Environmental and Sustainability Education and the Great Green Outdoors: A cross-sectional survey of provisions in Scotland shows happy alliances

Author(s):

Greg Mannion(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2017

Network:

30. Environmental and Sustainability Education Research (ESER)

Format:

Paper

Session Information

30 SES 06 A, Operationalising of ESD for Research Purposes

Paper Session

Time:

2017-08-23

15:30-17:00

Room:

K6.08

Chair:

Leif Östman

Contribution

In Scottish pre-school and school curricula, as in many developed countries, there is an expectation that pupils will receive opportunities to learn outdoors within subject areas and in interdisciplinary studies. A common interdisciplinary theme is environmental education / education for sustainability (ESE). In Scotland, within the policy document, ‘Learning for Sustainability’, there is a strong recommendation that sustainability education can and should connect with outdoor educational experience. This is not a surprise, since across many literatures, there are explicit and implicit expectations that links can be made between ESE and outdoor greenspace experience. However, few studies have successfully attempted to describe at a macro level how schools and preschool sectors actually make these links in practice. This is because it is difficult to capture accurate data on outdoor provision and provisions in ESE on the ground. In this study, using a cross-sectional study of thousands of individual outdoor lesson events, we show when and how ESE is delivered via experiences in outdoor settings, and consider the effects on learning.

Method

We used a cross-sectional approach, using two surveys of provision in 2006 and 2014, to find out how schools and pre-schools were utilising the school grounds, local areas, and other places beyond as settings outdoor learning. We looked to find meaningful measures for the time spent in various location types, the overall durations of time spent outdoors as a proportion of overall time in school, the learning foci and curricular emphases, and what impacts on learner engagement these outdoor provisions were affording. As part of this study, we set out to collect evidence about when and how these outdoor experiences were addressing ESE / ESD. This research was distinctive in that it collected evidence about over 2000 individual outdoor ‘lessons’ inclusive of residential and non-residential provision. The data referred to all outdoor events for sampled schools for two 2-month periods during the summer terms of 2006 and 2014. Each outdoor learning event was reported upon by teachers themselves. Break times were excluded from the survey. The research allowed us to consider, for the first time in a national setting, the way ESE-type provisions were associated with outdoor settings. A comprehensive account of a national changing picture is derivable and how ESE sits within this.

Expected Outcomes

In the second survey in 2014, ‘Sustainable development’ (SD) was the most commonly reported cross-curriculum theme (followed by ‘citizenship’ and ‘enterprise’ respectively). But only a fifth of primary and one third of secondary school events (non-residential) addressed the theme of SD. Yet, the evidence also suggests outdoor events have enormous potential to enrich the curricular experience of pupils when compared to that in indoor settings. This applied in particular ways to ESE. Teachers reported that in the majority of these SD events, pupils were taking and ‘active’ and ‘collaborative’ approach to learning. The data also show strong links among, for example, pupil engagement, challenge and enjoyment, and the provision of ESD in outdoor settings. Many of these findings marry with the literature proposing what should be core to a curriculum of ESE but there are dissonances too. Overall, evidence suggests that ESE within outdoor provisions (in the grounds, in local areas and further flung) have increased over time and are now a key part of the formally delivered curriculum in Scotland. As these teachers reported it, taking learning outdoors - especially to green space - to address sustainability has the general effect of making learning more active and collaborative, enhancing and enriching educational experience across a wide range of subject areas and thematic aspects.

References

Mannion G, Mattu, L. & Wilson, M. (2015) Teaching, learning, and play in the outdoors: a survey of school and pre-school provision in Scotland. Scottish Natural Heritage Commissioned Report, 779. Scottish Natural Heritage. Downloadable from Mannion, G., Doyle, L., Sankey, K., Mattu, L., Wilson, M. (2007). Young People’s Interaction with Natural Heritage through Outdoor Learning. Report Contracted to University of Stirling, Commissioned by Scottish Natural Heritage. http://www.snh.org.uk/pdfs/publications/commissioned_reports/ReportNo225.pdf

Author Information

Greg Mannion (presenting / submitting)

Univ of Stirling

Social Science (Education)

Stirlingshire, Scotland

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