectedness and its translation into everyday pedagogical practices. The analysis concludes that personal environmental connection is essential for rethinking pedagogical practices and cultivating authentic sustainability commitment. Experiential teacher training establishes foundations for transformative pedagogy resonating throughout school and academic communities. Moreover, by addressing sustainability integration across disciplines and reconnection with less anthropized environments, it establishes pathways for future educational initiatives. Ultimately, these training programs improve teachers’ ability to integrate sustainability into curricula, promoting respect, dialogue, and a sense of coexistence between students and the environment in which they live.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Elena Nardiello
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/08/23
TI  - Beyond Disciplinary Knowledge
BT  - Proceedings of the Conference of Growing up the Future: Education for Sustainability (GROUFES 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 231
EP  - 241
SN  - 2667-128X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-760-6_20
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-760-6_20
ID  - Nardiello2026
ER  -