High Quality Outdoor Education - English Outdoor Council

Recommendations

Info

‘I am happy to place on record that thegovernment supports the role ofadventure as part of active education,especially in helping young people tolearn about assessing and managingrisk, in offering them new and excitingchallenges, and in helping them to gainskills in leadership and team workingthat will be of huge value in theirprogression to adulthood.’Tony Blair, Prime Minister,September 2001 in support ofthe English Outdoor Council’s‘Campaign for Adventure’ as quotedin the 2002 DfES booklet ‘Standardsfor Adventure’‘Outdoor activities, both at school andon residential courses, enable pupils toenjoy challenging and unfamiliarexperiences that test and develop theirphysical, social and personal skills.They can be among the mostmemorable experiences for pupilsof their school days.’David Bell, Her Majesty’sChief Inspector, September 2004‘We are convinced that out-of-classroomeducation enriches the curriculum andcan improve educational attainment.’House of Commons Education andSkills Committee Report ‘EducationOutside the Classroom’ January 2005Acknowledgements:Written by members of the Outdoor EducationAdvisers’ Panel, which comprises nominatedrepresentatives of Chief Education Officers ofLocal Education Authorities in England andWales, and provides a forum for sharing anddeveloping good practice in outdoor education.Published by the English Outdoor Council, anumbrella body of the principal representativeorganisations in the field of outdoor education.The publishers would like to express their gratefulthanks to Ordnance Survey for sponsoring andprinting the guide and to the Outdoor IndustriesAssociation for facilitating the sponsorship.The publishers would also like to thank the DfESand DCMS for encouraging the publication of theguide, and permitting it to be based on the formatof the DfES/DCMS guide ‘High Quality PE andSport for Young People’, published in March 2004.© Copyright The English Outdoor Council.Extracts from this document may be reproducedfor non-commercial or training purposes on thecondition that the source is acknowledged.
About this guideBritain has a long tradition of involving young people inadventurous outdoor activities, and the positive impactthis can have on a young person’s education is widelyacknowledged.Recently Ofsted were commissioned bythe DfES to undertake an evaluation ofaspects of outdoor education in schoolsand outdoor centres in England.The evaluation sought to identifygood practice and the… ‘…uniquecontribution made by outdoor educationto enhancing young people’s personaland social development.’In their report ‘Outdoor Education– Aspects of Good Practice’, publishedin September 2004, Ofsted identifiedamongst their main findings that:‘Outdoor education gives depth to thecurriculum and makes an importantcontribution to students’ physical,personal and social education.’‘Students generally make good progressin outdoor education, both at schooland at outdoor centres. They developtheir physical skills in new andchallenging situations, as well asexercising important social skills suchas teamwork and leadership.’‘To achieve further improvements inprovision for outdoor education,schools and centres should…ensure thebenefits of outdoor education can beexperienced by all students.’This new guide focuses on high qualityin outdoor education – what it looks likeand how to achieve it. It recognises thathigh-quality outdoor education takesplace not only in schools and outdooreducation centres but equally in youthservices and voluntary youthorganisations, as well as outdooractivity clubs that cater for youngpeople.The guide is presented in sectionsas follows:• an introductory section explaininghow to use this guide to evaluate andimprove quality in outdoor education,• a statement of ten outcomes ofhigh-quality outdoor education,together with five cross-cuttingthemes – aspects or models oflearning that have general relevanceacross outdoor education,• a list of indicators for each outcomethat give a picture of what we shouldexpect to see young people achievingwhen they are involved in high-qualityoutdoor education,• an overview of provision – how weinspire and enable young people toachieve through outdoor education,• an overview of effective links andpartnerships – how schools, youthorganisations, outdoor centres andclubs can work together to achievehigh quality.The guide is intended for:• those directly involved in outdooreducation with young people,including teachers and supportstaff, youth workers, instructors andcoaches,• those who are considering becominginvolved and wish to understandmore about the benefits of outdooreducation for young people,• those involved in managing andmonitoring outdoor education,including head teachers, youthservice managers, heads andmanagers of outdoor educationcentres, leaders of voluntary youthorganisations and outdoor activityclubs, and local authority advisers.1
Page 5 and 6: How do youngpeople participate?This
Page 7 and 8: 3. Decide how to evaluate the indic
Page 9 and 10: 5. Are acquiring and developing ara
Page 11 and 12: Outcome 2: ConfidenceYoung people a
Page 13 and 14: AwarenessOutcome 4: Environmental a
Page 15 and 16: Outcome 6: Personal qualitiesYoung
Page 17 and 18: FitnessOutcome 8: Health and fitnes
Page 19 and 20: HorizonsOutcome 10: Broadened horiz
Page 21 and 22: Creating the visionIn schools and y
Page 23 and 24: Helping young peoplelearn and achie
Page 25 and 26: What makes aneffective link?When sc
Page 27 and 28: Finding out moreThe following websi

High Quality Outdoor Education - English Outdoor Council

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?