Outdoor Education

Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at on 16 May 2017.

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Photo of Richard Lochhead Richard Lochhead Scottish National Party

I am pleased to be able to support Brian Whittle’s motion on the heritage and environmental conservation charities’ contribution to outdoor learning in Scotland. I wanted to speak in the debate because it is about an issue that is close to my heart—especially as a former environment secretary. In that role, I came across many fantastic projects the length and breadth of Scotland, through which children were being introduced to Scotland’s amazing countryside and natural environment. Like Ross Greer, I want to ensure that central Government, as well as local government, non-governmental organisations, charities and everyone else who has a role to play, gets behind the massive potential of outdoor learning for Scotland’s children and future generations.

Brian Whittle started his speech by speaking of marine wildlife and the need to highlight to our younger people some of the issues that face it. That is something that I also support, especially as I am a newly appointed species champion for the minke whale. That is now on the record. I also want to use this opportunity to say that a week or two ago I had the privilege of speaking at the launch event for the visit to Scottish waters of the Greenpeace vessel Beluga II, which is going round Scotland’s coasts highlighting the blight to our natural environment that is caused by ocean plastics. That is becoming an increasingly serious issue, which our children in school projects and young people of all ages are taking a much closer interest in, as we parliamentarians should.

Recently I had discussions with academics who are looking very closely at some of the issues that we are discussing—in particular, Professor Pete Higgins, who is professor of outdoor and environmental education at the Moray house school of education at the University of Edinburgh, and his colleague Dr Beth Christie. For a number of years, they have not only served on ministerial working groups, but have been doing research into the benefits of outdoor education, particularly for our children. One of their recent literature reviews was called “The impact of outdoor learning experiences on attitudes to sustainability: a review of literature”, which picks up themes that members have made in the debate in that it states that the more outdoor education our children experience, the more they connect to our environment and environmental issues. Beth Christie said in the review that

“a central theme throughout many aspects of the literature has been the need to develop an empathy and ethic of care towards the environment. This is a crucial point as attitude and ultimately behaviour change stems from a connection to a place; in other words people will make the effort to love and care for something that they are positively connected to.”

That is one benefit of outdoor education: connecting young people with sustainability and the need to protect Scotland’s environments.

The other paper that I want to quote briefly, which relates to what John Scott spoke about, is called “The impact of outdoor learning experiences on attainment and behaviour in schools: A brief review of literature.” It, too, has some useful comments that I commend to the minister, and I hope that he will have a chance to look at it. The paper states that the “key finding” of the review is that with regard to

“increased attainment in terms of specific subject areas such as maths, English, reading, science and social studies, greater evidence exists to suggest that outdoor learning affords an integration of curricular content and global skill development.”

Outdoor education also contributes to attainment levels in our schools, which is another reason why we should get behind it.

I ask the Minister for Childcare and Early Years, Mark McDonald, who is closing the debate for the Government, to arrange a meeting with the two academics to whom I have referred, who are, I suggest, the foremost experts in outdoor education in Scotland. I am sure that he will find that very valuable.

In terms of local government supporting outdoor education, there are a number of social enterprises out there in Scotland doing fantastic work that require the support of local government and our new council administrations. I certainly hope that the new Moray Council administration will, once it is formed, provide such support. I hope in particular that it will support Wild Things! Environmental Education in Action, which is an award-winning environmental education charity in my constituency that has enabled more than 13,000 children, young people and adults to learn from and be inspired by their local natural environment and the wilderness regions of Scotland. Thankfully, Wild Things! has just been given £47,000 by Highlands and Islands Enterprise. The charity is based in Findhorn and works throughout Moray and beyond.

It is important that Moray Council continues to support organisations such as that and another organisation called Earthtime for All, which has been delivering projects in Moray and beyond for children aged from one to eight. The organisation runs an outdoor nursery that is based on the forest school principle.

Those organisations, which have appeared in relation to this agenda in the past few years, deserve support from central Government, but especially from local government and other funding organisations in Scotland. I urge the minister to visit my constituency to visit those two organisations when he gets the chance.

Outdoor education is the future of education in Scotland. We have to give it a central role in increasing attainment and promoting health and wellbeing—mental and physical—as other members have said.