Lethbridge College is a partner on one of 14 projects across Canada involved in a $2.7 million research strategy that aims to provide the tools and necessary knowledge about outdoor play discovery and learning that will encourage those teaching children to make it a priority in their programming.
The research is made possible by the Lawson Foundation, a national family foundation that invests in and engages with ideas, people and organizations that contribute to the wellbeing of children and youth and their development as active and engaged members of society. The foundation announced the funding for its Outdoor Play Strategy earlier this month.
Dr. Beverlie Dietze, who is leading the project at Okanagan College, has partnered with Lethbridge College, Ryerson University, Northern College, the Justice Institute of British Columbia and the Canadian Child Care Federation. The college’s portion of the project includes $25,000 from the $195,000 grant to develop a specialized training model for early childhood educators about children’s outdoor play that can be delivered in person or online.
“We are eager to participate in this important research,” says Gina Funicelli, Lethbridge College’s dean of Applied Research and Innovation. “Partnering with Dr. Dietze at Okanagan College provides a wonderful opportunity to build on our strengths and benefit our community.”
Current research shows a serious gap across the country in accessible and affordable training about the tremendous benefit outdoor play has on children’s development. Lethbridge College Early Childhood Education instructors Joanne Keilty and Cheryl Hatten will collaborate with Dietze to develop curriculum, deliver the face-to-face program in the Lethbridge community, participate in writing the articles for publication, and present at a national conference.
Specifically, Keilty and Hatten will work with Dietze to develop 12 three-hour modules that will cover topics including: open space, intelligent materials, physical literacy, indigenous outdoor play practices, risk taking, accessibility, and diversity in children’s outdoor play needs. The project is aimed at supporting 400 current early childhood educators working in childcare centres in Alberta, British Columbia, and Ontario, as well as early childhood education faculty members at Canadian post-secondary institutions to engage in the specialized training that will help propel outdoor play programming as a high priority in their professional practices of current and for the future early childhood education labour force.
“Our Early Childhood Education program will be significantly enhanced as a result of participating in this project,” says Marty Thomsen, dean of the Centre for Justice and Human Services. “Our faculty will develop important curriculum that will ultimately benefit our students as they enter the workplace.”
In addition, this project will allow the college’s Early Childhood Education faculty to receive training that will result in them being certified to assess and make recommendations on how to design play spaces that support children’s overall development.
Lethbridge College has been providing Early Childhood Education programming for nearly 35 years. This year, approximately 250 students are enrolled in the one-year certificate and two-year diploma programs.
The Lawson Foundation focuses on the wellbeing of children and youth by investing in three interconnected area the foundation believes has a lasting positive effect on their development: early childhood development; healthy active living; and children, youth and the environmental. They do this through providing grants charities working in the impact areas for a variety of activities including community action, knowledge mobilization, monitoring, leadership, knowledge development, capacity building, and evaluation. They also work as a convener, connector and collaborator to create bridges and conversations, by bringing leaders and organizations together to share knowledge and learn from one another. And finally the foundation invests in strategies which leverage their assets to make intentional investments in social good.