We must not let our children become alienated from the countryside, otherwise they will be deprived of healthy activity in open spaces, have no understanding of farming and local production, and no access to their heritage, according to the Countrys...
Countryside Agency Archive

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New accreditation scheme for farm school visits - 29 June 2003

We must not let our children become alienated from the countryside, otherwise they will be deprived of healthy activity in open spaces, have no understanding of farming and local production, and no access to their heritage, according to the Countryside Agency.

Organised farm visits by schools are an effective tool in connecting young people to the rural environment and the Countryside Agency is today (Sunday 29 June) launching a new pilot training scheme for farms wishing to open their gates to educational visits.

Speaking at the launch of the training scheme at the Royal Show, Countryside Agency board member Peter Fane said: “Taking young people out to a farm may seem to be a pleasant way to spend a day, but there are real benefits to both students and farmer alike. Creating an understanding of where our food comes from, and the process of getting food from farm to plate, helps their educational development and provides an informed market for the farmer. If we engage and enthuse children in any subject at an early enough age, the chances are they will remain engaged at some level for the rest of their lives.”

The recent foot and mouth outbreak prompted the Prime Minister to charge the Agency with looking into ways to improve the understanding of food, farming and land management amongst school-age children.

Working with a number of partners, including Farms for Schools, the Countryside Agency will run the pilot scheme across 100 farms already involved in educational visits. An initial 12 month demonstration project will be supported by the Countryside Agency’s external training programme

The outdoor classroom has been shown to aid long-term memory and reinforce academic learning. Farm visits, particularly those supported by appropriate preparatory and follow-up activities, offer a wide range of learning opportunities. But there are barriers which need to be overcome, such as health and safety concerns, litigation and public liability, concerns about the relevance of the visit to the national curriculum, as well as issues concerning demands on school funds and teacher time. Farm accreditation following the training will help address most of these issues and put everyone’s minds at rest that the benefits to education and child development from a trip to the countryside will be well worth the effort.

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Note to editors:                                                                                                       

The Countryside Agency is the statutory body working to make the quality of life better for people in the countryside and the quality of the countryside better for everyone.

Initially the farm training scheme was developed for Farms For Schools members but it has the potential to be applied to other groups such as the Access to Farms Consortium and those farmers registered under the Educational Option of the Agri-Environment Scheme. In the long-term the scheme will be extended to all land managers who wish to become involved with the educational market place. There may also be scope to use the Accreditation Scheme framework as a basis for a quality standard that can be applied to other educational