Outdoor learning gains new prominence amid pandemic

Outdoor learning gains new prominence amid pandemic - Natural Reources Wales

children playing in autumn leaves — Outdoor Learning by Soughton Primary School (image: NRW)

Schools and educational settings across Wales are taking to the outdoors to deliver the curriculum and improve health and well-being as educators continue to adapt their ways of teaching during the coronavirus pandemic.

Senedd Cymru has advocated that outdoor learning should play a central role in minimising the risk of transmission in education settings. It’s ‘Keep Education Safe’ post-lockdown guidance for schools and settings as they reopened, recommended that the time learners spend outdoors should be maximised.

Natural Resources Wales (NRW), which supports and facilitates outdoor learning, has seen a surge of interest and demand for training and resources. Enrolment on NRW’s professional learning courses has gone up six fold this year, with over 400 educators trained on-line in October and November alone.

Sue Williams, NRW’s Lead Specialist Advisor for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning & Skills said: “It is really promising to see such an increase in the number of teachers and other educators wanting to embrace the benefits that outdoor learning has to offer. Our courses are there to support learning groups to deliver cross curricula learning outdoors. The feedback from teachers and educators has been really positive.”