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FEATURE: OUTDOOR LEARNING
greater confidence and form more positive connections with peers and teachers. These benefits can be particularly profound for
young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) who, as the White Paper pointed out, have been disproportionately impacted by the disruption to learning from the pandemic. As Head of Learning and Skills at the Heart of England Forest I’ve seen first-hand how our outdoor learning programmes have helped pupils with additional needs develop a more positive approach to learning and greater personal resilience, which has resulted in better outcomes in the classroom. Despite this, there has been little investment to
date in long-term studies that can evidence the academic as well as the personal benefits of regular access to structured outdoor learning for pupils with SEND, or in fact any pupils. Without this evidence it is likely that outdoor learning will continue to be given low priority and little investment as part of the Government’s educational ‘levelling up’ plans.
The power of partnerships Until this changes, it will be down to education leaders, the third sector and in particular environmental or youth organisations to work in partnership to find innovative ways to ensure all young people have access to outdoor learning opportunities that go beyond a one-off session in nature. One of the ways we are working to achieve this at the Heart of England Forest is through our new site at Gorcott Hill, near Redditch. Gorcott Hill will become our flagship site for
young people, making them a central part of the conservation and nature restoration work taking place and enabling us to expand our schools programme in the local area with an aim to deliver over 1,000 child visits to the site in the next year. The project will allow us to work with seven new schools from Redditch and South Birmingham, focusing on schools with high
numbers of pupils accessing Pupil Premium funding and those who are less likely to spend time in the natural environment due to social or economic reasons. We are also working to address the challenge
of access to the site for schools who may not have the funds or ability to transport pupils there on a regular basis, through the provision of a minibus which can be converted to carry eight wheelchairs. While our outdoor learning programmes are
rooted in delivering strong academic outcomes for young people, we also know that there are many benefits of the programmes that go beyond the education system. Research from Natural England shows that concern about the environment is high among children in England, with eight in ten saying they would like to do
more to protect the environment. This fact brings children of all backgrounds together, with there being very little variation in this regardless of age, region, social grade, ethnicity, or annual household income. By engaging children with nature and
developing their skills we can not only address the wellbeing and academic attainment gap left in Covid-19’s wake, but also help to instil a sense of connectedness with nature from an early age, creating future guardians of our forests and our planet.
Creating a lasting legacy We know that the pandemic has had a profound impact on children, both in terms of academic attainment and wellbeing, so the Government is right to be investing in measures to help level up the education system and provide additional support to those pupils most affected. But while minimum school week hours and ambitious targets for GCSE and SATs results make good headlines, it’s unclear how a significant and lasting shift in the outcomes for pupils facing the greatest challenges can be achieved without major investment or fundamental changes to the education system. Just days after the release of the Schools White
Paper the Government also opened a consultation into improving the provision of schools for SEND students. Progressive and continuous outdoor learning programmes could play an important role in this improvement if given the resource and investment needed to become a core part of the education mix. Now is the time for the Government to take bold steps such as this to not just address the academic damage done during the pandemic, but to create a lasting legacy that will benefit young people for generations to come. More investment from Government to create
the next generation of outdoor learning champions is critical, as is support from national parks, forests and governed open spaces around the UK.
May 2022
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