Learning Away consortium member, Louise Edwards, who is chair of the Association of Heads of Outdoor Education Centres (AHOEC), will be taking a motion to National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) annual conference this week. This will urge the NAHT national executive to campaign to protect funding to enable children to have greater access to high quality outdoor education and residential experiences.
The full motion is:
‘The benefits to pupils experiencing outdoor education that provide invaluable, often life changing, opportunities to apply learning beyond the classroom in real world settings are indisputable. Leaders of outdoor education centres have been adapting the delivery of education in their sites to ensure that schools receive the very best quality learning and value for money. However there is a significant threat in the take up of outdoor education as budgets are squeezed.
Against the backdrop of the crisis in education funding there is a clear risk that fewer pupils will be able to enjoy the unique benefits of outdoor learning and the inevitable negative impact this will have.
Conference instructs the National Executive to campaign for protected funding to enable children to have greater access to high quality outdoor education and residential experiences.’
Louise Edwards will argue the case that there is a wealth of compelling evidence which clearly demonstrates the benefits of outdoor education and residential experiences. This includes evidence produced by Learning Away, Natural Connections, RSPB, EEF and many others. She will call for a collective commitment from the NAHT to recognise the value of outdoor learning so much that we they will campaign to find ways of making it happen, more of the time for more children. Louise will confirm that AHOEC is committed to working with NAHT more closely and to being more creative about outdoor education services so that there is greater access to more outdoor learning and residential experiences for all pupils for the future.
Whether you’re attending the NAHT conference this year or looking to stay up-to-date with the latest news from afar, you can join in on the conversation using the dedicated Twitter hashtag #NAHTConf Learning Away is urging all NAHT members to support this vital motion to ensure more children have more access to outdoor education residential learning experiences.