I attended a meeting recently where I gave a presentation on a literature review that I’ve written on children’s use of the outdoors. One of the delegates enquired about how outdoor learning fits into the Curriculum for Excellence – this wasn’t something I had specifically addressed during my review of the literature but I had discussed informally with enthusiastic colleagues within the teaching community. They pointed me to the ‘Learning and Teaching Scotland’ Outdoor Learning website, which is a great resource http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/outdoorlearning/index.asp

There is a section detailing the links between the Curriculum for Excellence and outdoor learning. It highlights that education within the outdoor environment produces multiple benefits for children, and groups these into the achievement of “four capacities”:

“Successful learners”

“Confident individuals”

“Responsible citizens”

“Effective contributors”

The research section of the website links to some interesting reports http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/outdoorlearning/keyinformation/research/index.asp