‘COVID couldn’t catch him there’: can outdoor learning benefit primary school-aged children after a global health crisis?

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on pupils and the potential value of outdoor learning (OL) as a strategy to overcome some of the challenges educators face in helping their pupils get ‘back on track’. Interviews with nine primary school staff in the South West of England explored the impact of the pandemic on pupil wellbeing, academic attainment, friendships/social skills, and behaviour. We report on the effectiveness of OL in this context. Findings indicate that OL is being deployed as a useful post-pandemic pedagogical tool. Barriers to consistently implementing OL as a teaching strategy are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19
• outdoor learning
• wellbeing
• post-pandemic
• pedagogy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 Dec. 2022. https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics