Learning Away expert Peter Carne OBE on why it’s crucial to look at how to integrate learning back in the classrooms.
The notion of any learning outside the classroom experience being a ‘stand-alone’ event and not embedded into the learning for pupils is surely one that must be seen as outdated.
There is now an increasing wealth of research and evidence that demonstrates the positive impact that school trips have on learning, engagement, and wellbeing; opportunities and benefits that cannot be achieved in any other educational context or setting.
Residentials themselves should not be planned as ‘one off’ special activities, but as an integral part of the school, fully integrated within the curriculum and life of the school for all pupils.
The evidence shows that the benefits are greater and have longer-term impact when these experiences are planned and fully integrated into a school’s curriculum and ethos, with the learning embedded and reinforced back in the classroom. This is especially the case with residentials, which are often thought of as ‘stand-alone’ events, however impactful.
Learning Outside the Classroom (LOtC) experiences can be integrated with the curriculum in many ways. Schools can design these experiences to build on and extend and/or follow-up themes, projects and subjects initially introduced in the classroom.
My top tips for teachers on how to embed learning back in the classroom
1. Recognise the value of learning outside the classroom (LOtC) in achieving the outcomes you want for your pupils. Collect evidence of impact (published research and your own evaluation findings). Share this evidence with the whole school community, making it easier to ‘make the case’, prioritise, embed and resource LOtC.
2. Ensure commitment to LOtC is underpinned in school policy and the learning development plan is supported by your senior management team (SMT), governors as well as the parents.
3. Support Continued Professional Development (CPD) to improve the quality of teaching through the most effective use of LOtC.
4. Ensure that LOtC is a feature of all subjects and curriculum areas and not confined to a few.
5. Develop a planning approach that recognises the importance of curriculum integration and embeds and reinforces the learning. Use the LOtC Mark and Learning Away ‘theory of change’ planning tools to help with this (see more about Learning Away in Peter’s bio to the right).
6. Rigorously evaluate the impact of LOtC on your pupils’ learning, engagement and wellbeing. Design your evaluation strategy as part of your planning.
7. Utilise Pupil Premium funding to finance trips for disadvantaged pupils. Use your evaluation evidence to enhance all of your fundraising.
8. Make use of your grounds and the range of learning spaces within the immediate locality.
9. Make more of the opportunities offered by residentials. They enable pupils to engage in challenging, ‘real life’ activities that they may not experience at school because of lack of time and/or opportunity.
10. Join the community of passionate LOtC practitioners. Find opportunities to network with local schools, providers and other colleagues online and/or at conferences and events.
