In collaboration with Canal & River Trust, we have published a new impact report, following an 18-month long project, that demonstrates the positive impacts of learning in natural environments.
About the project
Thanks to funding through the Green Recovery Challenge Fund (by Defra, Environmental Agency, Natural England and National Lottery Heritage Fund), CLOtC in partnership with the Canal & River Trust designed the schools package of the Waterways, Wildlife and Wellbeing (WWW) project.
The aim was to support schools in the West Midlands to embed learning beyond the classroom (LOtC) across the curriculum with a particular focus on helping students connect with the natural environment, and enhance their wellbeing.
Delivery
500 schools in the West Midlands were given free CLOtC membership. They gained access to online training, information, resources and discounts to help take teaching beyond the classroom walls.
300 of these schools in 7 target areas of the West Midlands also received additional support through individual face-to-face mentoring and training from CLOtC, and 50 were given the opportunity to engage in practical environmental activities delivered by the Canal & River Trust.
We are delighted to be working with the Canal & River Trust to help develop and deliver programmes that enable more children and young people to benefit from bringing learning to life on their doorstep in their own local environments. It’s a great partnership and one we hope to amplify and replicate. The Trust uses its expertise in delivery of engaging, relevant, local activities, and our charity supports schools, nurseries, and colleges to use these activities as a catalyst for sustainable change in teaching practice. As this project shows, embedding learning beyond the classroom into school practice means all students and staff benefit from the wide range of positive health, wellbeing, learning, environmental, and other outcomes that come from regular, high quality, and progressive learning beyond the classroom.
Key Findings
Through quantitative pre- and post- evaluation surveys for both teachers and students, qualitative insight via direct communication with teachers, and a focus group, we are delighted to report that LOtC had a significant positive impact on student learning and wellbeing, and their nature connectedness and pro-conservation behaviours increased too.
The same range of positive outcomes were experienced by their teachers, who also reported far greater confidence to take lessons into school grounds and local spaces beyond the school, with a much wider range of subjects being taught regularly beyond the classroom after the project. Furthermore, there was evidence that LOtC had been embedded into their whole school teaching practice, with an impressive 23 of the 70 mentored schools working towards achieving their LOtC Mark award.
This project worked at scale to deliver measurable multiple co-benefits to wellbeing, learning, and environmental outcomes for both pupils and teachers, in areas of high multiple deprivation, and during a time when schools were experiencing the challenges of Covid recovery. It offers a model for immediate amplification across the UK, for example by working in partnership with the many LOtC providers who hold the LOtC Quality Badge. Doing this would help support all the different departmental policies and strategies that aim to address the inequalities in health and learning and to address the climate and ecological crises.
What next?
The significant positive outcomes of this project demonstrates the value of embedding learning beyond the classroom for both staff, students and the environment.
CLOtC and the Canal & River Trust are now looking to secure wider partnership support and funding to provide on-going help for the West Midlands project schools, and to replicate the Waterways, Wildlife and Wellbeing project in other areas of the UK.
Partner with us
Working in partnership with other organisations is a fantastic way to build relationships, compliment values, deepen understanding and increase awareness of the outcomes of our work.
CLOtC welcome partnership working and aim to develop the evidence of the positive benefits of all learning outside the classroom. If you are interest in partnering with us, please get in touch at enquiries@lotc.org.uk.
