Friluftsliv in the curriculum. Compare with your home country.
Schools in England and Norway follow a set of guidelines that determines and shapes what the pupils are taught. The national curriculum is in place so schools and teachers provide pupils with the same learning outcomes in subject areas that the government feel are most important. This assignment will discuss the how Friluftsliv (outdoor life) appears in the Norwegian physical education (PE) curriculum and how it compares with the national curriculum for physical education in England.
Friluftsliv or outdoor life has its own heading in the curriculum for physical education in Norway enabling children to become competent when outdoors. By level 4 the curriculum states: children should feel safe in water and be able to swim, ski and skate when conditions allow, make and use simple maps and orientation in local neighbourhoods and understand the use of different clothing, aids, tools and simple equipment when outdoors and do so in a safe manor. By level 7 pupils should be able to swim underwater and the three main strokes, use orienteering maps in familiar terrain, describe local traditions in outdoor life, participate in different outdoor activities and practice moving about safely in different kinds of weather, plan and carry out an overnight stay in the outdoors, practise some activities with roots in Sami traditions, and perform simple first aid. By level 10 pupils will be able to dive into water, practise lifesaving skills and know first aid. They should also be able to; orient themselves using maps and a compass in varied terrain and elaborate on other ways of getting their bearings, practise various forms of outdoor life in different natural environments and explain access rights in Norway and plan and carry out trips in different seasons, including staying the night outdoors.
By VG3 students should be able to; practice outdoor life in different natural environments based on local traditions, use nature for recreation, training and outdoor life and plan, carry out and asses trips in the countryside with map and compass as aids, and elaborate on other ways of getting their bearings.
One of the main reasons people partake in friluftsliv is so they can enjoy nature with good company, for example friends, family, parents and although Friluftsliv appears in the curriculum traditional values such as searching for berries and hiking tend to be carried out by the older generation and need to be passed down through generations of families as well as in schools. The education of the teachers within the early school years (grades 1-7) can be a problem if the teachers have not had these values taught to them throughout their life. Following a curriculum is one thing but if the teacher does not hold strong beliefs in friluftsliv it will be difficult to educate children into these views. Friluftsliv is also useful to help other subject areas and pedagogy (child development). For example in social, emotion, physical and cognitive development. Being able to go outside and practice activities is a great way to learn. This I feel needs to be shown more in the curriculum and used in ways to support teacher understanding.
The national curriculum for physical education (NCPE) within England uses PE to link subjects together such as maths, English, science, as well as focussing key learning out comes to be cognitive, social, emotional and physical. However the only mention of outdoor activity and life is in key stage 2 (age7-11) under the heading, Outdoor and adventurous activities, which states:
11. Pupils should be taught to:
a. take part in outdoor activity challenges, including following trails, in familiar, unfamiliar and changing environments
b. use a range of orienteering and problem-solving skills
c. work with others to meet the challenges.
This shows how little emphasis there is in outdoor life in England. Many primary school teachers (ages5-11) specialise in subjects such as English and maths and push aside physical activity. Many schools employ specialist sports coaches to coach children as the teachers are uneducated. The school timetable only allows for 60mins of PE per week for the pupils, when you consider how long it takes the children to change and begin activity this ends up being roughly 40mins. The main focus with in the UK is on fielding, striking, athletics, dance, gymnastics, invasion games and swimming, not learning about the outdoors.
The NCPE in secondary schools (ages11-16) in England is currently disabled meaning the school can teach the pupils whatever they think would be most beneficial. Although this is the case most schools continue to use the old curriculum as a guide. The newly reformed curriculum for PE is to come into force in September 2014. The new curriculum has no extra guideline on outdoor life and concentrates more on competition and life-long participation in sport tackling obesity.
Since the London 2012 Olympic Games sport in England has become more popular and the government want to focus PE to getting to competition level. Although I feel competition is an important part of physical education I feel getting children involved and encouraging life-long participation is more important. As the interest in sport increases the need for specialist sport teachers is needed. The government has recognised this and are now training teachers to specialise in sport within primary education.
In conclusion I feel the Norwegian curriculum had a great deal of friluftsliv included in it a greater need for teacher understanding within the younger years is needed. While studying in Norway I can see a huge difference in the amount of people enjoying the outdoors in any weathers compared with England. The Norwegians seems to spend much more time outside and seem to connect with the nature, maybe this is because they are educated in friluftsliv throughout their school life. I feel the curriculum within England needs reform again to include outdoor life skills, lifesaving and how to build a connection with nature. I can only hope one day England will see such reform.