‘Did you enjoy your holiday?’ Can residential outdoor learning benefit mainstream schooling?

Abstract

In the United Kingdom there is a long tradition of residential outdoor learning provision, but to date there is limited research evidence for the direct educational benefits of such experiences, and to both critics and supporters the distinction between such visits and ‘holidays in school time’ is not always apparent. This paper summarises an evaluation of one such programme used by a Scottish council as part of an initiative to raise pupils’ achievement, and considers the direct educational benefits in relation to the current educational framework within Scotland. A mixed-methods evaluation involving over 800 pupils combined psychometric analysis, participant observation, group and individual interviews, and was conducted before, during and up to three months after each residential experience. Aspects were repeated over the course of two years. The personal ‘dispositions’ concept prominent in the National Curriculum Guidelines for 5–14 year olds (in place during the fieldwork) provided an overarching analytical framework. The findings were then related to the development of the personal ‘capacities’ specified in the current curriculum in Scotland (Curriculum for Excellence). This paper therefore performs three functions: first, it examines the educational relationship between residential outdoor learning and mainstream education in Scotland; second, it considers the contemporary significance and continued relevance of outdoor learning more generally; and third, it examines the relationship between qualitative and quantitative approaches to such studies. The aim of fostering positive ‘dispositions’ or ‘capacities’ is now prevalent in the curricula of many countries and so the findings may have significance beyond the United Kingdom.

Keywords:

• Residential education
• Outdoor education
• Outdoor learning
• Mainstream education
• Curriculum
• Mixed-methods research

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the support of Tony Shepherd and the staff at Loch Eil Outward Bound Centre, Alison Cameron and Michael O’Neill from NLC, and all the secondary school staff and pupils that supported this study and gave generously of their time. Our thanks also go to Roger Scrutton for his comments on earlier drafts of this article.

Notes

1. 1. See http://www.phf.org.uk

2. 2. For clarification, the term ‘residentials’ is used throughout this paper to refer to educational visits such as, ‘outdoor learning trips to residential outdoor centres and/or expeditions that involve being away from home overnight’ (Learning and Teaching Scotland, 2010a, p. 18).

3. 3. LTS is the Scottish Government’s education support agency. In 2010 structural changes were made and its name was changed to ‘Education Scotland’. All references to the documents published, and so forth, are attributed to the name appropriate to the time.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Beth Christie

Beth Christie is a Research and Teaching Fellow in the outdoor and environmental education section at the University of Edinburgh. She completed her PhD in residential outdoor experiential learning at the University of Edinburgh in 2004. She has held research posts at the University of St Andrews and the University of Dundee. Currently, her research interests focus on the practical, theoretical and philosophical aspects of learning outside of the classroom and sustainability education. Alongside her research, she supervises MSc students and lectures on aspects of the section’s postgraduate academic programme and the BEd Primary Education programme.

Peter Higgins

Peter Higgins holds a personal chair in outdoor and environmental education at the University of Edinburgh, awarded for contributions to teaching and research. He teaches academic and practical elements of outdoor, environmental and sustainability education on the university’s postgraduate programmes and supervises a number of doctoral students. He is a member of a number of national and international panels and advisory groups on outdoor and environmental education, an advisor to the Scottish Government and a national representative on the UNESCO programme to ‘Reorient Teacher Education Towards Sustainable Futures’. He has researched and published widely on the theory, philosophy and practice of outdoor education, particularly in relation to environmental and sustainability education; international comparative approaches to outdoor education; and recreational, social, economic and environmental aspects of land use in Scotland.

Pat McLaughlin

Pat McLaughlin is an Honorary Fellow of the University of Edinburgh, and was until recently a Senior Lecturer in the University’s School of Education. He has taught research methodology to postgraduate students and has supervised a number of MSc and PhD studies in the area of outdoor and environmental education. He has also researched and published on aspects of outdoor and environmental education, particularly those related to the experiences and meanings that young people derive from participation in outdoor learning activities.