Sharing Good Practice
competencies.
works!
Outdoor
Learning
The pathway to raised attainment
through outdoor learning1
address some of these, providing
information and techniques around
facilitating and managing groups
outside, supporting specific curriculum
areas, and considering how we plan
for progression in outdoor provision
through the school and further afield.
Let’s get out more, and see the
difference it makes.
Many schools have well developed
programmes of day trips and
residentials, which are extremely
valuable and beneficial as evidenced by
Learning Away’s Brilliant Residentials
project. However, outdoor education
is at its most potent when its strands
are interwoven with the formal
school curriculum, rather than being
undertaken as isolated windows within
a child’s education. By taking a holistic
view of all the learning environments
available to us - from school grounds
to mountain tops – we can maximise
the learning potential of the spaces
and our students.
While most schools recognise the
benefits of outdoor learning, there
appear to be a number of barriers,
some real, some perceived, which
potentially stand in the way. Concerns
around time, resources, weather,
behaviour,
ideas,
management
support, recording evidence…there
are many, but most can be overcome
so we can enable children to learn
outside.
Recognising
opportunities
and
overcoming such barriers will help
schools maximise the learning
potential of the outdoors, and realise
the numerous and wide-ranging
benefits. In future articles, we will
Giving teachers time to experiment with different resources outside
helps them to explore new opportunities for teaching and learning
1WAITE, S., PASSY, R., GILCHRIST, M., HUNT, A. & BLACKWELL, I. 2016. Natural Connections Demonstration
Project, 2012-2016: Final Report. Natural England Commissioned Reports, Number215. http://publications.
naturalengland.org.uk/publication/6636651036540928
2Quibell, T., Charlton, J., and Law, J. Wilderness Schooling: A controlled trial of the impact of an outdoor
education programme on attainment outcomes in primary school pupils. British Educational Research Journal,
43(3), 572-587. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/berj.3273/abstract
Anita is a Director of the outdoor learning consultancy Maximising Learning.
She has spent the last 25 years teaching ‘Outside the Classroom’, and works with
schools to help them explore and develop opportunities for outdoor learning,
embedding these in their curricula.
Class Time
|
|
Nov - Dec 2017
| 31