OUTDOOR LEARNING
advocate the use of OAE residentials for children to experience multi-sensory forms of learning (feel, touch, taste) which cannot be replicated in more uniform indoor settings. This context for new ways of learning where hierarchies are broken down generates opportunities for children to connect better with their teachers and peers and engage in less conventional forms of physical activity. Due to the intensity and meaningfulness of these experiences, this learning can be long lasting and transferable to both home and academic settings.
With this understanding in mind, PGL Beyond has enlisted the views of teachers when creating their series of REACH OAE programmes. These progressive year-on-year residentials go beyond the traditional one-off Year 6 residential, and deliver tailored experiential learning across important milestones within the educational trajectory of a young person, such as transitions between primary and secondary school. Recognising the integral importance of positive adaptive functioning as a child develops, a golden thread of resilience-building and development of well-being is embedded across all programmes.
Curriculum integration, policy and practices for positive youth development There are a wealth of evidential outcomes which promote OAE for the holistic development of children. Importantly, this is not just the case for able and motivated youngsters, underachievers also perform better across a range of psychosocial skills in a natural environment, especially when exposed to high-quality, stimulating activities. Therefore, it is surprising OAE still lacks broader recognition and funding to make it accessible and impactful for all learners. It also continues to be undervalued in terms of widespread systemic integration into mainstream educational policy and practice.
May 2025
For example, although the interim curriculum and assessment review published last month extols the virtues of OAE, it is not actually mentioned within the reports list of priorities. The review acknowledges that applied knowledge and skills equip children for later life and work. It also states that youngsters should encounter the unfamiliar, have their horizons ‘stretched and broadened’ and ‘inclusion is prompted by shared experiences and the creation of connections’. OAE delivers all of this and more.
There is momentum gathering for the inclusion of OAE within mainstream health and education policy directives. Just last week, the Scottish Parliament progressed the Schools (Residential Outdoor Education) bill that would allow all pupils in state and grant-aided schools to have at least four nights and five days of residential outdoor education during their school career. In a similar fashion, The Nature Premium campaign supported by the Institute of Outdoor Learning, is gaining traction to ensure all children and young people have guaranteed regular time in nature with additional funding and support provided for those who need it most.
There is little doubt that OAE offers a dynamic, real-world learning environment that helps develop the problem-solving and social-emotional capacities children and young people need in an increasingly complex and uncertain world. At a point in history where youngsters continue to face unprecedented upheaval and threats to their well- being, it has never been more important to create opportunities for them to build their adaptive capabilities. Underpinned by an experiential learning framework, OAE provides a platform for impactful experiences which embolden personal growth across diverse populations and should be considered a fundamental part of the fabric of their health and education.
PGL Beyond stands ready with colleagues
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across the outdoor and youth sectors, to engage in dialogue with practitioners and policy makers to empower more young people to be active outdoors. Designing and implementing accessible OAE programmes underpinned by evidence-based principles will help to prevent inefficient and ill-targeted investment and to maximise the likelihood of a coherent wider policy implementation and outcome.
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