Making the case

All schools can benefit from using the living environment as a school resource. Here are five key arguments to help you make your case.

1. The benefits will be widespread. Whatever level of activity your school can accommodate – from creating a small growing area to running a school farm, or from hunting mini-beasts in the playground to taking a field trip to a nature reserve – everyone will gain:

• young people will get the chance to learn in new, more relevant and exciting ways – in particular these can benefit those who find classroom learning difficult
• teachers will be able to broaden and deepen their teaching skills and subject knowledge while working with more motivated pupils
• the school can use these new approaches to raise achievement
• the wider community can benefit through involvement in, for example, developing school gardens of all kinds, leading to a wider understanding of issues such as healthy eating, sustainability and caring for the environment.

 

2. It’s an ideal way to transmit some key messages. Using the living environment for learning, both within the school grounds and through visits further afield, will have a positive impact on young people’s understanding of some crucial issues including:

• where food comes from and the role of farmers and growers
• what constitutes healthy eating and why it matters
• the interdependence of the urban and rural environments
• how and why we should care for the natural world
• the need for more sustainable development
• the value of skills in plant cultivation and animal husbandry

 

3. Growing Schools provides the framework, support and resources to help deliver many other government programmes, in particular:

• Every Child Matters
• Learning Outside the Classroom
• Healthy Schools
• Sustainable Schools

4. All curriculum subjects can be approached through the study of growing plants and animals. It’s not a new topic to cram into an overful school day, but an effective and exciting way of teaching. There are thousands of ideas in Places to visit and Teaching Resources, and a few suggestions are summarised in the curriculum diagram found here.

 

5. We’ve got the research to prove it. An increasing body of research supports the value of learning in the living environment. Here are a number of key papers if you want to delve deeper:

• A Research Review of Outdoor Learning NFER 2004
• Aspects of Good Practice Ofsted 2004
• Benchmarking the views of young children aged 7-10 and 11-16 on Food, Farming and Countryside issues Childwise for FACE 2008
• Changing Minds: the lasting impact of school trips University of Exeter 2006
• Education Outside The Classroom: An assessment of activity and practice in schools and local authorities NFER for DfES/NE/FACE
• Education Outside The Classroom: Research to identify what training is offered by initial teacher training institutions NFER for DfES/NE/FACE
• Engaging and Learning with the Outdoors - the final report of the outdoor classroom in a rural context action research project NFER
• Every Experience Matters FACE 2008
• Geography in Schools: changing practice Ofsted 2008
• Green Attitudes or Learned Responses? NFER 1996
• Improving the understanding of Food, Farming and Land Management amongst school-age children NFER and King’s College London for Countryside Agency/DfES/FACE 2003
• Measuring Success: A guide to evaluating school grounds projects LtL 2004
• National School Grounds Survey Learning through Landscapes 2003
• Outdoor Education in Scotland: A summary of recent research Scottish Natural Heritage and Learning and Teaching Scotland 2007
• Pupils’ experiences and perspectives of the National Curriculum and assessment NFER for QCA 2006
• Raising Achievement through the Environment NAFSO 2001
• Taking the first step forward towards an Education for Sustainable Development : Good practice in primary and secondary schools 2003 Ofsted 2003
• What's the use of Research in Environmental Education? NFER 2003