Erasmus+ Mobility in Denmark: Learning Beyond the Classroom with Art, Nature and Culture

A course to rethink learning spaces

Spanning five days and 25 teaching hours, the course was built around the exploration of teaching methodologies outside the classroom, integrating art, nature and culture as pedagogical resources. The objectives included incorporating art into teaching, planning activities in urban environments, combining outdoor learning with regular curricular practices, and understanding the social and pedagogical benefits of this approach.

The programme combined moments of reflection and sharing with visits and hands-on activities in diverse settings. One of the days took the group to the island of Fanø, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where they explored sketchnoting, monoprinting and storytelling between art and landscape. Another day was dedicated to the Esbjerg Kunstmuseum, where participants experienced the slow looking method and discovered how to explore a museum using all five senses. The experience also included outdoor activities, a guided tour of Esbjerg, and exchange moments with professionals from different European countries.

What we brought back to FCL

The participants returned with new tools, perspectives and motivation. Almudena Ferro highlights the ability to “look at our surroundings and identify existing resources to integrate into training”, underlining the impact of experiential learning on motivation and knowledge integration. Rute Machado emphasises the contribution to her professional practice: “I developed new skills in designing and facilitating person-centred activities outside the traditional classroom, using outdoor spaces and informal learning environments.”

Both participants highlight the potential of this approach for FCL’s international courses, particularly through the use of outdoor and cultural spaces in the Foundation’s surroundings: nearby gardens, public spaces and museums. This mobility has already had a direct impact on a project application submitted after the experience, which incorporated contributions from the methodologies learned in Denmark. In the medium term, it may also drive the development of new training offerings oriented towards outdoor learning.

Beyond the professional gains, the contact with Danish culture, and with the concepts of hygge and slow down, enriched the intercultural dimension of the experience, strengthening openness to diversity and the motivation to keep innovating.