[Outdoor camp schools from the aspect of mental hygiene]

A survey by means of questionnaires revealed a positive attitude of parents and teachers to outdoor schools of children from nursery and primary schools. While parents prefer three-week stays, teachers are definitely in favour of two-week stays. As far as the subjective experience of children is concerned, analysis of the answers of a total of 1200 primary school children (answers classified by sex, age and period of outdoor school) proved the primary correlation with age and thus also with the level of adaptation mechanisms. The position is most pretentious for pupils of the first and second form of primary schools who must overcome two types of new stresses: separation from parents and demands of the teaching process. Boys are at greater risk than girls as their risk of psychic subdeprivation is greater than in girls. Special care must be devoted maladjusted who in the teachers opinion account for 4% of primary school children and 1.7% nursery school children.