Adapting Finnish Adventure Education for Portuguese Non-Formal Education : A Handbook for Educators

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to investigate how Finnish adventure education could be adapted into Portuguese non-formal education. More specifically its aim is to share insights, ideas and the concept of how adventure and outdoor education can be implemented easily into different cultures educational system. The commissioner of the work is a non-formal education school in Northern Portugal called O Mundo Somos Nós. The thesis includes a handbook for educators including five different activities designed for early childhood settings considering environment and pedagogical background. The literature review was conducted by gathering information about Finnish adventure education and its history, experiential learning and its transferable elements into non-formal educational practices in Portugal. The data was used to define key principles that were applied in the development output which is a handbook for educators and the interview was done by interviewing the commissioner’s representative. The result of the development, in this case the handbook, is built on previous research and knowledge, but its goal is to produce a practical solution for real need. The work did not aim to have scientific proof, but rather to apply already existing knowledge into a new context.