ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the shifts and developments in an outdoor learning project with a nursery school in England over a ten-year period. It discusses the many influences that have impacted on the children's levels of participation during the lifetime of the project including changes to the physical environment and also the emerging focus on 'school readiness'. The chapter analyses the research findings from a sociocultural perspective focusing on transformations of participation. It discusses recent changes within the project impacting on staffing, resources and location, and frames these within the wider context to identify a number of the implications arising from the research for leadership and management in early childhood settings. The chapter draws upon the sociocultural perspective as a conceptual tool in order to acknowledge and investigate the shared construction and distribution of knowledge in early childhood education and care (ECEC).
