Learning Outside the Classroom

LEARNING OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM

 

The Learning Outside the Classroom (LOtC) Quality Badge provides for the first time a national accreditation combining the essential elements of provision - learning and safety - into one easily recognisable and trusted Quality Badge for all types of Learning Outside the Classroom provider organisations.  Middlesbrough CFL Department subscribe to the use of the Quality Badge.

Who is the Quality Badge for?

It is for all organisations and venues that provide learning outside the classroom experiences for children and young people aged 0-19, where they are:

  • Offering high quality teaching and learning experiences; and
  • Safe (ie managing risk effectively).

What are the benefits of the Quality Badge?

For users, the Quality Badge provides an assurance that a provider:

  • Offers 'what it says on the tin';
  • Takes account of the needs of users;
  • Has an emphasis on 'learning/skills outcomes'; and
  • Operates in a healthy and safe environment.

Local authorities, other employers, the education workforce and parents will be able to recognise and have confidence in the Quality Badge scheme.

For providers, the Quality Badge will:

  • Accredit the quality of educational provision;
  • Provide a marketing opportunity;
  • Better enable 'fast tracking' for client approval;
  • Improve consistency in educational provision; and
  • Provide a useful development tool.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families has worked in partnership with the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom to develop the LOtC Quality Badge.  For more information about the Learning Outside the Classroom Manifesto and the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom, please visit http://www.lotc.org.uk

 Note : The LOtC Quality Badge scheme was launched on 2 October 2008 and the first Quality Badges will be awarded from February 2009.  If a provider is not yet listed in the Quality Badge searchable database, this does not necessarily mean they are not offering a quality experience; they may be working towards meeting the quality indicators and being awarded a Quality Badge.


Out and About - 'How to' Guidance

The Out & About 'How to' guidance can be found on the LOtC website at http://www.lotc.org.uk/Out-and-about-guidance/Introduction.  The guidance (and supportive CPD modules) can be used by anyone working with children and young people from 0 to 19, whether in schools, early years or youth settings.

This guidance has been drawn together by the Department for Children, Schools and Families, with the help of many experts and practitioners in learning outside the classroom.  The aim is not only to make clear that learning outside the classroom has significant learning benefits for participants, but also to explore how it can be successfully delivered so that more young people develop their knowledge, understanding and skills beyond the classroom walls.

The 'How to' part of the LOtC website provides comprehensive guidance - but what difference is it likely to make?  Two main areas propose significant shifts in approach for all those involved with children's services and those that support or provide services to them:

  • Curriculum planning
  • Organising activities


Curriculum Planning

It is now clear that learners are 'wired in' to learning through a rich diet of direct experiences.  This provides exciting opportunities for curriculum planners; from those teachers/practitioners planning individual lessons to those leaders planning a whole curriculum for a school or a service.  The guidance strongly recommends that we now need to design a complete LOtC curriculum from 0-19 that is frequent, continuous and progressive.

Just how frequent is a question often asked.  It is clear that provision should be made at least weekly and, for best practice daily, for all learners.  This would mean, for an average sized Primary school in England, planning around half a day or more of learning outside the classroom activities per week - a total, across all classes in the school, of 15 days each week.  Some are already doing this, but for most there will need to be a signfiicant re-shaping of planning.  This may not come as such a surprise, as these approaches are part of the new and developing approaches to curriculum.

More detail can be found at www.lotc.org.uk/Out-and-about-guidance/How-do-we-organise-learning/Planning-LOtC-within-the-school-curriculum



The Learning Outside the Classroom Manifesto - A Brief Summary

There is a belief that every young person should experience the world beyond the classroom as an essential part of learning and personal development - close links therefore to Every Child Matters and Sustainable Schools.  It is clearly indicated that these experiences are often the most memorable and influence values and decisions into adulthood.

'There is only one thing more painful than learning from experience and that is not learning from experience' - Archibald McLeish.

 The process is about raising achievement through an organised approach to learning where direct experiences are of importance - what, how and where we learn.  Research supports this process as being integral to extended learning. 

There is an expectation that a range of agencies, groups and individuals will endorse and champion the Manifesto - the role of the Manifesto is to 'make a difference' - to make public the actions which the agency, group or individual intend to take to make this difference.

The partners involved in drawing up the Manifesto have made their actions clear and have expressed views with regard to their expectations of others.  There are a significant number of statements of intent.  It is clearly indicated that 'to be successful and meaningful better provision needs to be made for learning experiences in the world outside the classroom".


The Outdoor Classroom at your Fingertips

This website provides instant access for teachers (nursery, primary, secondary and special) to the hugh information resources that exists relating to outdoor learning in the Education and NGO sectors. It provides access to Health and Safety guidance, funding streams, research into the ethos of outdoor and personalised learning. The website features available training (ITT and CPD both regional and national) for teachers and providers, lesson plans, teaching resources, and suppliers of outdoor resources. Additionally, it provides access to the myraid of places to visit to enable teachers to find farms (many accredited ones), and other field study centres, forest schools, heritage sites nationally, regionally and locally.

For further information see : www.teachernet.gov.uk/growingschools



Education Outside the Classroom

Education Outside the Classroom (EOtC) refers to the use of contexts other than the classroom environment as a teaching and learning resource and may include:

  • School site activities (eg science lessons in a vegetable or wildlife area, drama in the outdoors)
  • Off-site day visits (eg to environmental centres, art galleries, historic buildings, local community projects, outdoor and adventurous activities)
  • Before/after school study support (voluntary out-of-hours learning activity) (eg gardening clubs, visits to museums)
  • Off-site residential experience overseas (eg cultural and language exchanges, expeditions)
  • Non-residential activities that take place during school holiday periods (eg city farm summer schools, Summer Reading Challenge, Do It for Real activities)