Learning beyond the Classroom

From science in the school grounds to literacy in the woods, there is no limit to the opportunities for hands-on learning all around us. Learning outside the classroom (LOtC) is known to raise attainment, improve behaviour and engage all pupils in their learning, particularly those who may not thrive inside the classroom environment. This was confirmed in a 2008 Ofsted report Learning Outside the Classroom – how far should you go?, which found overwhelming evidence that LOtC contributes significantly to raising standards and improving the quality and depth of learning.

Frequency is key
However, the report also highlighted that LOtC should not be about a once a year school trip.

‘Learning outside the classroom was most successful when it was an integral element of long-term curriculum planning and closely linked to classroom activities,’ the report states. Learning outside the classroom should be built into planning for all learners, every week and all year round. By far the most effective strategy is to take a whole school approach to your LOtC provision.

Neston High School in the south Wirral have been recognised for their commitment to providing frequent, continuous and progressive LOtC experiences to all pupils, being awarded the new LOtC Mark accreditation at silver level. Neston High were also featured in a recent Ofsted best practice report, which praised the school for securing high attainment and levels of progress through a well-integrated curriculum with a broad programme of LOtC. ‘A ‘can do’ culture, more than any of the formal systems, adds the most value to enabling students to achieve well and thrive,’ the report.

The report, entitled ‘Good practice resource - Learning outside the classroom: Neston High School, Ofsted, 2012’ attributes Neston High School’s successful LOtC provision to four factors. Firstly, simple and effective procedures, which liberate people’s energy. Then whole school commitment, with LOtC included in staff induction & development and support from the senior management team. The third factor is an exciting curriculum, which incorporates the use of the school grounds and local community alongside strong partnerships with LOtC providers, cultural exchanges abroad and a wide programme of musical and sporting activities. The last factor is effective evaluation, where LOtC is evaluated, linked to student outcomes and reported to governors.

“For me the reason for encouraging learning outside the classroom as a key philosophy is that it enables students to apply their learning in different and real contexts and to broaden their horizons and aspirations for their future lives. I am absolutely convinced that the ethos and culture in the school are vastly enhanced by the high level of participation. These activities are systematically and collegiately organised, evaluated and analysed, and are the heart and soul of our school,” said Steve Dool, headteacher, Neston High School.

Five steps to effective outdoor learning
When considering how to improve and develop your LOtC provision, it can be hard to know where to start, especially if barriers exist which seem to prevent more LOtC from taking place. However, experience of working with schools that excel at LOtC tells us that there are five key steps to achieving an LOtC programme which is embedded in the everyday life of your school.

The first step is commiting to LOtC opportunities for all pupils. This is about ensuring that LOtC is included in the school development plan, policies and promotional materials such as your prospectus and website. An overall policy allows you to say what you value about learning outside the classroom and its potential benefit for young people.

It is important to make a stated commitment to developing inclusive frequent, continuous and progressive LOtC for all pupils. Many schools have found drawing up a ‘Charter of Entitlement’ a useful tool to set out the learning outside classroom opportunities they would like to offer and to ensure that the plans are followed through.

At this stage, it is also vital to ensure that a senior member of the management team takes the lead on LOtC in order to mobilise support from staff, governors and parents and to ensure effective support and training to empower staff to undertake more LOtC.

The learning experience
The second step is to plan effective learning experiences. Learning outside the classroom is not an addition to the curriculum but should become integral to it and a regular part of teaching and learning. To make sure that happens, it is important to build learning outside the classroom into the development of schemes of work and into curriculum planning at every stage.

The following steps may help in assessing the situation, planning your curriculum and evaluating achievements. They are built around three curriculum questions: What do you want to achieve? How will you organise learning? How will you know when you are achieving your aims?

As Ofsted advocates, in order for LOtC to be most effective, the learning objectives must be well defined and evaluated for effectiveness. LOtC should always be designed with specific learning outcomes in mind. The learning identified should drive the other decisions you will need to make about what you do and where you do it.

Other important factors are ensuring that all learning styles, ages and abilities are considered and making sure that full use is made of LOtC activities through effective preparation and follow up work.

Finally, LOtC activities should not be planned in isolation, but should build on classroom learning and previous LOtC experiences, with a gradual and continual progression in the level of challenge involved.

Take the opportunity
Step three involves making the best use of opportunities available to you. These will depend on the location of your school (e.g. urban or rural), the extensiveness of your grounds and facilities in your local area. You may not have the same opportunities as other schools, but this is about considering your environment and thinking about how features could be used to support learning across all subject areas.

With careful planning and a thoughtful approach, LOtC activities can be designed and delivered almost anywhere. It is useful to conduct an audit of LOtC opportunities within and around your school or setting – this can often be a revealing exercise as you may already be doing more than you thought. 

Audits are also a good way of establishing a benchmark on which to build your provision, and will help you identify any gaps. Work with other staff to the opportunities that are available on your doorstep, look at the frequency of your provision and how each activity builds on the learning from the previous one. Little and often goes a long way.  

Step four involves evaluating the impact of LOtC. It is essential that all those involved in teaching and learning reflect regularly on the effectiveness of teaching, and LOtC is no exception to this rule. This reflection will help you to recognise success and identify areas that are less effective and may need to be changed.

Consider what evidence might be evaluated when undertaking self-review. It also provides opportunities for you to consider how you might involve young people, parents/carers and the wider community in evaluation activities. Information gathered through evaluations will help keep your work exciting, relevant and up to date.

Manage risk
Step five involves managing risk and perception of risk effectively. A robust policy and practical procedures and processes are essential to ensure the safety of children. Risk benefit management is a fundamental part of life and is a skill needed for young people’s safety and well being. Staff have a duty of care towards young people. However, this certainly does not mean ‘wrapping them in cotton wool’. Therefore we have responsibility not only to keep young people safe, but also to enable them to learn to manage risks for themselves.

Further information
www.lotc.org.uk