Outdoor Education: Reconnecting with Nature

Name: Outdoor Education: Reconnecting with Nature
Price: 400 EUR

Why this is Erasmus+ eligible

Structured, multi-day programme (5 days) with a pre-defined schedule and learning outcomes — not a passive lecture format.

Built around interaction: participants engage directly with the trainer and with peers from other countries throughout the course.

Transnational by design — open to participants travelling from outside the host country, a core requirement of Erasmus+ mobility funding.

Aligned with the Erasmus+ horizontal priority: Green & Environmental Sustainability.

The Erasmus+ Programme Guide names environment and climate action as a horizontal priority, stating that Erasmus+ is "a key instrument for building knowledge, skills, and attitudes on climate change and supporting sustainable development within the European Union and beyond" (Erasmus+ Programme Guide 2026, Part A – Priorities of the Erasmus Programme).

Source: Erasmus+ Programme Guide 2026, Key Action 1 — School Education Mobility.

Overview

Environmental psychologists noticed something long before it had a name: put a mentally exhausted person in a natural setting for even a short while, and their ability to concentrate comes back in a way a coffee break indoors never quite manages. That observation eventually became Attention Restoration Theory, and it’s the reason this course treats “taking the class outside” as a teaching method, not a break from one.

What Attention Restoration Theory actually claims is specific: natural environments restore directed attention — the effortful kind classroom work runs down all morning — better than an equally restful indoor environment. Research building on it since has linked regular outdoor learning to stronger social skills and lower stress, which is why the course treats those two outcomes as things to plan for, not side effects to hope for.

Participants design and run real outdoor activities, from a first hands-on nature-observation session through to full sustainability projects planned and delivered outdoors, and pair them with digital tools like Padlet and Google Classroom so the awareness students build outside carries back into ordinary classroom work. Social and emotional development gets a full day of its own, the most consistently evidenced benefit of this kind of teaching.

The outdoor lessons here get tested with this group before anyone takes them home, not just planned on paper — and they travel back paired with the classroom tools to prove, in a student’s attention span the following Monday, that Attention Restoration Theory isn’t just an interesting citation.

Methodology

Hands-On, Nature-Interactive Approach

Educators engage in real outdoor activities, learning to integrate nature into classroom practice through project-based learning.

Sustainability by Design

Sustainability principles guide every outdoor activity, so strategies are easy to apply back at your own school.

Digital Tools for Awareness

Participants use digital tools to raise environmental awareness and promote sustainable lifestyles through real projects.

What you'll take home

Implement outdoor education activities that reconnect students with nature.

Develop lessons and activities that build environmental awareness.

Design sustainability-based projects that teach students to live in harmony with nature.

Create nature-based learning models that support students' social, emotional and cognitive development.

Daily programme

Icebreaker: "Thoughts About Nature" — sharing perspectives on nature and outdoor education
Attention Restoration Theory: why natural settings restore directed attention better than indoor rest, and what that means for outdoor education
Education in nature: key principles for classroom integration
Project simulation: planning outdoor education activities

Warm-up: "Exploring Nature" — exploring natural elements in the environment
Incorporating nature into education
Sustainability and environmental awareness in teaching
Group work: designing sustainability projects in nature

Warm-up: "Interacting with Nature"
Problem-solving and critical thinking through outdoor education
Environmentally friendly digital tools (Padlet, Google Classroom) for sustainability projects
Project presentations and feedback

The role of outdoor education in social and emotional development
Developing creativity through nature-based activities
Group project presentations and feedback

Course evaluation and reflection on learning
Discussing collaboration on future sustainability projects
Certification ceremony and course cake cutting
Cultural excursion support

Please note: sessions run from 09:30 to 15:00, Monday to Friday, with a break for lunch. Timings can shift a little to suit the venue and the group. If you'd like a specific topic covered, let us know when you apply — the confirmed day-by-day schedule is sent to registered participants ahead of the course.

Certificate: we issue the Certificate of Attendance to everyone who's present for at least 80% of the course — tracked with the daily sign-in sheet (see Certificate & assessment).

Equipment: a few of our courses ask participants to bring a laptop — check the day-by-day programme above, or ask us if you're not sure.

Need a formal invoice or proforma for your school's records? Ask us — we issue official invoices with the participant's name and course details.

Materials & tools

Hands-on use of digital tools such as Padlet and Google Classroom to promote environmental awareness and develop sustainability projects.

Certificate & assessment

This is a Certificate of Attendance, not an exam-based qualification — recognition comes from completing the structured programme, not from passing a test. The real, lasting value is in the competencies listed above under What you'll take home.

Erasmus Mobility Academy

Certificate of Attendance

Outdoor Education: Reconnecting with Nature · 5 days · 25 hrs

+ Europass Mobility document

Type your name above — clearly marked "SAMPLE" in the PDF, not an official document.

The real certificate is signed by your trainer and EMA's authorised signatory. Your own signature isn't on this document — it's captured separately, on the Europass Mobility document.

Need to verify a real certificate? Check it online using the serial number and participant's full name, or contact us directly — [email protected], OID E10304561.

Attendance

Tracked using a sign-in sheet with one signature per participant per day (paper or digital). This record is used to issue your Certificate of Attendance and Europass Mobility document. View sign-in sheet (PDF)

Output

Every participant leaves with a completed Dissemination & School Impact Plan — a step-by-step template for applying the course back at your school (see below).

Feedback

An end-of-course evaluation form is sent to every participant after the course ends — a chance to reflect on what you've learned and how you'll apply it, and it helps us keep improving the course for future participants.

Your paperwork

Keep your travel tickets, boarding passes and (if you used green travel) any related receipts — your school or National Agency may ask for these for their own Erasmus+ reporting.

How to prepare

Outdoor sessions run on mostly accessible, level terrain, but some field visits involve uneven or unpaved ground. Let us know about any mobility, health or accessibility need when you apply so we can adapt the itinerary where possible.

Comfortable outdoor clothing and closed walking shoes are recommended for all field sessions.

Practical information

Registration & documents

Not sure how registering works or what paperwork is involved? See our full Registration & Documents guide — from applying to your Certificate of Attendance, in one place.

Invitation letter

Need a formal invitation letter for your school or embassy? Request one — we send it within 2 business days. See a sample (PDF).

Learning Agreement

Prepared by our staff and sent to you and your school once your registration form is submitted — see what it looks like. See a sample (PDF).

Billing & invoicing

We issue official invoices/proformas with the participant's name and course details — ask us. Payment is due in full by bank transfer before the course start date. See a sample (PDF).

Airport transfer

Guidance on getting from the nearest airport to the venue is included in your welcome information.

Accommodation

We can recommend partner hotels close to the venue in the host city — ask us when you apply.

For your school / proposal

School impact

After completing this Sustainability & Environment course, the participating staff member can transfer outcomes directly to their school: a short briefing for colleagues sharing the key takeaways, applying relevant tools or strategies from the programme in their own role, and inclusion of the course materials in the school's professional development resources — turning one person's mobility into a wider institutional gain that supports the school's European Development Plan. Use the Dissemination & School Impact Plan below to fill in your own — it saves as you go and can generate a one-page summary for your coordinator too.

Prefer a blank, course-independent version of this template? Get it here →

After the course

Participants will receive their certificates (Certificate of Attendance + Europass).

Participants will complete a general course evaluation and event survey.

Participants will receive course materials, videos, photos, and PDF documents in both digital and print formats.

Follow-up support: an email group is created for idea exchange, self-evaluation materials are provided, and participants receive a follow-up check-in after 3 months to discuss progress on applying outdoor and nature-based education activities in their own schools.

Frequently asked

This course is an eligible training activity under Erasmus+ Key Action 1 (School Education Mobility) — the course fee, travel and subsistence fall within the eligible cost categories. Whether it is covered depends on your own project's approved grant agreement and your National Agency's rules; we provide all the invoices, attendance records and certificates your National Agency requires for reporting.

B1 is enough — you do not need to be fluent. Trainers speak slowly and plainly, every session is built around doing something rather than sitting and listening, and groups are mixed by nationality so people help each other out. A rough test: if you could follow a staff meeting held in English and ask a question in it, you will be fine here.

Absolutely — group bookings of 3+ from one school receive priority placement, and we can schedule a dedicated session for groups of 12 or more.

Our courses run on request at our centres in Antalya, İstanbul, İzmir, Mersin, Budapest, Bremen and Rome. Tell us your preferred city and dates and we will arrange a session.

Tuition, all course materials, both certificates (attendance + Europass Mobility) and a half-day guided tour of the host city with a local guide. Flights, accommodation and travel insurance are booked separately — we send a vetted hotel list.

You can move to any later session free of charge. Cancellations made 30+ days before the start date receive a full refund; a reduced refund applies closer to the date — see our full Cancellation & Refund Policy for the exact schedule.

The Erasmus+ Programme Guide names environment and climate action as a horizontal priority, stating that Erasmus+ is "a key instrument for building knowledge, skills, and attitudes on climate change and supporting sustainable development within the European Union and beyond" (Erasmus+ Programme Guide 2026, Part A – Priorities of the Erasmus Programme). Frame it in your own project's terms — your National Agency's current call will confirm exactly how it applies.

Outdoor sessions have an indoor contingency built into the programme — the trainer adapts the activity to the day's weather without cutting the outdoor-education content, so a rainy day doesn't mean a lost session.