The Residential Outdoor Education (Scotland) Bill, which is working its way through Scottish Parliament, would ensure a residential outdoor learning experience for all young people during school. It represents a welcome addition to outdoor learning provision for Scottish schools.
However, focusing funding only on residential trips would miss an important opportunity to help schools embed outdoor learning in an inclusive and holistic approach across - and beyond - the curriculum, with benefits for children’s health and wellbeing.
This bill also provides a great opportunity for educators to reflect more generally on the outdoor learning available to Scotland’s young people.
Climate change and sustainability
Outdoor learning brings benefits to physical and mental health and helps children make authentic connections to the world around them. Children themselves, via a Children’s Parliament report, have called for the opportunity to spend time “outside in nature” to learn about climate change, our environment and sustainability.
However, findings from a 2022 University of Stirling study found that in Scotland’s primary schools, time dedicated to outdoor learning activities had fallen to, on average, seven minutes per week over the previous decade; curricular pressures and teacher confidence were two potential reasons.
Early years settings, in contrast, increased the amount of time children spent outdoors during the same study period.
This research noted that most of the outdoor learning provision taking place was in and close to school grounds. By using local and on-site areas, schools can provide regular, affordable and accessible outdoor learning activities during the school day.
To help grow teacher confidence, the new Centre for Teaching Excellence at the University of Glasgow has a hub focused on rural and remote education and learning for sustainability. It aims to support teachers to “lead and engage with research and evidence to help inform and develop their practice”.
Supporting teachers and pupils
While the bill is admirable in aiming to provide all children with an experience of outdoor learning, we must support teachers and young people to develop skills and dispositions that lead to meaningful and enjoyable provision.
Outdoor and wild places can be unpredictable, physically demanding and potentially overwhelming for those with limited experience of them. Out-of-school and out-of-routine experiences will result in a range of responses: freedom, excitement and adventure, but also potentially anxiety, displacement and disconnection.
Place-responsive pedagogy is a localised approach that can help educators facilitate and frame learning experiences, in turn building connections between people, places and the world. In this evidence-based guidance, we [Lucy Sors and Ruth Unsworth] explore ways that educators can make use of different places to provide meaningful learning experiences that meet the needs of all pupils.
By engaging regularly with local places and communities in a consistent and comfortable way, schools can maximise the impact of outdoor residential experiences and reduce barriers to participation.
As welcome as this bill is, we hope it is matched by a commitment to help teachers build confidence in using the places in and around school grounds, in inclusive, meaningful and responsive ways.
For information on support available for teachers with outdoor education, see the National Association for Environmental Education, a charity run by those who are passionate about the environment.
Dr Claire Ramjan is a lecturer in teacher education at the University of Glasgow, specialising in pedagogy, praxis and faith. Dr Ruth Unsworth is a lecturer in education studies at the University of Glasgow, specialising in culture, literacies, inclusion and pedagogy. Lucy Sors is a senior lecturer in initial teacher education at York St John University, specialising in SEND, inclusion and outdoor learning
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