Natural England produces regular evidence summary reports on a range of issues. Here is a sample of recent ones:
This record was published by Natural England on 26 September 2022.
This briefing focuses on the impacts of learning in natural environments and the impacts of natural environments on learning processes and outcomes and health. The briefing updates the original evidence briefing (EIN017) published in 2016. The notes are aimed at: policy makers, practitioners, practice enablers, local decision makers, and the wider research community. They highlight some of the implications for future policy, service delivery and research. It is intended that they will inform practitioner planning, targeting and rationales, but not the identification of solutions or design of interventions. Barriers to access or use of natural environments are not considered in this note. The notes consider evidence of relevance to the UK and outcomes for both adults and children.
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This record was published by Natural England on 24 November 2022.
This report provides a forecast of the potential social impact of ‘learning outside the classroom in natural environments’ (LINE) in primary school settings in England. The participating schools were drawn from schools that hold the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom (CLOtC) Mark or that do not have the CLOtC Mark but have LINE embedded in their regular practice.
The report was commissioned to increase the understanding of the economic evidence around outdoor learning / LINE.
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This record was published by Natural England on 13 December 2022.
The aim of this research was to gain a better understanding of children’s perspectives on what ‘quality’ means in their local natural environments. This was done by working creatively with children and young people (aged 8 to 15 years old) as co-researchers over a nine-month period.
The five overarching factors that children identified as contributing to the ‘quality’ of an outdoor space included: the natural environment (variety in animals and plants); spaces to do the things you want (activities and play); the human/built environment (man-made aspects that enhance the natural setting); how they feel there (including freedom, safety and excitement); and accessibility (how easy it is to get there and spend time there without supervision).
These insights were then used to co-create and test survey items with children and young people, allowing them to rate the quality of natural outdoor spaces within surveys such as Natural England’s Children’s People and Nature Survey.