CURRICULUM FOR EXCELLENCE THROUGH OUTDOOR LEARNING
The journey through education for any child in Scotland must include planned, quality Outdoor Learning Experiences. Here you will find help and support to embed Outdoor Learning in your delivery of the Curriculum progressively and sustainably.
Curriculum for Excellence through outdoor learning provides an outline of the: ‘integral role outdoor learning has in the new curriculum. It signposts ways for teachers, educators and their partners to plan for and use the outdoor environment to provide creative learning and teaching which is relevant, lively and motivating. All staff at every level of involvement with the education of children and young people have a responsibility to make the most of the outdoor environment to support the delivery of the experiences and outcomes of Curriculum for Excellence.’ Support for professional development in outdoor learning.
SELF-EVALUATING OUTDOOR LEARNING
Self-evaluation should be integral to planning outdoor learning experiences and securing significant outcomes. The ‘Curriculum for Excellence Outdoor Learning’ is a self-evaluation framework based on the How Good is Our School? (HGIOS) brand. This provides a suite of quality indicators that support staff and volunteers in all sectors to look inwards, to scrutinise their work and evaluate what is working well for learners and what could be better. General guidance on HGIOS is available via the Education Scotland National Improvement Hub.
The English Outdoor Council has created a resource that details high-quality outdoor learning. This downloadable document describes ten key outcomes.
The planning and delivery of high-quality residentials require effective self-evaluation. The Brilliant Residentials website provides useful resources to support schools and other establishments in planning effective high-quality provision.
NEWSLETTERS
You can download and read our Outdoor Learning Newsletter.
Download Autumn/Winter 2019 issue (pdf 3mb)
Download Spring/Summer 2019 issue (pdf 704kb)
Download Autumn/Winter 2018 issue (pdf 697kb)
DOWNLOADABLE RESOURCES
The Outdoor Learning Challenge 2021 Directory of Providers (pdf 1900kb)
Mathematics Outdoor Learning Card - Math Maze (pdf 355kb)
Mathematics Outdoor Learning Card - Bucket Maths (pdf 506kb)