We want to encourage more schools to use the ‘outdoor classroom’. This ties in with Natural England’s                   objective to ‘increase everyone’s understanding of and ability to take action for the natural environment’.
Recreation

Breadcrumbs

Education

Boy with bird of prey
We want to encourage more schools to use the ‘outdoor classroom’. This ties in with Natural England’s objective to ‘increase everyone’s understanding of and ability to take action for the natural environment’.

Natural England will produce a learning strategy to provide a framework for its activities in this area. The experience that the Countryside Agency has gained, which is outlined below, will be taken forward to inform that strategy.

Improving Understanding
Everyone benefits if there is greater understanding of the natural environment and its role in our lives. Young people are an obvious audience in whom to instil a sense of interest and appreciation, and schools are an important way of doing that.   

The outdoors are a flexible teaching resource, where subjects as diverse as maths, drama, foreign languages, geography, botany and geology can be taught. But it is people of all ages who can learn in, about, from and for the natural environment and for reasons other than learning. Outdoor activities are beneficial for:

  • Enjoyment and exercise 
  • Health 
  • Personal/social development 
  • Economic wellbeing.          

By raising awareness of the benefits and promoting the use and enjoyment of the natural environment, we can also encourage and highlight the need for its care.

Providing Evidence
The research below has either been completed or is underway. It is aimed at increasing our understanding of how to overcome barriers to greater use of the outdoors:

  • Engaging and Learning with the Outdoors (527kb word) – This research strengthened the evidence for learning in the outdoor classroom.  There is also a Research Note (CRN 98), summarising the research, which is available to download.
  • Evaluation of ‘Countryside Live’ events (177kb word) – An evaluation of two ‘Countryside Live’ events funded by the Countryside Agency in partnership with the Countryside Foundation for Education. The events took place in March 2005 at Haydock Park Racecourse, Merseyside and Staunton Country Park, Hampshire. There is also a Research Note (CRN 97), summarising the evaluation, which is available to download. 
  • Education Outside the Classroom (EotC) – Two research projects undertaken by Department of Education and Skills and Farming and Countryside Education (FACE), to establish the current level of school use of the outdoors and the extent of training provided in outdoor teaching, during Initial Teachers’ Training.  
  • Wild Adventure Space  – investigating the relationship between access to green space and teenager development.  
  • Heading Out – A project undertaken by Learning Through Landscapes, exploring the importance of learning in the outdoors for very young children.      

A manual with a specific focus on the educational value of countryside event, prepared with FACE and the Countryside Foundation for Education and aimed at:

  • Organisers and hosts of countryside events to help them maximise the educational benefits to school children
  • Exhibitors to help them interest children in their roles, services or products
  • Teachers to help them get the most out of visits to such events for their children   

will be available shortly.     

Other publications that may be of interest include:

CRN 94 - What about us? Diversity Review evidence part 1
CRN 95 - What about us? Diversity Review evidence part 2

Contact Information:
Penny Jones
Tel: 07900 608098
Email: penny.jones@naturalengland.org.uk

Sarah Harris
Tel: 01242 533312
Email: sarah.harris@naturalengland.org.uk