High Quality Outdoor Education - English Outdoor Council

3. Decide how to evaluate the indicatorsyou have chosen. It might be throughobservation, or through debrief andreview with the young people.It might be through feedback fromparticipants in written or videodiaries. Try to think of the indicatorscollectively, not as individual items tobe checked off.4. To what extent are your young peoplemeeting each outcome? You mightfind it helpful to record the result on asimple sliding scale like the oneshown below. For a result beyondthe halfway point, you would wantto be satisfied that most of the youngpeople in your group are meeting orprogressing towards most of theindicators.Low Half way point HighSome of the indicators are moreeasily measurable than others.They are phrased in fairly generalterms to be relevant in the widevariety of contexts in which outdooreducation is delivered. You may beable to set more specific targets andobjectives.5. As a team, discuss the individualevaluations and try to establish apicture across the whole school,youth service, centre or club. If mostof the individual evaluations areabove the halfway point, this wouldsuggest that you are providinghigh-quality outdoor education foryoung people. Where you judge thatyou are below the halfway point, butnone the less are seeing progress,this would suggest you are movingtowards high quality.Obviously, this is, to a greater or lesserdegree, a subjective process. It should,however, enable you to identify areasof comparative strength or weakness,think about what you need to do toimprove or sustain quality, and provide abenchmark to estimate how far you haveprogressed between one evaluation andthe next.Improving and sustaining qualityThe quality you achieve in Outdooreducation will depend on:• how well your head teachers,managers or leaders are creating avision that recognises the benefits ofoutdoor education and assists inmaking it a reality,• how well your teachers and supportstaff, youth workers, instructors orcoaches are inspiring and helpingyoung people to learn and achieve,• the extent to which young people areinvolved in organising and planningtheir own activities,• the extent to which young people,whatever their circumstances, areable to participate in your programme,• the effectiveness of links betweenschools, youth services, centres andclubs in maximising and reinforcingthe learning outcomes for youngpeople.The latter sections of this guide highlightsome of the characteristics ofhigh-quality provision focusing on thepoints above.This is not intended as a definitive guide– use it to help you identify what you arealready doing well and what you couldperhaps do better.Give yourselves a realistic time scalefor any improvements you identifyand during this time concentrate onimproving the impact of your provisionin these areas. At the end of the periodcarry out the evaluation again and seewhether more of your young people haveprogressed towards meeting more of theindicators.Don’t forget that this guide is aboutimproving quality, whatever yourstarting point. A great deal ofhigh-quality outdoor education currentlytakes place in schools, youth services,centres and clubs up and down thecountry. This document is intended tobenchmark, celebrate and build uponthis good work.5