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Curriculum-based outdoor learning for children aged 9-11: A qualitative analysis of pupils’ and teachers’ views

Emily Marchant Orcid Logo, Charlotte Todd Orcid Logo, Roxanne Cooksey Orcid Logo, Sam Dredge, Hope Jones, David Reynolds, Gareth Stratton Orcid Logo, Russell Dwyer, Ronan Lyons Orcid Logo, Sinead Brophy Orcid Logo

PLOS ONE, Volume: 14, Issue: 5, Start page: e0212242

Swansea University Authors: Emily Marchant Orcid Logo, Charlotte Todd Orcid Logo, Roxanne Cooksey Orcid Logo, Sam Dredge, Hope Jones, David Reynolds, Gareth Stratton Orcid Logo, Ronan Lyons Orcid Logo, Sinead Brophy Orcid Logo

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Abstract

The relationship between child health, wellbeing and education demonstrates that healthier and happier children achieve higher educational attainment. An engaging curriculum that facilitates children in achieving their academic potential has strong implications for educational outcomes, future emplo...

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Published in: PLOS ONE
ISSN: 1932-6203
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2019
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spelling v2 50516 2019-05-24 Curriculum-based outdoor learning for children aged 9-11: A qualitative analysis of pupils’ and teachers’ views d68adb6744707b3bd75e07bd334d0516 0000-0002-9701-5991 Emily Marchant Emily Marchant true false 74c92c91e05d8cb8de38e27de34c9194 0000-0002-3183-2403 Charlotte Todd Charlotte Todd true false df63826249b712dcb03cb0161d0f3daf 0000-0002-6763-9373 Roxanne Cooksey Roxanne Cooksey true false 8652b1ee0e3cf6eb4e6359c0aa2546af Sam Dredge Sam Dredge true false 3fbf9b2f03a3a8f507dd35e9068bd485 Hope Jones Hope Jones true false d96642686cfd4c91c267835d9cccca26 David Reynolds David Reynolds true false 6d62b2ed126961bed81a94a2beba8a01 0000-0001-5618-0803 Gareth Stratton Gareth Stratton true false 83efcf2a9dfcf8b55586999d3d152ac6 0000-0001-5225-000X Ronan Lyons Ronan Lyons true false 84f5661b35a729f55047f9e793d8798b 0000-0001-7417-2858 Sinead Brophy Sinead Brophy true false 2019-05-24 EDUC The relationship between child health, wellbeing and education demonstrates that healthier and happier children achieve higher educational attainment. An engaging curriculum that facilitates children in achieving their academic potential has strong implications for educational outcomes, future employment prospects, and health and wellbeing during adulthood. Outdoor learning is a pedagogical approach used to enrich learning, enhance school engagement and improve pupil health and wellbeing. However, its non-traditional means of achieving curricular aims are not yet recognised beyond the early years by education inspectorates. This requires evidence into its acceptability from those at the forefront of delivery. This study aimed to explore headteachers’, teachers’ and pupils’ views and experiences of an outdoor learning programme within the key stage two curriculum (ages 9–11) in South Wales, United Kingdom. We examine the process of implementation to offer case study evidence through 1:1 interviews with headteachers (n = 3) and teachers (n = 10) and focus groups with pupils aged 9–11 (n = 10) from three primary schools. Interviews and focus groups were conducted at baseline and six months into implementation. Schools introduced regular outdoor learning within the curriculum. This study found a variety of perceived benefits for pupils and schools. Pupils and teachers noticed improvements in pupils’ engagement with learning, concentration and behaviour, as well as positive impacts on health and wellbeing and teachers’ job satisfaction. Curriculum demands including testing and evidencing work were barriers to implementation, in addition to safety concerns, resources and teacher confidence. Participants supported outdoor learning as a curriculum-based programme for older primary school pupils. However, embedding outdoor learning within the curriculum requires education inspectorates to place higher value on this approach in achieving curricular aims, alongside greater acknowledgment of the wider benefits to children which current measurements do not capture. Journal Article PLOS ONE 14 5 e0212242 Public Library of Science (PLoS) 1932-6203 31 5 2019 2019-05-31 10.1371/journal.pone.0212242 COLLEGE NANME Education COLLEGE CODE EDUC Swansea University This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council [grant number ES/J500197/1]- EM- https://esrc.ukri.org/ and National Centre for Population Health and Wellbeing Research. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. 2024-04-17T15:33:10.3021645 2019-05-24T10:03:29.4002760 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Social Sciences - Education and Childhood Studies Emily Marchant 0000-0002-9701-5991 1 Charlotte Todd 0000-0002-3183-2403 2 Roxanne Cooksey 0000-0002-6763-9373 3 Sam Dredge 4 Hope Jones 5 David Reynolds 6 Gareth Stratton 0000-0001-5618-0803 7 Russell Dwyer 8 Ronan Lyons 0000-0001-5225-000X 9 Sinead Brophy 0000-0001-7417-2858 10 50516__30051__0d461011e554474db6968e453e717258.pdf 50516.VoR.pdf 2024-04-17T15:03:46.7317009 Output 541990 application/pdf Version of Record true © 2019 Marchant et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title Curriculum-based outdoor learning for children aged 9-11: A qualitative analysis of pupils’ and teachers’ views
spellingShingle Curriculum-based outdoor learning for children aged 9-11: A qualitative analysis of pupils’ and teachers’ views
Emily Marchant
Charlotte Todd
Roxanne Cooksey
Sam Dredge
Hope Jones
David Reynolds
Gareth Stratton
Ronan Lyons
Sinead Brophy
title_short Curriculum-based outdoor learning for children aged 9-11: A qualitative analysis of pupils’ and teachers’ views
title_full Curriculum-based outdoor learning for children aged 9-11: A qualitative analysis of pupils’ and teachers’ views
title_fullStr Curriculum-based outdoor learning for children aged 9-11: A qualitative analysis of pupils’ and teachers’ views
title_full_unstemmed Curriculum-based outdoor learning for children aged 9-11: A qualitative analysis of pupils’ and teachers’ views
title_sort Curriculum-based outdoor learning for children aged 9-11: A qualitative analysis of pupils’ and teachers’ views
author_id_str_mv d68adb6744707b3bd75e07bd334d0516
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author_id_fullname_str_mv d68adb6744707b3bd75e07bd334d0516_***_Emily Marchant
74c92c91e05d8cb8de38e27de34c9194_***_Charlotte Todd
df63826249b712dcb03cb0161d0f3daf_***_Roxanne Cooksey
8652b1ee0e3cf6eb4e6359c0aa2546af_***_Sam Dredge
3fbf9b2f03a3a8f507dd35e9068bd485_***_Hope Jones
d96642686cfd4c91c267835d9cccca26_***_David Reynolds
6d62b2ed126961bed81a94a2beba8a01_***_Gareth Stratton
83efcf2a9dfcf8b55586999d3d152ac6_***_Ronan Lyons
84f5661b35a729f55047f9e793d8798b_***_Sinead Brophy
author Emily Marchant
Charlotte Todd
Roxanne Cooksey
Sam Dredge
Hope Jones
David Reynolds
Gareth Stratton
Ronan Lyons
Sinead Brophy
author2 Emily Marchant
Charlotte Todd
Roxanne Cooksey
Sam Dredge
Hope Jones
David Reynolds
Gareth Stratton
Russell Dwyer
Ronan Lyons
Sinead Brophy
format Journal article
container_title PLOS ONE
container_volume 14
container_issue 5
container_start_page e0212242
publishDate 2019
institution Swansea University
issn 1932-6203
doi_str_mv 10.1371/journal.pone.0212242
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
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hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Social Sciences - Education and Childhood Studies{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Social Sciences - Education and Childhood Studies
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description The relationship between child health, wellbeing and education demonstrates that healthier and happier children achieve higher educational attainment. An engaging curriculum that facilitates children in achieving their academic potential has strong implications for educational outcomes, future employment prospects, and health and wellbeing during adulthood. Outdoor learning is a pedagogical approach used to enrich learning, enhance school engagement and improve pupil health and wellbeing. However, its non-traditional means of achieving curricular aims are not yet recognised beyond the early years by education inspectorates. This requires evidence into its acceptability from those at the forefront of delivery. This study aimed to explore headteachers’, teachers’ and pupils’ views and experiences of an outdoor learning programme within the key stage two curriculum (ages 9–11) in South Wales, United Kingdom. We examine the process of implementation to offer case study evidence through 1:1 interviews with headteachers (n = 3) and teachers (n = 10) and focus groups with pupils aged 9–11 (n = 10) from three primary schools. Interviews and focus groups were conducted at baseline and six months into implementation. Schools introduced regular outdoor learning within the curriculum. This study found a variety of perceived benefits for pupils and schools. Pupils and teachers noticed improvements in pupils’ engagement with learning, concentration and behaviour, as well as positive impacts on health and wellbeing and teachers’ job satisfaction. Curriculum demands including testing and evidencing work were barriers to implementation, in addition to safety concerns, resources and teacher confidence. Participants supported outdoor learning as a curriculum-based programme for older primary school pupils. However, embedding outdoor learning within the curriculum requires education inspectorates to place higher value on this approach in achieving curricular aims, alongside greater acknowledgment of the wider benefits to children which current measurements do not capture.
published_date 2019-05-31T15:33:06Z
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