Children in Brussels have fewer opportunities than their Flemish peers to develop themselves in a natural way and to frolic in nature. A Brussels' child is surrounded by bricks, concrete and screens and will probably live in an apartment in a disadvantaged neighbourhood, which leads to unwordliness, little exercise, an unhealthy lifestyle and, in most cases, educational under-achievement.

The Pedagogic Project of GO! Onderwijs van de Vlaamse Gemeenschap (Education of the Flemish Government), however, strives for innovative and quality education for each pupil, irrespective of ethnic origin, home situation, culture... It is therefore our mission to ensure that these pupils receive equal opportunities for growing into active, healthy, critical (world) citizens that promote sustainability and a respectful attitude towards society and environment.

The five GO! primary schools of our consortium are all educational institutions that stand for equal educational opportunities en that have invested greatly in the establishment of a green school domain or will do so shortly. The common wish of our schools is to take full advantage of these green school domains and to use them as a pedagogic and didactic environment. We aim to acquire well-determined experiences, to teach outdoors and to offer our pupils the possibility to learn in a playful, healthy and natural way.  

In order to achieve this, we will need to develop a vision on outdoor learning on school policy level and we will need to investigate how this vision can be put into practice. Our headmasters therefore need to know what the added-value of outdoor education is, but also what might be the organisational obstacles and how best to convince and involve the parents in this innovative learning method. A job shadowing in authentic Swedish outdoor schools will offer them the necessary comprehension of outdoor school policies as well as the insights in how to implement these in their daily educational practice. A member of our parents' boards and a member of the Board of directors will also participate in the job shadowing in order to widen the support through our cooperation with parents and with the policy makers at school group level.  

In order to offer 'outdoor education', we also need competent professionals that are able to stimulate, motivate, challenge and support the children with the proper expertise and well-thought-out teaching methods. In the structured course 'Learning in a natural environment' in the UK, two teachers (one in pre-primary and one in primary level) from each school will acquire theoretical insight in the learning process of children in a natural environment. In the structured course 'Nature as a fantastic classroom' in Sweden, they will acquire competences and tools to implement 'outdoor learning' in their own teaching practice and to teach them not only the subject material of the different branches, but as much so social and research skills (e.g.: team work, problem-solving...). Finally, the structured course 'New ways of learning developing creativity, motivation and curiosity' in the Czech Republic will train the teachers in improving their class management techniques through outdoor activities, in motivating their pupils and in inciting their curiosity by experiencing the materials themselves and by making them responsible for their own learning process.

This well-thought-out and logically built-up professionalisation trajectory, consisting of three structured courses combined with a job shadowing in order to see and experience outdoor schools in actual practice, will provide our school teams with the necessary knowledge, competencies, skills and mentality to offer all of our pupils equal educational opportunities. By doing so, we further cultivate our ambition to offer quality and innovative education for every child. Moreover, Outdoor education will contribute to the well-being in our schools and will force back the absences because of illness of our teachers and pupils. GO! basisschool De Goudenregen in Ganshoren, GO! basisschool Hendrik Conscience in Schaarbeek, GO! basisschool Floralia in Sint-Lambrechts-Woluwe, GO! basisschool Carolus Magnus in Schaarbeek and GO! basisschool De Iris in Ukkel will proudly become the first outdoor schools in Brussels where every child can learn in a child-friendly environment.