Feeling free.

At baseline, pupils believed that outdoor learning would provide an escape from the uncomfortable and restricted conditions of the classroom. This escape from the classroom excited pupils, with discussions of freedom at both time points;

“So if you’re in a cramped classroom you don’t have that much room, if it’s wet play you don’t have that much room to do activities but if it’s outside you have loads of room”. (Pupil, School B, Baseline)

Pupils also highlighted associations between fresh air, feeling more energised and an increased engagement with learning;

“And when we’re outside, like we get the fresh air, on a hot day if we’re in class we’re just boiling we won’t do as much work and we won’t do it as good”. (Pupil, School B, Follow up)

Teachers believed the freedom allowed pupils to express themselves;

“I know lots of children that don’t cope very well with being in one classroom all day every day, they find it difficult to sit down but also for children who are more creative, they’ve got more opportunities to show that outdoors, I mean it’s the freedom and the movement and the expression and being able to use their bodies not just their voices and their hand”. (Teacher, School B, Follow up)

In addition, outdoor learning offered pupils the ability to engage with play, an essential element of childhood;

“It’s kind of like playtime but you’re learning”. (Pupil, School A, Baseline)

Exposure to environment and safety.

Pupils suggested that the addition of outdoor learning to the curriculum would increase their exposure to the environment and their engagement with nature, expanding their learning;

“You learn about the outside world, you notice things about nature you never knew and you do different topics”. (Pupil, School A, Baseline)

This exposure to the natural environment was viewed as a positive aspect of outdoor learning during follow-up interviews, allowing pupils to learn about the outdoors. The opportunity to engage with nature at follow-up also encouraged an element of play;

“Because [being in the] woods like it’s more adventurous because you can just pick up sticks and start playing with them”. (Pupil, School C, Follow up)

However, increased exposure to the environment was also felt to pose a risk to pupils and teachers regarding safety. At baseline, safety fears by pupils included physical injuries such as hurting themselves, or worries over getting lost from the rest of the class, something that the security of having physical boundaries in the classroom eliminated;

“You might hurt yourself on some bad things outside”. (Pupil, School A, Baseline)

Despite perceived safety fears, pupils expressed frustration at the level of protection by teachers in the outdoor environment;

“That’s why a lot of people go off on that day because like the teachers are like really, they treat you like babies in the woods, they won’t even let you run”. (Pupil, School B, Follow up)

Safety was initially a worry for teachers, however developing clear rules and boundaries and embedding outdoor learning into school life reduced the likelihood of any injuries;

“…initially there was things like trips and falls and head bumps and things like that and, touch wood, I’m not seeing so much of it so it’s embedded in the rules and things that we talk about. And when they climb the trees if it’s wet they’re only allowed up to an adult’s hip, if it’s dry they can go up to the shoulder and higher, they have to hold on, and there’s clear rules there and they really do stick to it”. (Teacher, School C, Follow up)

Pupil engagement.

Outdoor learning engaged pupils of all abilities including those with behavioural difficulties and additional learning needs;

“They’ve [pupils] engaged in all activities that have been provided outdoors. So they definitely, it definitely engages all the children, whether they’ve got behavioural difficulties or not”. (Teacher, School B, Baseline)

“So there are children who sit there very, very still and know how to, who know how they should behave socially or, you know, institutionalised, you know, they’re happy to do that, write neat, those kind of things that fit all those parameters, but for those children who don’t…I think that it’s more suited to them…It gives them, you know, an outlet and so yeah, I do think it’s for those children who learn perhaps in different”. (Teacher, School A, Follow up)

The headteacher from this school also attributed the engagement by boys to the approach of outdoor learning;

“The teachers report as well how engaged they are, you know, with this style of learning and, you know, some of our perhaps more challenging boys particularly, you know, really enjoy the sort of the methodology”. (Headteacher, School A, Follow up)

Engagement with learning was voiced by both teachers and headteachers, with a continuation of engagement during the follow up work in the classroom;

“I think it's too much of a coincidence to say it's not down to outdoor learning, because it's an approach as well, you know, it's not only the sessions outdoors, it's what the sessions outdoors bring back into the classroom as well, isn't it, and it's the whole knock-on effect and it's all about experience”. (Headteacher, School C, Follow up)

In addition, how outdoor learning helped engage different styles of learners was discussed;

“Sometimes your very academic children they're the ones that actually need it the most, because perhaps they're quieter, they're a little bit more book-based learners, the visual learners, so I think for those learners in particular, you know, so obviously you engage the learners who are kinaesthetic but also, you know, those other children, the ones that perhaps need it because potentially, you know, in the future they could be the ones who are, you know, in terms of looking after themselves and their wellbeing and so on, you're perhaps hitting the mark with them and their sort of style of learning etc”. (Headteacher, School A, Follow up)

Suggestions around increasing engagement and maintaining enthusiasm, related to ensuring the lessons conducted outdoors were fun and not more than once or twice a week, ensuring a novelty aspect.

“If we’re going to enjoy doing outdoor learning I think the lesson’s got to be fun… if it’s just like something boring and I’m not going to enjoy it as much and we’ll just start talking a bit”. (Pupil, School A, Baseline)

“We’d get bored of it, I wouldn’t do every lesson, I think once or twice a week is enough”. (Pupil, School A, Baseline)

Motivations.

The implementation of outdoor learning was driven by headteachers and teachers’ motivations, including personal passion, passion of a colleague, pedagogical beliefs and a need to improve wellbeing outcomes. However, central to this subtheme was that of the rights of a child. Headteachers believed children had a right to be outdoors and that schools had a degree of responsibility in ensuring children were exposed to the outdoors in their learning;

“Every child is entitled, it’s their right to get outdoors and we have them all day, we have them for most of the daylight hours at certain times of year and so it’s our responsibility, I don’t think there’s a choice, I don’t think we can choose, shall we do it or shan’t we, we have to”. (Teacher, School B, Follow up).

Other key motivations focused on improving pupil wellbeing and providing more opportunity to be outdoors;

“There's far too much time where children aren't playing outside, they aren't walking outside, they aren't just outside, and I think a lot of that, with increasing volumes of children accessing counselling, spending a lot of time on social media, spending a lot of time on Xbox, a lot of time watching TV, they just don't know the impact being outside has on their health and their wellbeing, and I'm really committed to developing pupils' wellbeing”. (Headteacher, School B, Follow up)

However, the high level of pressure placed upon schools by education inspectorates and the resulting resistance by the workforce was reinforced by one headteacher. This headteacher believed that in order to implement an initiative such as outdoor learning, an element of bravery was required by the school;

“You have pressures put on the school from Government, that goes down through the inspectorate, that passes onto the regional consortia, that's passed onto schools, i.e. Headteachers, Governors, Senior Leaders, that's passed onto the teachers, it's passed onto the teaching assistants and it's passed onto the pupils so it's like a big pressure cooker and the whole system, you know, so until there's that change in emphasis right at the top, you know, I think it will always be the brave schools that actually say 'no, this is what I believe in and this is what we'll do'”. (Headteacher, School A, Follow up)

Curriculum pressure and accountability.

The baseline interviews with teachers conveyed a feeling of overburden with some feeling that outdoor learning was an added pressure enforced by senior management at a time of high focus on academic literacy and numeracy targets;

“Until we’re up and running it seems like too much to do at the moment because all the emphasis is on literacy and numeracy all the time, that’s what the big push is at the moment and targets, so it just seems to be another new thing and another new pressure”. (Teacher, School A, Baseline)

Despite teachers generally feeling positive about outdoor learning, the academic pressures relating to evidencing work was at odds with the concept of teaching outdoors. This was particularly due to these teachers being responsible for a key stage that includes additional pressure and testing;

“Like the main concern for us, obviously, upper key stage 2 is obviously evidence of work, because there’s such a pressure now to have evidence, recorded evidence for every session or something in box, there’s a big pressure in that…Again, lots of activities don’t provide evidence, so, it’s difficult then to gauge the amount of learning that they’ve done, apart from the bit of feedback basically”. (Teacher, School B, Baseline)

Some teachers found it hard to design lessons with meaningful activities that could both encompass the concept of outdoor learning and meet the requirements of the curriculum.

“We’re at that early struggling stage looking for ideas of meaningful activities that we can do outdoors that do suit the outdoor environment and you’re not trying to directly lift a classroom activity into an outdoor activity, you’re trying to make it, you know, something that will work outdoors and there is a benefit”. (Teacher, School A, Baseline)

Natural resources.

The schools included in this study had varied access to local natural environments, and this was acknowledged with reference to the types of lessons that were suited to this;

“We’ve got access to the woodland area. We’re in a, you know, a really good spot that we can use, you know, we can use a lot more of it, it’s not just going outside, going into the yard, we can use the woodland which is great, you know, for Science, Geography-type lessons as well”. (Teacher, School B, Baseline)

One headteacher highlighted that schools in a less fortunate position in terms of outdoor opportunities may struggle;

“In [city] lots of schools have aspirations to develop outdoor learning, but different schools have different challenges and different opportunities, isn't it, other schools, perhaps who are in the middle of [city], number one, they don't have woodland on their doorstep, so their opportunities to visit woodland would be limited”. (Headteacher, School C, Follow up)

Indeed, utilising the immediate school grounds was raised as a challenge. One teacher at the more urban based school of the three felt that using the immediate school grounds was not enough for the older pupils, with the school later relying on external trips to provide pupils with an enhanced experience;

“Well, the stimulus is the trips, without the trips, as I, when I spoke to you the first time, you really struggle because you're just using the school grounds, and lower down the school that's not such a problem with building up their skills but by the time you get to the top end of the school, you need to branch out, you need to go further…But apart from identifying, we've got a little, we've got a small wooded area but apart from that it's just grass really, so it was the trips that were the stimulus for, you know, all the extra ideas”. (Teacher, School A, Follow up)

However, another school suggested relying on external trips would come at a cost, with parents having to fund the transport and staff needed to attend the trips. Teachers provided some suggestions to other schools;

“Prioritise anything that's within walking distance of your school, so you know, if you have a river nearby or if you have a park nearby, that's within walking distance, you know, utilise that as much as possible” (Teacher, School A, Follow up)

Physical resources.

In addition to the natural resources, the physical resources and time required to prepare new resources for outdoor learning were raised, with one teacher expressing their concerns over the transferability of traditional classroom lessons into the outdoor environment;

“Well because we don’t teach outdoors. We teach in the classroom, the things we do in the classroom, the resources we use are in the classroom and now we’ve got to, you either try and transfer those activities to an outdoor environment which is more challenging because of the resources, you know, the resources not being there”. (Teacher, School A, Baseline)

Another barrier highlighted by teachers was the clothing required for lessons, having to cancel if some children forgot coats. At follow up, one school had gained financial support, investing it in staffing and outdoor learning specific clothing;

“Supported financially, the school have bought waterproofs so that the weather’s not a barrier for the children and yes, they are funding me to continue in September for another year, so yes, very supported”. (Teacher, School B, follow up)

Indeed, staff numbers were highlighted by schools as an obstacle to outdoor learning;

“Staff ratio, sometimes it, you know, when you want to do an activity you’d quite like it to be a group going out…we just haven’t got the staff sometimes to do these things or to go out”. (Teacher, School A, follow up)

Funding was mentioned by all schools at follow-up. Improved access to funding resulted in resources moving from a barrier to outdoor learning to a facilitator;

“Like having ease of access to equipment has been another problem, so we’re trying to change that by we raised some money like I said doing this walk, trying to get equipment that can be accessed by the children and easily and not in a place where, you know, you need a member of staff to go with them”. (Teacher, School A, Follow up)

Support.

The level of school, governor and parent support was highlighted by teachers and headteachers as an important factor. School B commented on the parental support throughout and how despite some initial concern and beliefs, general feedback and support from parents was positive;

“I did think we'd have a little bit of resistance at the beginning, because some parents believe children only learn by sitting at a desk, and indeed one grandparent did write on our Twitter account that, "A pity the children weren't sitting at desks writing"…So, yes, the parents are very positive about the direction that we're going”. (Headteacher, School B, Follow up)

Support from parents was also suggested by schools to overcome barriers associated with resources;

“..and when we were doing some outdoor activities we asked them to bring, you know, cardboard boxes and, you know, shelter making equipment and that kind of thing…So yeah, we did lean on parents somewhat”. (Teacher, School A, follow up)

In addition to parents, support amongst the staff within school and utilising a whole-school approach was identified by one teacher as an essential element to effective implementation of outdoor learning;

“It’s obviously up to the school, you know, if they didn’t believe in it and they’re just going out for the sake of doing it, than I think it’s quite pointless then but if you are true believer in it and you can see value in it, I think you know you have to have your colleagues on board as well for it to work as a whole school initiative”. (Teacher, School C, Follow up)

Teachers and headteachers commented on the support for outdoor learning by senior management and school governors, facilitated by communication between all levels of staff. Governor support was highlighted by all three headteachers as crucial, owing to the financial support, decision-making and strategic delivery that governors are responsible for.

“…So we wanted to involve all those partners within that model [of outdoor learning], and you know, that has come at a financial cost as well but the Governors were very committed and have released funds for that”. (Headteacher, School A, Follow up)

Suggestions to overcome many of the resource and support difficulties experienced were often based upon shared practice both within and between schools;

“The Foundation [ages 4–7] first started it earlier than us originally so we, as a key stage 2, spoke to them, see what they did, went down to their classrooms and sort of spoke to them to see the kind of things they did. So I think it’s just communication as well isn’t it”. (Teacher, School B, Baseline)

With regards to between-school shared practice, School B also had a trained outdoor learning specialist and thus, were proactive in sharing their resources and providing training to other schools. The other two schools discussed a less formal approach, relying on sharing their experiences of outdoor learning with one another but these schools advocated for more shared practice and resources to aid implementation.

Teacher influence.

Both pupils and teachers made links between the personality of a teacher and their enthusiasm with delivering outdoor learning. At baseline, teachers had mixed opinions of both their own and their colleagues’ confidence to deliver outdoor learning. Some felt a lack of knowledge left them in a position of low confidence, whilst others felt more confident in their ability to adapt lessons to the outdoor environment;

“As I say not at the moment, not personally…If I knew what I was doing yes but it’s coming up with the ideas in the first place, so I guess not”. (Teacher, School A, Baseline)

“I think it’s brilliant, I feel confident that I can do it, I feel enthusiastic about it, I think it’s great for children to be given that freedom of being outside, and doing something which is going to help their learning, just because I think children find it difficult to be stuck behind a desk for so much of the time”. (Teacher, School A, Baseline)

Teacher confidence was also influenced by the expected workload and traditional learning approaches associated with this key stage;

“Right, initially, I thought, “Oh, no!”, because it’s upper school, you tend to focus a lot of written work in class, and obviously foundation phase are used to doing it, so it was a case of, “Oh, where do I start?”, initially. That was my first thought… No, I feel more confident now, now that it’s sort of implemented into my teaching. I do feel a bit more confident in preparing outdoor resources”. (Teacher, School B Baseline)

In addition, one teacher felt that for colleagues to buy into outdoor learning and feel confident to deliver the programme, it was important for learning objectives to be clear;

“…so long as they can see a point to outdoor learning, because there was a big myth when it started that we were just going to go out to the woods and play and it was going to be a free for all and I think that was the bit where they were saying “Oh what’s the point in this”, not just using it as a PE lesson, if they can see that there is a learning objective to it then I think it’s much more”. (Teacher, School C, Follow up)

Those that had received prior training in formal outdoor programmes such as Forest Schools expressed higher confidence levels in delivering outdoor learning compared to those with less training;

“I’m quite confident myself, I’ve been forest school trained so it’s something that I’m more confident … I think we’ve had a lot of training now with it and the more we do it, obviously the more confident we get so”. (Teacher, School C, Baseline)

The associations between consistent training, access to resources and teacher confidence was alluded to by a headteacher from another school, with this confidence impacting on how much outdoor learning was delivered at ground level. One headteacher also commented on the increase in confidence they had witnessed as the programme developed, indicating that increased experience in delivery resulted in higher levels of confidence;

“The other then is the confidence where, (name of teacher) has led, from just being apprehensive about taking children up to the woods, which is on our doorstep, as you know, all of a sudden he's walking children on a five mile walk…you know, where that's, in the past, a similar trip, we'd have had to pay for a guide to do that, he has the full confidence”. (Headteacher, School C, Follow up)

Behaviour.

There were mixed responses regarding the perceived impact on pupils’ behaviour. Those that believed it would have a negative effect at baseline made particular reference to the excitement of outdoor learning fuelling disruptive behaviour;

“If we were out, maybe like more start being hyper, because in class we probably have got discipline, once we start getting out and it’ll be exciting”. (Pupil, School B, Baseline)

In comparison, other pupils felt that outdoor learning could improve behaviour through increased access to space;

“I think it’ll change our [behaviour], like if we do once or twice a week, then it would change our behaviour in a way, inside school like, so outside we’re not like fidgety, if we’re outside, it’s better”. (Pupil, School B, Baseline)

At the start of the programme, teachers recognised an improvement in classroom behaviour and even an improvement in the quality of work produced by pupils;

“Yeah, because when you come indoors they’ve had their fresh air, they’re more likely to come in and you have that calm down time …and you get the better behaviour because they’ve had that chance to go …when they’ve been out, it’s just so much more, there’s just a better working atmosphere, … the more opportunities to get out and about, up and down, not just doing something at a desk, the more quality work you’re going to get from them when you do ask them to sit at their desk”. (Teacher, School A, Baseline)

This was also discussed in follow-up focus groups, with pupils making references to the effects of outdoor learning on subsequent behaviour in the school day;

“I kind of think it’s better with outside, but then when you go inside for class, or everyone’s a bit more tired”. (Pupil, School C, Follow up)

From the teachers’ perspective, improved behaviour and engagement with learning was displayed by children with additional learning needs and behavioural difficulties;

“We do have children that have challenging behaviour, but we find they are far more engaged outdoors than indoors”. (Headteacher, School B, Follow up)

Indeed, while improved behaviour was voiced by all schools, particularly with regards to follow up work, others also believed behaviour was better during outdoor learning than in classroom-based lessons;

“We’ve got quite clear boundaries for them as well so it’s not sort of a case of we go down the woods and it’s a free for all, there’s very strict rules as to behaviour in the woods, …in fact, I’d say they stick to rules better when we’re outdoors than they do when we’re inside but I think it does, you know, you can see the impact back in the classroom then after we’ve been, definitely”. (Teacher, School C, Follow up)

The headteacher of this school recommended less affluent schools utilise pupil deprivation grants for outdoor learning as a suggestion to improve pupil behaviour;

“So, you know, I would urge, if I was a headteacher in one of those schools …h I would definitely look to utilise some of that deprivation grant to encourage outdoor learning, and I'm sure it would have a positive impact on pupil behaviour. And the thing is, it's a vicious circle, isn't it, if children aren't behaving, they're not learning”. (Headteacher, School C, Follow up)

Concentration and memory.

Pupils suggested at baseline that the introduction of outdoor learning within their school day would have an impact on their concentration and memory. From a positive perspective, this was discussed in relation to the feelings of comfort experienced by pupils;

“Yes, because when you’re outside you’re not all sweaty and you like can’t really concentrate that much when you’re like really sweaty but if you’re like outside you’re like nice and cool so it’ll help you listen better and concentrate better”. (Pupil, School B, Baseline)

However, the impact of distractions on concentration was also brought up during follow up focus groups, whereby pupils commented on greater distractions outside. Indeed, whether being outdoors had a positive or negative effect on their concentration was debated among pupils and even internally by one pupil who demonstrated both sides of the argument;

“I think it does [improve concentration] but then it doesn’t because it like helps people get more excited and it makes you listen more but then also it doesn’t because we’re all talking all the time outside and it’s a lot louder so a lot of the time we don’t listen to what the teacher says”. (Pupil, School A, Follow up)

“You could get distracted by cute dogs walking past, you could get distracted by trees blowing, you could get distracted by say if another child or pupil or class has been let out to play early, get distracted by them, a netball match or anything like that, you can just easily get distracted outside rather than in the classroom”. (Pupil, School B, Baseline)

The increased space offered by learning outdoors was discussed by teachers who believed that this made pupils more focused on their learning;

“The only difficulty is I suppose is that sort of making your voice travel, and keeping them focused, but then you know, in class that there’s as much trouble there keeping them focused, because they’re sat close to each other on the carpet, you know, poking each other and stuff like that…I think if it’s clear, they go out, they’re focused on the task, they’ve got their own space to do it in, they’re not looking around, they’re not looking for distractions, they’re quite focused on what they’re doing”. (Teacher, School A, Baseline)

Key skills development.

Pupils and teachers discussed the range of skills that they could develop through engagement with outdoor learning, including communication and teamwork;

“I think that like it makes us like learn how to work as a team”. (Pupil, School C, Follow up)

“They were much more able to collaborate outside as it’s kind of freedom of the class, they might work in different groups and, you know, you’re not expecting them, they share more easily”. (Teacher, School A, Follow up)

A range of other skills were discussed by teachers, including problem-solving, discussion skills and independence skills.

“The opportunity to work as a group, you know, they love the activities, and they get challenge activities, so they’ve got to use their problem solving skills, they’ve got discussion skills”. (Teacher, School B, Baseline)

Aside from learning specific skills, one headteacher believed that outdoor learning ensured children developed in a holistic way;

“Because it develops the whole child and it enables all of the children to develop those skills that children just don't seem to have. For us, we see children that haven't got the resilience, especially Year 6 children, they don’t have the resilience to deal with such normal childhood situations and matters because they haven't interacted enough, they haven't risk-taked…so we want the children to develop, the whole child, the ability to be good citizens, but if they've never worked in teams, if they've never lost, if they've never failed, they haven't got those resilience, and then they haven't got the perseverance then to keep on trying”. (Headteacher, School B, Follow up)

Health and wellbeing.

During the interviews, there was a feeling among pupils that an increase in utilisation of the outdoors would help to increase physical activity and fitness. Outdoor learning was seen as a means of providing an opportunity to reduce sedentary time associated with traditional classroom based lessons:

“Without going outside you can’t really keep fit and like indoors we’re pretty much just sitting down at a desk writing”. (Pupil, School B, Follow up)

Indeed, many pupils advocated for increased opportunities to be active during outdoor learning lessons;

“More exercise and like maybe more games because what we did was looking around and just marking things off”. (Pupil, School A, Follow up)

This included opportunities for increased physical activity as well as the addition of structured sports;

“If we were doing sports with it, not so much learning, but like sports as well learning”. (Pupil, School B, Follow up)

Alongside the physical health benefits, pupils remarked upon the emotional health benefits in terms of a feeling of happiness and how this had a knock on effect with willingness to attend school;

“Yes, less bored and I think it’s much happier to go to school”. (Pupil, School B, Follow up)

The discussion around wellbeing centred on the reduced sense of stress resulting from pupils learning outdoors;

“I think that they like us being outdoors because maybe they don’t like us feeling stressed because we could be stressed in the classroom and instead of being stressed we’re outdoors and we’re happy”. (Pupil, School B, follow up)

This stress reduction was not limited to children, with one teacher also commenting to feel less stressed as a result of the outdoor learning programme;

“And I just think it’s, yeah, I think it’s stress relieving for teachers as well as children”. (Teacher, School A, follow up)

Indeed, for a few teachers, the introduction and responsibility of delivering outdoor learning provided them with a sense of increased personal wellbeing and in particular, job satisfaction at a time of extreme pressure;

“Just that happy that it’s happening really… felt like a breath of fresh air…, being told by management and the head, let’s get outdoors, it’s like feeling like someone’s taken the shackles off us and oppressive feeling, so it have felt like a bit of fresh air around the school and there’s a new buzz…my feeling is just like, wow, this is just what I came into teaching for”. (Teacher, School A, Baseline)