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Promote positive attitudes around outdoor learning

Measuring Impact and Success

Your school needs to show how you have changed or improved the attitudes of all those involved towards outdoor learning. For example, you can demonstrate how, by providing some encouragement and top tips from the outdoor learning curriculum lead, a positive change in the way other staff members talk about outdoor learning and being outdoors has been noticed. 

Some examples of measuring impact include: 

  • an analysis of pupil evaluations from each term’s outdoor learning provision to identify how pupils’ attitudes have changed, how they would benefit from further development and what would enhance their ability to engage further (compile a survey using questions that reflect their attitudes towards outdoor learning) 
  • case studies of individual or groups of pupils showing the impact of outdoor learning on their attitudes to outdoor learning, and/or statements from staff about how they have noticed a positive shift in pupils’ attitudes to outdoor learning
  • pupil feedback on their outdoor learning experience (consider using ‘before’ and ‘after’ stories or draw and write evidence on how their attitudes have changed – what they used to be like in relation to outdoor learning and what they are like now)
  • senior leadership feedback about attitudinal change across the whole-school community
  • an analysis of parent attitudes to outdoor learning: how their views about outdoor learning might have changed for the positive over time, and the effect this has on their children and their home lives, where relevant. 

Remember in each case to describe the impact of your actions (that is, what difference they made) and not just what you did.

Overview

This benchmark is about the promotion of positive attitudes across your whole school concerning the many benefits of outdoor learning. 

Everyone (staff, pupils, families and the wider community) must understand the importance of a positive stance when communicating about the outdoor learning opportunities. This includes things like speaking positively about the weather, wearing appropriate clothing for temperature and seasons, and ensuring adults role-model this to the pupils. It also includes enabling time for pupils to explore any unplanned experiences, such as unexpected snowfall or a rainbow appearing. 

This approach reveals the positive and affirming attitudes in your school, as well as the value placed on learning from these experiences.

Intentions

Intentions are actions you intend to take in order to improve your provision in this benchmark. Choose three intentions to focus on.

A mission statement is to ensure everyone in your school is working towards the same purpose. The statement does not need to be lengthy or complicated: it simply needs to set out your school’s intention in terms of its outdoor learning provision and plan. 

Involving the pupils and staff in creating a whole school mission statement for outdoor learning brings a feeling of ownership and understanding for all. This can be done in small groups, assemblies, discussions, creative sessions, in whichever way best suits the pupils. It can then be brought together and shared, ensuring that everyone understands why it is in place too. 

Top tips

  • Involve all pupils in the creation of the mission statement, whatever their age and ability. 
  • Be creative and consider using art and music as well as written words.
  • Display the mission statement in a prominent place in your school and put it on your school’s website. 
  • Refer to it regularly to keep it at the forefront of people’s minds. 

Templates
You can download this example mission statement and adapt it to meet your school’s outdoor learning provision.

An important part of outdoor learning is to raise awareness, help foster a better understanding of the benefits and facilitate an understanding of the aims of outdoor learning. Running a campaign or series of campaigns is a powerful way of raising awareness among pupils. It also serves to help them feel part of the school’s aims and see their place within it. 

Sometimes, pupils want to get involved, but they do not know where to start. Your school will need to create an easy, accessible and meaningful way to raise awareness about outdoor learning with pupils. This could be as simple as sharing ideas in an assembly, having the outdoor learning curriculum lead visit each class to share the school’s aims for outdoor learning or providing an accessible display within the school (inside and outside). You can recap on the benefits of outdoor learning using the link below. 

Top tips

  • Consider how you will best get your messages across. Will social media work well or would a noticeboard be a better approach? 
  • Decide about what you want to raise awareness of. Then think about the best way to share that information. 
  • Think about how you could involve pupils in helping their peers understand more about outdoor learning: ask them for their ideas about raising awareness. 

Further resources

Everyone involved in outdoor learning in your school should share a common, positive language. This ensures that there are no mixed messages, nor that there are conflicts of intention. The common and positive language needs to be accessible to all. For example, it is important that staff consistently use positive language such as when talking about the rain: 

  • how we need rain to water our plants and for nature to drink
  • how wearing appropriate clothing can help pupils shift their ideas about being able to go outdoors on rainy days.  

A common ‘language’ is not just how outdoor learning is talked about in your school: it is about all types of communication, from verbal to non-verbal and everything in between – from the noticeboards and displays around your school to the inclusion of outdoor learning on leadership meeting agendas, and so on. 

A simple and effective way to set the intentions or expectations in your school is to create a charter that everyone understands and can follow easily. The charter needs to be clear and concise. It also needs to be created via a collaborative process, so everyone who wants to participate in the writing process has the opportunity to do so. Your school can create your own charter or download and use the template provided.

Top tips

  • Ask everyone in your school for their ideas and include as many as practical in the charter.
  • Tell people about the charter in as many varied ways as possible and keep doing so until everyone in your school is aware of the charter and why it has been produced. 
  • Display the charter in prominent places around your school and feature it on your website and social media channels. 
  • Review it in a timely way and update it when necessary. 

Further resources

Your school might offer excellent and inspiring outdoor learning opportunities, but if people are unaware of it, they are not able to benefit from it. Therefore, it is crucial to share your outdoor learning provision as widely as possible. Not only will this help update the local community, it may also attract interest from further afield and can foster opportunities to work more globally. 

Regular posting on all social media platforms reinforces the message to all those involved in your school. It keeps a consistent update flow and enables followers to feel informed.

For those who do not engage with social media, you need to think of other ways to update people. Your school website is a good place to start, as you can control the content and keep it fresh. You might like to invite the local print media in to see the outdoor learning provision in your school and ask them to write about what you do; it is an ideal opportunity to feature photos of what you offer too. 

By sharing your outdoor learning provision across your school and beyond, you are building awareness and familiarity and are bringing others along with you as you progress further. You will likely find that people become more supportive the more they recognise the value of what you are offering. 

Top tips

  • Create a social media posting calendar or timetable, where you plan what you will post about and when. This helps you to be consistent and stick to your school’s mission or intentions. You might like to use the template provided here . 
  • Ensure your website is updated consistently. Offer this updating role to someone within your school who is interested and capable of the role, and who understands the importance of the tasks. This might be a pupil or group of pupils, a parent, a governor, or a member of staff. 
  • Create a toolkit of media-friendly documents and images, so they are ready when local media outlets visit or ask more about what you do. 

Further resources

For the outdoor learning provision to thrive in your school, you need to make sure that it is a priority for senior leaders and governors. Their drive and support will be invaluable for your school’s ability to make progress with outdoor learning provision. They may also be able to support your school with funding and resource allocation, especially if they are kept up to date with developments. 

Outdoor learning outcomes must be a regular item on leadership meeting agendas and referred to frequently in discussions. This ensures that outdoor learning is recognised and valued and will be reported to governors as a priority, added into the head teacher’s report to governors when appropriate. 

The outdoor learning curriculum lead will need to have regular opportunities to feedback to senior leaders and this must be made a priority of the outdoor learning curriculum lead’s responsibilities. 

Regular mentions of outdoor learning help to raise awareness and facilitate links between different areas of your school (across departments, teams and phases). 

Top tips

  • Invite a governor to be the outdoor learning lead (for governors) for your school and ensure that they are well-informed with developments/impact.
  • Invite the outdoor learning curriculum lead to attend governor meetings to keep the wider community up-to-date about outdoor learning in your school. 
  • Display a weekly idea or top tip in the staff room to keep outdoor learning well established in staff members’ minds. 
  • Create a simple template that the outdoor learning curriculum lead can use to update senior leaders and governors about outcomes to save time and to promote consistency. 
  • Support the outdoor learning curriculum lead to chair meetings where updates are shared and feedback is offered. 

To kick off or enhance your outdoor learning journey in school, consider running an event that promotes what you want to achieve with outdoor learning. 

Decide on what you want to promote about outdoor learning and be as specific as possible; this will help keep everything tight and manageable. It will also help you decide what type of event you would like to run – taking into consideration the practical elements of space and time. 

Use the WWWWWH model: 

  • who
  • what
  • when
  • where
  • why
  • how. 

Using these words as headings will keep you on track and ensure the day or event is manageable. 

Remember that you do not need to fit everything into one day or one event. You could break it down so that you tackle just one element of outdoor learning. Examples could include: 

  • a campfire cooking event
  • a bug hotel-making workshop
  • a weather-related event (learning about the elements – solar- and wind-power – and making windmills or solar-powered toys)
  • an event based on the time of year (the solstices, Christmas, Halloween, and so on) and what it signifies in terms of the outdoors. 

Aim to do one thing really well rather than lots of things less well.

Top tips

  • Keep the day or event plan simple and easy to understand, so everyone is clear about what will happen. 
  • Consider using a project management template like a Gantt chart or simple spreadsheet to keep everything organised and to time.
  • Document how you will demonstrate changes that are made as a result of the promotional activity: what is different and how do you know? 
Reflection

Your school will be able to measure the success of the attitudes by how well the community embraces outdoor learning. It is important to encourage a positive and appropriate mindset among those who see rain, cold, wind or sun as reasons to avoid the outdoors.  

  • Communicate positive messages. 
    • Does everyone in your school communicate positively about being outside? If not, why? What could be done about it? (Be careful about railroading people into a positive mindset: they might have valid reasons why they are not positive, so find out first beforehand.)
  • Consider attitudes to weather. 
    • How do people feel about the weather? Do their attitudes affect pupil behaviour?
  • Think about appropriate clothing .
    • Is appropriate clothing provided or facilitated for the current weather? For example, do you ensure pupils have access to sunhats in the heat, wellies in the rain and warm layers for when it is cold? Do adults role-model this too?
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