Learning outside has a positive impact on pupils’ and teachers’ work, figures from Natural England suggest.

The government agency’s conclusions are drawn from an investigation into learning outside the classroom in the natural environment (LINE).

It evaluated 125 schools in England and found that outdoor learning had an overwhelmingly positive impact on pupils’ enjoyment of lessons (95 per cent), social skills (93 per cent) and engagement with learning (92 per cent).

Outdoor learning also had a positive impact on pupils’ attainment in class. More than half (57 per cent) of all pupils recorded an improvement in attainment as a result of spending time outdoors.

‘Enhancing teaching practice’

Meanwhile, 79 per cent of teachers said that learning outside had improved their teaching practice, while 51 per cent of teachers said that it had helped them better their teaching performance.

Where there were challenges to LINE, the study found that they revolved around a lack of teacher confidence in teaching outside, and the fragmentation of external support services. These problems “underpinned the traditionally cited challenges of curriculum pressures [and] concern about risks and cost”.

In Scotland, meanwhile, the amount of time spent outdoors by pupils in primary and secondary schools has increased.

Between 2006 and 2014 (the most recent year on record), Scottish primary school pupils spent an average of half an hour learning outside per week, compared with 19 minutes in 2006. Secondary school pupils spent an average of 16 minutes outdoors in 2014.

Will Martin