Provide staff with training opportunities for outdoor learning
You need to show how your outdoor learning practice has positively impacted staff confidence and competence, their facilitation skills and in turn, the pupil experience. For example, you can demonstrate how attending a training course and implementing some of the ideas from it improved a teacher’s outdoor learning knowledge and skill or a pupil’s engagement in learning.
Some examples of measuring impact include:
- an analysis of staff evaluations from each training session to identify what staff have found useful, how they would benefit from further training and what that training would involve (alternatively, an analysis of staff confidence and competence might be more useful for your school)
- case studies of individual or groups of pupils showing the impact of staff training (and therefore their improved competence) – and/or statements from staff about how training has helped them to develop their knowledge and skills
- pupil feedback on their outdoor learning experience – perhaps before and after stories
- senior leadership feedback about staff confidence and competence levels before and after training opportunities were taken up.
Remember in each case to describe the impact of your actions (that is, what difference they made) and not just what you did.
Well-trained staff who are confident and competent facilitators of outdoor learning are crucial to a school’s outdoor learning success. The outdoor learning curriculum lead needs to ensure that training is robust and effective and will have a positive impact on pupil outcomes and staff development, as well as on the wider school and stakeholders.
The outdoor learning staff training must make links with the whole-school CPD programme, where relevant and where necessary, with other relevant benchmarks.
Staff members need to be clear about their level of competence and be honest about what would support their development further, in order to identify and eliminate gaps in knowledge, skill and provision.
Intentions are actions you intend to take in order to improve your provision in this benchmark. Choose three intentions to focus on.
The outdoor learning lead should start by surveying staff training needs and asking all staff about their outdoor learning confidence and competence levels, what training they have already had and what their explicit needs are. The lead will then research training opportunities and share them with all staff members in your school. (Other staff members are encouraged to do their own research too.)
Your school could consider in-house training, online training programmes, external contributors or teachers/facilitators from another school.
The outdoor learning lead should keep track of who has attended which training opportunity and when. The needs analysis and research should be performed at regular intervals appropriate to your school.
Top tips
- Ensure that staff who show an interest in training courses have time to attend the course and disseminate the outcomes to other staff afterwards.
- Ensure outdoor learning training features in your school’s CPD programme.
- Consider your induction and refresher training too, so that new staff who join your school or staff who have been in your school for a long time are fully up to date.
Template
Analyse your staff training needs using this download.
Further resources
- Forest Schools offer a variety of courses and assessments throughout the year.
- Explore the outdoor learning and play training courses provided by Learning through Landscapes.
- Sign up for Muddy Feet’s curriculum-based outdoor learning.
In the busy life of a school or other educational setting, there is often little time or opportunity to share learning from training courses and expertise among staff. This benchmark encourages staff to pass on their knowledge and expertise in a meaningful way. There are many ways that staff members can do this: your school could explore innovative and traditional means alike.
The outdoor learning curriculum lead or a senior leader will need to record in a central pool/bank all the training that staff members have attended, have led or have encountered in another way.
Provide opportunities for staff to visit other schools or organisations to cross-fertilise ideas. This could be done in a staff meeting, in an online platform (perhaps a school video channel) or at a whole-staff training event, where each staff member shares one thing they have learned in the past term.
Consider the philosophy of doing more of what works and less of what doesn’t work (what applies well in one school might not work well in another).
Top tips
- Find out which other schools in your area are interested in outdoor learning: talk to them, visit and share ideas.
- Create a social media presence for your school, with an emphasis on outdoor learning.
- Follow other schools and organisations on your chosen platform and share ideas widely in the outdoor learning online community.
Template
Look at these top tips for outdoor learning.
Further resources
Try Pinterest for some visual inspiration on outdoor learning.
Keeping accurate records of staff development is essential in order to track progress and help measure impact.
In order to facilitate accurate record-keeping, the outdoor learning curriculum lead will encourage staff to reflect on and record their thoughts on their outdoor learning knowledge and skill development. Each staff member will be encouraged to note:
- what they learned
- how they will use the learning in their practice
- what difference the skill or knowledge development makes to pupils, your school and the staff team in general.
Top tips
- Keep things short and simple when completing the template.
- Focus on how staff can apply their learning and what impact has been noticed.
- Encourage staff to make links from their outdoor learning development work to other parts of their career and/or your school.
Template
Use this tracker for your staff training and development training.
In order for outdoor learning to have a permanent position within the staff training and development programme, it needs to feature on your school’s performance management schedules or appraisals (for relevant staff members only). This ensures rigour, continuity and accountability across the staff team.
The outdoor learning curriculum lead will align the training to your school’s protocols and procedures to ensure the programme links to the promotion of positive attitudes and that all staff are trained to use a common, positive language in your school, including in performance management and/or appraisals.
Top tips
- Encourage staff to develop their skills and competencies over time, rather than all in one go .This will make it more manageable and they will be able to notice impact more readily.
- Establish an outdoor learning drop-in session, where staff can ask the outdoor learning curriculum lead questions, share good practice in-house and consider how best to reach their performance management targets.
How do you know if the outdoor learning training that your school has invested in as a result of doing this award is working? The easiest way to find out is to ask the staff what they think and to ask the children for their views too. Regular surveys, questionnaires or more inventive methods for collecting qualitative data can be employed here.
Think about how the data you already collect about your school can help you demonstrate the effectiveness of staff training on outdoor learning.
Be clear about you what you wanted the staff training to achieve, so that you can calibrate your findings to your intentions.
Equally, be clear with senior leaders about what changes need to be made as a result of asking for feedback on effectiveness. They might not be able to guarantee all suggestions will be implemented, but they will need to listen to everyone’s viewpoint.
Top tips
- Consider using termly or annual surveys so that all staff members are asked for their views regularly. This helps to set a rhythm for feedback and everyone in your school will come to expect it in time. Keep them short and engaging so no one gets bored.
- Brief senior leaders regularly about outdoor learning so they are clear about what has happened, rather than what people think has happened.
Ideally, your school will keep outdoor learning provision fresh, engaging and meaningful. One of the best ways to do this is to find out what others are doing and apply it to your school, ensuring that it still meets stakeholder needs.
When visiting other schools, you might like to keep a record of the visit, using the protocol provided or adapt it to make your own:
- what you think worked well
- what would be ‘even better if…’
- any other comments.
Have a list of questions ready to ask at each visit so you can relay the answers when back at your school.
When other schools and partners visit your school, have a protocol ready for the visit:
- what you will present
- who will be involved
- when the visit will take place and how long it will last
- what the purpose of the visit is, and so on.
You might like to use or adapt the one provided here. Be clear and consistent about what you offer. Ensure that your visiting partners’ experience is positive and inspiring. Equally, ensure that you get something out of their visits too – it should not be a one-sided experience.
Top tips
- Spend time preparing for having visitors and making visits. If you are well prepared, you can make the most of each visit.
- Ensure you have time and opportunity to allow new ideas and inspiration to percolate. Then spend time sharing your ideas with relevant stakeholders to encourage authentic dissemination (so that the ideas are not lost in the ‘busyness’ of your school).
- Enjoy the creative process of sharing ideas and try not to get caught up in what you think you ‘should’ be doing – rather, do what feels right for your school.
Templates
- Use this protocol for when hosting visitors to your outdoor learning setting.
- When you visit other outdoor settings use this protocol.
Think about:
- Meeting needs: how does your outdoor learning training programme meet staff needs and is it applicable to all relevant staff? How do you know what staff needs are? How will you know if staff needs are being met? Make sure you ask them.
- Promoting outdoor learning: how are staff encouraged to promote outdoor learning to all pupils and their families? Do staff feel comfortable with the outdoor learning programme? If not, how do you know? Can they be supported differently? Are staff members confident in supporting all pupils with outdoor learning?
- Updating the training: how regularly is the outdoor learning training programme updated and is it an ongoing process for all relevant staff? Are there several and varied training opportunities provided throughout the year? If new staff members join your school, are their outdoor learning training needs a priority? Can staff members have informal, ad hoc or refresher training when needed, perhaps from the outdoor learning lead?
- Management and support: how does your school manage and support the outdoor learning leader? Is specific training available? Can this be disseminated to other staff, particularly those whose roles lend themselves to outdoor learning more authentically?
- Evaluation: how do you evaluate your outdoor learning training programme and use feedback to shape future development opportunities? What evaluation methods will you use? How will you use the evaluation knowledge?