Dr. Clara RubianoSUHA ABDULRHMAN ALWABEL2022-06-042022-03-242022-06-04110596https://drepo.sdl.edu.sa/handle/20.500.14154/66240The dissertation focuses on practitioner perspectives in relation to outdoor play and learning in Early Years contexts in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. There is consideration throughout of questions related to preschool teachers’ perceptions of young children’s experiences of outdoor play, of its value in educational and holistic developmental terms, of frequency of play opportunities, and of perceived barriers to outdoors engagements. Adopting a qualitative approach and interviewing ten Early Years practitioners working in primary school, the finding showed that while there is widespread understanding and appreciation of the importance of outdoors engagements for education and wider developmental progress being made with preschool children, practitioners tend not to be proactive in offering support, but instead take an observational rather than a facilitative standpoint. This is seen to be contrary to best practice as identified by the most recent literature. This study notes the specifics of Saudi Early Years delivery, including difficulties related to the local climate, and which stem also from a sector that is still developing in its professionalism and in its local research and critical writing base. Findings in this research suggest that closer collaboration between peers might be of value across settings in sharing best practice, in staff development terms, and in contextualising wider Early Years theory and insight into local operational specifics.67enThesis