Independent thinkers and learners: a critical evaluation of the ‘Growing Together Schools Programme’

Abstract

This article reports on primary data following an evaluative research project examining an innovative outdoor learning programme in the South East of England with pupils from year six in a primary school. The programme focused on enhancing the skills, experiences and personal attributes of children and young people to cope better with the challenges of learning in the classroom. The evaluation focused on how the intervention was successful in building confidence in children and preparing them for academic success. This study is unique, in that it aims to privilege children's voices and explores their subjective accounts of the programme to actually begin to understand some of the nuances and issues involved in participating from a child's perspective in an outdoor learning programme.

Effects of Regular Classes in Outdoor Education Settings: A Systematic Review on Students’ Learning, Social and Health Dimensions

“…Table 2 shows specific information concerning the interventions and data collections. Four studies were conducted in Denmark [4,6,7,27], three in the USA [28,29,30], and one each in Germany [23], New Zealand [31], Sweden [5], the UK [32], and Norway [33]. One study included data from the UK, India and Kenya [34].…”

“…Six studies collected and analysed data on a solely student level [4,23,27,29,34,35], five studies also included data from teachers, staff and parents [6,30,31,32,33] and one study [5] only included data from parents. Eight studies used interviews [6,27,29,30,31,32,33,34], six studies used questionnaires [5,7,28,30,31], three studies used learning assessments [29,30,31], two studies used observations [32,34] and, in each case, one study used a postal survey [23], written documents [29], drawings and concept maps [34], and accelerometry [4]. The quantity of compulsory educational activities in a natural or cultural environment outside the classroom varied from one school day bi-weekly to a duration of eight weeks [27], and a six-month full week programme [23].…”

“…We categorised measured outcomes and presented the results of each study according to the study design. Seven studies reported outcomes on learning dimensions [7,27,29,30,31,32,34] and eight studies on social dimensions [6,7,23,27,28,30,31,34]. Two studies reported on students’ physical activity [4,7], one study [5] on students’ mental health, one study [33] on students’ action regulation behaviour and one study [31] on students’ environmental attitude and behaviour.…”

“…The methodological quality for most of the qualitative studies [6,27,29,30,31,32,33] can be classified as moderate (M = 0.41, SD = 0.12), with mean values ranged from 0.33 to 0.56. Two studies were rated as high (M = 0.78, SD = 0) [23,34], with mean values of 0.78 each.…”

Beyond education: What role can schools play in the support and protection of children in extreme settings?

“…Much formal support of marginalized learners, such as inclusive education practices, which require schools and teachers to develop new ways of working, is ultimately about achieving 'education for all ' (UNESCO, 1994: ix;Ainscow et al, 2013). Similarly, many care and support practices within school settings are driven by recognition that failure to consider the social and personal problems of children and young people impedes the efforts of teachers and interferes with learning by pupils (Marland, 1974;Calvert, 2009;Sharpe, 2014). Such practices may include schoolbased projects that focus on specific problems, such as bullying or substance abuse, or by connecting children and young people with agencies that are equipped to meet the needs of those with social, mental or physical health problems (Calvert, 2009;Tucker, 2013;Adelman & Taylor, 2014).…”