Learning Outside the Classroom (LOtC) is the use of places other than the classroom for teaching and learning. It is about getting children and young people out and about, providing them with challenging, exciting and different experiences to help them learn.
Learning outside the classroom can happen at almost any time and almost anywhere
The ‘places’ where learning happens can have a significant effect on how a young person engages with a subject or an idea. Learning outside the classroom can happen at almost any time and almost anywhere – outdoors or indoors: in the school grounds, on the high street, in the local park, in museums and art galleries, on mountain tops and rivers, in Britain’s remote places, or elsewhere in the world.
As an essential way of learning it should not be restricted to the summer or as an ‘add-on’ after examinations.
Learning outside the classroom should be built into planning for all learners, every week and all year round. It is a powerful tool that is proven to raise attainment, bolster social, emotional and personal development and contributes to the health and well being of children and young people.
View a diagram of LOtC.
Learning outside the classroom clearly supports the principles and goals of the Children’s Plan particularly in terms of identifying and realising the potential of all young people of all ages.
In this way, learning outside the classroom is a key component in the organisation of learning.