The disadvantages of teaching outside:

The report recommends that given the clear benefits of outdoor learning, more needs to be done to ensure that children and young people are provided with the opportunity to leave the classroom, to improve access for every child to an experience outside.

As part of Learning for Sustainability, outdoor learning is an expectation for all children in Scotland’s education system. Since 2006 we have moved towards a curriculum and professional standards for teachers that requires outdoor learning to be a ‘regular and progressive experience for all learners’.

a space between the outdoors and classrooms where children can leave coats and rubber boots, so they can play in all weather.

outdoor learning connects children and young people with the natural world, with our built heritage and our culture and society, and encourages lifelong involvement and activity in scotland’s outdoors.

• Health & Safety regulations – As a teacher you are responsible for the children in your class.
• Additional paper work – Rise assessment plans, consent and evaluation forms will be required your school should already have school forms you can use.

Learning outside the classroom supports the development of healthy and active lifestyles by offering children opportunities for physical activity, freedom and movement, and promoting a sense of well-being.

Outdoor learning is a pedagogical approach used to enrich learning, enhance school engagement and improve pupil health and wellbeing. Schools introduced regular outdoor learning within the curriculum.

Whereas outdoor recreation can be described as a self-led approach for leisure purposes, Outdoor Learning is seen as a planned and purposeful facilitated approach led by an instructor, teacher, leader, coach, guide, etc.

6 key ingredients to creating an outdoor classroom

1. Location, location, location.
2. Whiteboards.
3. Seating.
4. Shade.
5. Storage.
6. Raised Beds.
7. Inexpensive add-ons.
8. Protect the investment and produce long-term impact.

4 Ways to Keep Your Local School Invested in Outdoor Education

1. Help Organize a School Learning Garden to promote Outdoor Education.
2. Help Institute All-Season Outdoor Education Programs.
3. Help Supplement Learning Materials with Outdoor Education Themes.
4. Encourage Traditional Classes to be Moved Outdoors (from time to time)

Taking the curriculum outside can improve attainment, increase engagement, and develop a wide range of skills including problem solving, communication and resilience. Outdoor Learning is at its most potent when it is interwoven within the formal school curriculum.

Learning outside the classroom can help teachers create enthusiasm for learning, provide a real-world context and expose students to a range of STEM careers. Students who experience learning outside the classroom benefit from increased self-esteem and become more engaged in their education.

To help make this possible, we are providing funding of more than £860,000 to the Inspiring Scotland charity to work with local authorities and the ELC sector to expand outdoor learning spaces for children. More generally, we support Inspiring Scotland to provide children of all ages with free outdoor play opportunities.

Together with Inspiring Scotland, we published Scotland’s Coalition for Outdoor Play and Learning position statement which commits the signatories to embedding playing and learning outdoors as an everyday activity and to celebrate it as a fundamental part of growing up in Scotland.

Support and guidance in relation to off-site outdoor learning (to be planned in reference to the most up-to-date Scottish Government school visits guidance) can be found on the Going Out There framework .

More generally, we support Inspiring Scotland to provide children of all ages with free outdoor play opportunities. This includes the £400,000 Community Play Fund which will enable play charities to provide outdoor play opportunities in 2019 to 2020 in the most deprived areas of Scotland.