What we do
Inside-Out Nature aims to equip practitioners with the necessary knowledge and skills in order to develop their practice in the outdoor environment.
The consultancy and training we provide are backed with theoretical and practical knowledge and give each participant the competence and confidence to use the outdoors as a learning resource with children.
The Scandinavian tradition of using nature and the outdoor environment as a learning resource and not simply as a place for children to ‘let off steam’ has become an important aspect of pedagogy in Denmark– where the majority of kindergartens and early year’s settings use the outdoor environment all year round.
Over the past decade there has been a growing international interest in using the outdoor environment with children as a way of developing skills and increasing motivation for learning, since mounting research illustrates that using the outdoors as a learning resource is highly beneficial for physical, mental, social and emotional development in children.
For us at Inside-out-Nature, each outdoor environment, each setting, each community and each country is different. We therefore believe that pedagogical knowledge is essential to understanding not only the ‘what’ to do, but also the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of the learning processes – it is through pedagogy that a sustainable and truly developmental way of practice emerges.
Our Story
In 1993, Jane Williams-Siegfredsen, a lecturer in early year’s at Bridgwater College, visited Denmark as part of a study group of academics from Bridgwater. The team took back the ideas that started the first Forest School in Britain.
Her experiences, observations and ongoing research led her to start Inside-out-Nature in 2000, on a part time basis in order to provide training for outdoor practitioners in the UK. Since then, she has moved to Denmark, and Inside-out-Nature has grown into the leading Danish Forest & Nature School training and consultancy organisation. Inside-out-Nature has conducted training courses around the world, including the UK, Canada, Australia, Taiwan, Greece, and Bulgaria, and has hosted professionals of 23 different nationalities in the residential course in Denmark.
Our team
Jane Williams-Siegfredsen
Jane is a former primary school teacher and early years lecturer. She is the founder of Inside-out-Nature, and author of the book “Understanding the Danish Forest School Approach”. She spends her time supervising training around the world, giving conference presentations, writing about children and nature, leading residential study trips in Denmark, and playing in the forest with children and pedagogues from the surrounding nature kindergartens.
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Markos Zangas-Tsakiris
Markos is a nature pedagogue and a trainer/ consultant with Inside out Nature. He holds an MA in Environment from the University of Melbourne, and a Diploma in Education for Sustainable Development from the University of the Aegean. For the last 15 years he has worked in environmental education and as a kayak instructor, taking children on outdoor adventures. He is one of the founders of Paichnidagogeio, a progressive pre school setting and elementary school in Athens, Greece, where he coordinates the Primary School and nature program for all ages.