Outdoor Learning...what are the benefits for Kids?

Looking back on your time at school you can probably recall long afternoons gazing out of the window at the sunshine and wishing you were outside instead of stuck in a stuffy classroom.

Many teachers are concerned that taking children outside is associated more with free time and playtime instead of learning and that they will not be able to implement the discipline that children work under in the classroom.

Last year Teeside council reported a drop in the GCSE pass rate of schools in Middlesbrough by 1.3%, and many experts believe techniques such as outdoor learning could help to improve these statistics. The new generation of teachers recruited from Edustaff also have positive opinions on these techniques.

So just what are these benefits?

Well, fresh air is a good place to start. Having children outside where they can be active and enjoy the great outdoors will encourage them to enjoy leaving the house more and be active, something that many parents will appreciate as more and more technology encourages children to stay inside on the sofa and rarely experience playing with friends.

The CLOtC (Council for Learning Outside the Classroom) defines outdoor learning as ‘the use of places other than the classroom for teaching and learning’ and could mean everything from simply taking the pupils out into the playground or on the school field to visits to local woods, streets, farms, libraries or museums. Bear in mind that for the latter, teachers would require permission from parents to take children off school grounds.

Many children enjoy kinaesthetic learning, which is essentially learning by doing, so it’s important that teachers incorporate this concept into lesson plans and taking them outside is the easiest way to do this.

Outdoor learning can encourage independence, teamwork and self-awareness as children complete tasks together as a group. The Outward Bound Trust was set up to encourage children to discover essential life skills through outdoor learning and those who complete outward bound usually return to school filled with confidence, self belief and a renewed thirst for learning.

Follow up research found that these children’s teachers felt that there was a lasting effect and 85% observed an improvement in their pupil’s attitude towards learning and improved skills.

Even Ofsted is promoting the importance of outdoor learning and wants schools to ‘shout about’ what they are doing to encourage it within lesson plans and confirmed that they do not want these sorts of lesson activities to be shelved when Ofsted visit for an inspection, as teachers worry that they are not sticking to the traditional curriculum.