Outdoor Learning in the the Outer Hebrides
The work of the Outdoor Learning Team in the Outer Hebrides; developing Learning for Sustainability and helping soften the classroom walls
Tim heard about the new mud kitchen and music wall Uig Sgoil Araich have had built for them. Made from pallets and other scavenged materials it gives the young people a great new place to experiment and take part in imaginative play. They were built by Phill who lives in Uig and look fantastic.
Tim is now looking forwards to going over to play.
If you have any great things you would like to share please contact either Tim or Isi.
Scottish Government as part of its educational recovery strategy, and as recognition of the benefits of Outdoor Learning, they have funded the development of two online training courses. The Scottish Advisory Panel for Outdoor Education (SAPOE) worked with Education Officers from Education Scotland to develop the Teaching Learning Outdoors and Supporting Learning Outdoors Courses for teaching staff and support staff.
Teaching Learning Outdoors
The Teaching Learning Outdoors (TLO) course supports teachers to deliver curriculum learning in an outdoor context. During the course there is opportunity to develop an understanding of the benefits of learning outdoors, key resources and policy, and how to access them to enable delivery of high-quality outdoor learning. The course also covers pedagogy and practical solutions for delivering learning outdoors, as well as creating an action plan for applying the new knowledge gained.
The TLO module is available on the Education Scotland Professional Learning and Leadership Platform site: Log In | Education Scotland PLL
To 23 March 2021 nationally 389 modules were in progress and 490 modules completed.
Supporting Learning Outdoors
The Supporting Learning Outdoors course is for anyone who has a role in supporting the delivery of curricular based outdoor learning. Aimed at classroom assistants, volunteers, instructors, third sector and private organisations, or anyone who wants to work in partnerships with schools to deliver meaningful outdoor learning experiences. The course will help participants to gain an understanding of the Curriculum for Excellence, and the framework for delivering this to pupils, as well as providing resources and ideas to assist good partnership working.
To 23 March 2021 nationally 414 courses were in progress and 279 courses completed.
The SLO course is available on the SAPOE web site: Supporting Learning Outdoors.
Further Training and Help
Here is a short video which was made for the Teaching Learning Outdoor webinars showing what Outdoor Learning can be:
SAPOE What is Outdoor Learning – YouTube
If you need more help, advice or training to develop outdoor learning in your school or class Tim and Isi can help
Beetroot is easy enough to grow in the garden, and it’s a solid favourite of ours! Your 5-a-day are important, beetroot is tasty and good for you. You can use it in soups, cakes, roast them or put them in salads. I personally like to stick some beetroot on a lollipop stick and eat it like a lollipop.
They’re great veg to grow with kids because the seeds are quite big and so it’s not too fiddly for little hands. They grow best in slightly sandy earth, but they do well in any type of soil. For example, if your soil is a little too acidic, a little lime through it should balance it out. Beets grow best when there aren’t other plants right next to them so make sure it has a little room around it to grow. You don’t even need to plant beetroot in a plot, they’ll grow well in a tub or container of some sort!
If you want the young people you’re helping in the garden to be encouraged, beetroot is a good choice of vegetable for this. It’s easy enough to plant, and it grows easily a lot of the time. There is usually a little bit of time before you start to see it breaking through, but don’t worry as it will still be growing. They take a bit of time to germinate, even if you can’t see them.
We used egg-boxes to start them off in. We chose these so that we could plant them into the ground if we wanted to, however if you don’t have the space to be able to plant them in the ground a reasonably sized container will do. Firstly we put some earth in each little section of the boxes. Little hands will certainly help with this!
As you can see here, beetroot seeds are big enough that little hands won’t have a problem picking them up here. You need one seed per egg divot. Put the seeds in the middle and press it down into the soil, before covering it with more soil. Your helper will be able to do this without a problem!
Your beets should germinate within 14 days, and you might start to see, at the earliest, sprouts from the third day . Make sure you water these at least twice a week so they don’t dry out! When your beetroots begin to sprout you will start to see little purple shoots.
Around then, it’s a good idea to move your beetroots to somewhere with a more room. For example, if you have a little garden space. Cut up your egg boxes and plant them in a little pre-dug plot. If you don’t have the garden space available, a big box will work just as well! The egg boxes will break down as they’re biodegradable anyway.
With this done, all you have to do is keep your beetroot watered and to watch them grow over time.
Then when they are ready it is time to cook them and make lollipops.
There is an important message from Jason Leitch the National Clinical Director for the Scottish Government about child care. The message is clear don’t do anything different because children won’t understand but be obsessive about washing your hands.
National Clinical Director @jasonleitch speaks to us about outside play and getting children outdoors as many times as they wish while in an enclosed space 🍃🍂🌦
Check out the video ⬇️⬇️⬇️ pic.twitter.com/ACU6fWl8pu
— ScotGov Childcare (@ELCScotGov) April 29, 2020
Tim delivered a train the trainer course to allow practitioners to be trainers for the Forest and Outdoor Kindergarten SCQF level 7, the plan is to embed this training throughout the authority. As in the last post on this training it is based round exploring the three areas of People, Place and Pedagogy; the Who, Where and Why of good practice.
The training was delivered at the Water Wheel Building in the Castle Grounds and the surrounding area and although it was chilly it was a great space to play in.
We started by discussing fun important memories from growing up, and although we were in an outdoor setting most of people memories had an outdoor element to them.
Even with the theoretical content which was needed we tried to make the course as practical as possible to illustrate how the learning through playing can be taken outside.
The aim is for the participants to grow their confidence to take the principles into their nursery setting and encourage others to spend more time outdoors with the young people.
Since Tim has come back from doing the Forest Kindergarten Training he has been working with the Early Years team to help them develop their skills.
He ran a pilot course with the combined nursery staff in Tong school and will be running a trainer course in November 2019.
Although the course is called forest it is not just aimed at forests, the training is aimed at helping early years practitioners to take the young people they work with outside more regularly.
The model used is to consider the Place, the People and the Pedagogy;
Considering the Place involves the suitability and the practical steps needed to manage the young people in the place.
The People thinks about who is involved; the young people, the staff, the carers/parents managing their needs and expectations.
Pedagogy is the how what and why we take young people outdoors
A possible visual model:
The objective it to show practitioners the connectivity and to challenge them to consider the elements in their own practice.
This is partly done inside through conversation, which because of time constraints is done inside.
The final session on pedagogy was done outside in the fantastic garden area of the school. The practitioners were given opportunity to play. This, apart from being great fun in the rain, highlighted for this group the importance of child lead learning and how few resources they needed as the environment provides them. They saw imaginative play, social skills development, gross motor skills, fine motor skills and peer learning happen within their own group and considered how they could use this in their own practice.
Sgoil Araich Uig have been developing the outdoor area at the back of the school as a place they can go and learn through outdoor play. As part of this Tim was over and had the chance to discuss developments, spend some time exploring the area and playing.
If you would like help developing the area round your nursery for outdoor play please contact Tim or Isi
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