Pre-school teacher\u27s opinion of forest pedagogy efect on children

V današnjem svetu so metode, kot je gozdna pedagogika, dobrodošle, saj je naša družba usmerjena v potrošništvo in materializem. Odrasli živimo dinamičen življenjski slog in enako se pričakuje od otrok. Otroci so z vseh strani obdani z informacijami. Od njih se veliko pričakuje, zato so pogosto označeni za nemirne in naporne. V svojem diplomskem delu raziskujem, ali gozdna pedagogika blagodejno deluje na otroke, kot to navaja literatura, kakšne vplive v zvezi s tem opažajo vzgojiteljice in na katerih področjih so ti vplivi najmočnejši. V teoretičnem delu je opredeljen pojem gozdna pedagogika, njen izvor in njena raba v Sloveniji. Opredelila sem pojem gozdni vrtec in naštela vplive gozdne pedagogike na otroke, nato pa sem se osredotočila še na skupino otrok s posebnimi potrebami in vplive gozdne pedagogike nanje. V empiričnem delu sem z intervjuji vzgojiteljic iz Vrtca Velenja, ki je del Mreže gozdnih vrtcev in šol Slovenije, pridobila njihovo mnenje o gozdni pedagogiki. Zanimalo me je, v kolikšni meri so seznanjene s pristopom gozdne pedagogike, v kolikšni meri so ji naklonjene, kako jo vključujejo v svoje delo ter kakšne spremembe opažajo pri otrocih in pri otrocih s posebnimi potrebami ob rednem obiskovanju gozda. Tej raziskavi sledi analiza pridobljenih podatkov in primerjava s teoretičnim delom. Ugotovila sem, da so vzgojiteljice delno seznanjene z gozdno pedagogiko, da jo v svoje delo večinoma vključujejo z obiskovanjem gozda in da pri tem opažajo številne pozitivne vplive na otroke.Nowadays, methods such as forest school are appealing, because modern society is prone to consumerism and materialism. Adults have a dynamic lifestyle, and children are expected to live by their standards. Children are surrounded by information at every step, and adults expect a lot from them, so they are often characterised as restless and difficult. In my paper, I study whether forest school has a positive effect on children, as stated in literature, what related effects on children are perceived by kindergarten teachers and in what areas these effects are the most pronounced. The theoretical part defines the term forest school, its origin and its use in Slovenia. I defined the term forest kindergarten and listed effects of forest school on children, before focusing on children with special needs and how forest school affects them. In the empirical part, I interviewed kindergarten teachers from a kindergarten in Velenje, which is part of the Slovenian Network of Forest Kindergartens and Schools, to gather their thoughts on forest school. I wanted to determine to what extent they are familiar with the forest school approach, to what extent they find it effective, how they incorporate it in their work and what changes they perceive in children and children with special needs who regularly go to the forest. This research is followed by an analysis of the obtained data and a comparison with theoretical findings. I determined that kindergarten teachers are partly familiar with forest school, that they mostly incorporate it in their work by taking children to the forest and that in doing so they perceive numerous positive effects on children