Professional Learning 6 steps to learning in local greenspace

Full resource available at www.beyondyourboundary.scot. COVID-19 Guidance at https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-re-opening-schools-guide/

Professional Learning: Introduction

As well as the benefits outdoor learning can bring, such as increased

engagement; greater challenge and enjoyment; improved physical

and mental health; and improved attainment, evidence suggests that

outdoor environments can limit the transmission of COVID-19. The

Scottish Government’s Coronavirus (COVID-19) re-opening schools

guidance recognises that learning outdoors can more easily allow for

appropriate physical distancing between pupils and staff and

encourages schools to maximise and enhance outdoor learning

opportunities, including the use of local outdoor spaces.

This series of professional learning activities can be done in your own

time and at your own pace and will support you through the steps to

learning in local greenspace in manageable chunks. During this time of

social distancing and class bubbles, it has been designed to be worked

through alone, though there are many outdoor learning social media

groups you could join for support, collaboration and ideas. 6 steps to

learning in local greenspace:

1: Finding your local greenspace

2: Accessing your local greenspace

3: Risk-benefit analysis

4: Policies and procedures

5: Boundaries and routines

6: Your first few visits

Courtesy of LtL Scotland © Malcolm Cochrane Photography

Full resource available at www.beyondyourboundary.scot. COVID-19 Guidance at https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-re-opening-schools-guide/

If you are developing a whole school approach to learning in local

greenspace, visit the resource upon which this professional learning is

based: Beyond your boundary: easy steps to learning in local

greenspace. If you have already found a greenspace and made contact

with the landowner, you may wish to start at Professional Learning 3.

Why not keep a reflective log of your professional journey to learning in

your local greenspace? This will be useful for Professional Review and

Development conversations, Professional Update and perhaps, in time,

even in an application for Professional Recognition in Outdoor Learning.

Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and partners have been supporting

schools to learn in local greenspace for a number of years and can offer

advice; share good practice and put you in touch with others who are

learning in local greenspace: sharon.cunningham@nature.scot

Get inspiration from this case study or these Learning through

Landscapes films.

"I really enjoyed being part of this and felt it lent itself to

my teaching rather than being an ‘add on’ or ‘added

extra’.” P3 teacher, Perth & Kinross

Full resource available at www.beyondyourboundary.scot. COVID-19 Guidance at https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-re-opening-schools-guide/

Professional Learning 1: Finding your greenspace

What learning opportunities does your local greenspace offer? Be it

an unloved grassy area, a woodland owned by a neighbour, a local

authority park, or anything in between, taking learning in to local

greenspace can open up almost endless possibilities.

It can be easy to sit in school and think there is no greenspace within

walking distance that is suitable for learning but most of the time this

is not the case. The easiest and best way to find out is to take a

walk. The space doesn’t need to be big or ‘special’, and remember it

can and will change - so what may appear to be an urban desert or

overrun with nettles will not always be so.

Professional Learning Tasks

Either:

access online maps and tools such as Ordnance Survey

(greenspace layer); Core path maps; Google maps; the Woodland

Trust Find a Wood search; or the Fields in Trust search;

note which areas look promising and take a walk to investigate

further, with colleagues to bounce ideas off, if possible;

Take notes or complete a Greenspace Audit.

Full resource available at www.beyondyourboundary.scot. COVID-19 Guidance at https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-re-opening-schools-guide/

Alternatively, work with pupils to find your greenspace, e.g. they

could:

design and carry out a survey of fellow pupils, local staff and/or the

community to find out about local greenspaces and how they are

used;

create a map of the local area for others to annotate with information

and memories as a starting point for their own visits;

visit some of the websites above and choose places to investigate

further.

complete the Greenspace Audit – but remember to do a risk-benefit

assessment before visiting with pupils (see Professional Learning 3).

Don’t necessarily rule out private land; many land owners are happy for

local groups to use their space. And don’t automatically discount places

that have a reputation for inappropriate night time or weekend use;

these can be fantastic learning resources. Many schools have found

their use can encourage more positive engagement by the wider

community. There may also be options to use unadopted land/stalled

spaces.

"I can't believe we have existed so closely to this place

and never made use of it… I felt that the curricular areas

were endless.” P1 teacher, North Lanarkshire

Full resource available at www.beyondyourboundary.scot. COVID-19 Guidance at https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-re-opening-schools-guide/

Professional Learning 2: Accessing your greenspace

Many landowners welcome and value community or educational use

but it is good practice to ask permission before using their space.

Professional Learning Tasks

Work alone, with colleagues or with your pupils to:

find out who owns/manages the space you would like to use. Try

asking parents; local community members; colleagues who live

locally; neighbours to the space; local authority staff or others that

work locally;

learn out about your rights and responsibilities in the Scottish

Outdoor Access Code. There is specific guidance on responsible

behaviour by educational groups and educational materials for

use with your pupils too;

speak to your landowner. If they are reluctant or apprehensive to

let you use the space, visit the OWL Scotland Guidance for Land

Owners. In working with the school and local community, the

landowner may be able to access grants or other support to help

manage or improve their greenspace;

If you haven’t already done so, carry out a site audit, if possible

with colleagues to bounce ideas off;

Full resource available at www.beyondyourboundary.scot. COVID-19 Guidance at https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-re-opening-schools-guide/

Plan the route you will take with pupils to and from your space;

Do a risk-benefit assessment.

While using their greenspace, keep in close, regular communication

with the landowner; share the positives as well as any issues.

Discuss any work they have planned and changes you would like to

make. Particular activities may require specific permission, such as

adapting/ improving the space; erecting permanent or semi-

permanent structures; removing items to take back to school;

digging, e.g. for clay/mud kitchens/loose materials; building fires.

"It has been heartening to see the teachers gaining

confidence in using this outdoor classroom and to see

the children negotiating steep slopes with care and

delight. I’m sure each will remember a spider or a bird

but, perhaps more importantly, they will have learnt that

they don’t have to stop exploring when the pavement

runs out.” Greenspace Manager

© Kilpatrick School

Full resource available at www.beyondyourboundary.scot. COVID-19 Guidance at https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-re-opening-schools-guide/

Professional Learning: Using your greenspace: risk-benefit assessment

Before visiting your greenspace with pupils for the first time, you

must identify potential risks and eliminate or reduce them to an

acceptable level.

Professional Learning Tasks

Find out about your local authority’s preferred approach to risk

assessment. If you don’t know what that is, try contacting your

SAPOE representative.

Do a risk assessment for the site, with your pupils in mind. You may

want to use a risk-benefit approach.

Do a risk-benefit analysis for any common activities you plan to do

there with pupils, e.g. using tools. These can be added/removed

from your risk-benefit assessment as needed.

Don’t forget to include your journey to and from the site in your risk-

benefit analysis.

It can be helpful to develop a site checklist to be used as you arrive

at the site for each visit. Involve the pupils in helping to create and

implement this.

Full resource available at www.beyondyourboundary.scot. COVID-19 Guidance at https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-re-opening-schools-guide/

During your visits, you will need to stay aware by using a dynamic risk-

benefit assessment approach; constantly considering the current

situation, e.g. changing weather.

Remember to involve pupils in assessing and managing risk before

and during visits too.

Professional Learning 4 will help you consider policies and procedures

to support learning in local greenspace and Professional Learning 5

looks at establishing and reinforcing boundaries and routines. These

will feed into your risk-benefit assessment and help you and your

pupils feel safe and relaxed in your greenspace.

"Taking children out of the school you always have concerns

that all the safety issues are covered, so we had a recce, we

went up there ourselves to have a look at it, looked round the

space, and we talked about possible dangers and how we

could overcome them, the route we would take going up

there and how safe it was.”

Class Teacher, Dundee City Council

Full resource available at www.beyondyourboundary.scot. COVID-19 Guidance at https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-re-opening-schools-guide/

Professional Learning 4: Using your greenspace: policies and procedures

School policies and procedures can support you to learn in local

greenspace and help you to make quick, correct decisions should

issues arise. Up to date and relevant policies will safeguard your

pupils, accompanying adults and yourself. Remember to keep your

risk –benefit assessment up to date and share with everyone who

needs to see these (Professional Learning 3).

Professional Learning Tasks

Write down what you will do should the following situations arise:

The weather turns nasty: when is it too bad to go/so bad you

must leave early? This will differ according to your site (e.g.

the age and condition of the trees) and your pupils (e.g. their

experience outdoors or any additional needs);

You encounter anti-social behaviour: can you move to

another area of the space; when must you leave all together?

A pupil needs to return to school: will the whole group return

or will one adult go back (who; are enough adults left)?

A pupil is ‘lost’ (see also establishing boundaries and

routines, Professional Learning 5): different responses are

required according to the age of the pupil, the site and the

length of time they have been missing;

Full resource available at www.beyondyourboundary.scot. COVID-19 Guidance at https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-re-opening-schools-guide/

Courtesy of LtL Scotland © Malcolm Cochrane Photography

You will also want to:

ensure any accompanying adults know and understand your

policies and procedures;

look at gaining parental consent at the start of each year for

routine and expected out of school visits within walking

distance;

"There are some people that think Outdoor Ed is too

dangerous. I understand why they might feel this way

but the point of Outdoor Ed is to learn about these

dangers” Niamh, P5

Full resource available at www.beyondyourboundary.scot. COVID-19 Guidance at https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-re-opening-schools-guide/

Professional Learning 5: Using your greenspace: boundaries and routines

Your risk-benefit assessment is in place (Professional Learning 3)

and you have planned what you would do to address the common

challenges you might face (Professional Learning 4 & 3). Now it is

time to bite the bullet and take your pupils to their local greenspace.

Professional Learning 6 gives some suggestions for activities for your

first few visits. This professional learning focusses on establishing

boundaries and routines. This will take some time; regardless of the

age or stage of your pupils, boundaries and routines will need to be

learnt and regularly reinforced to ensure your visits run smoothly and

help everyone feel secure, relaxed and ready to learn.

Professional Learning Tasks

Do some online research or join an outdoor learning group on social

media; experiment with different approaches to find what works for

you; learn with the pupils; reflect and adapt as appropriate. To help

establish boundaries and routines:

at the start of each visit, work with the pupils to decide which area

they will learn in today and where physical boundaries should lie.

Younger learners, or those less experienced outdoors, could

attach coloured ribbon to trees or use other items to mark

boundaries. Don’t forget to remove these afterwards.

Full resource available at www.beyondyourboundary.scot. COVID-19 Guidance at https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-re-opening-schools-guide/

each time you arrive on site, involve the learners in identifying

hazards, assessing risk and discussing mitigations. Consider

hazards at different heights; little ones could think ‘head,

shoulders, knees and toes’. Mark dog poo and other hazards you

can’t safely remove, e.g. with a flag or stick, to highlight them for

pupils to avoid.

investigate and experiment with different techniques for getting your

learners’ attention that avoid shouting, such as using a bird whistle

(you can buy these) or co-creating and singing a song that pupils

gradually join in with until all are engaged.

research and try out fun ways of gathering pupils together, e.g.

playing ‘sticky feet/hands/elbows’ (pupils gather in a circle with the

relevant body part touching); or challenging pupils to arrange

themselves in a square (creating equal sides can be a fun

challenge);

work with the pupils to create routines to avert potential issues and

frequently practice these, for example:

‘lost’ pupil drill (should they find themselves separated from the

group), e.g. sit down and shout an agreed word or play ‘1,2,3 where

are you?’ (pupil answers ‘1,2,3 here I am!’ to each call until found);

bee/wasp drill, e.g. stand still, cover mouth and nose and buzz;

unknown dog drill, e.g. fold arms and turn away, perhaps calling

something to warn others;

known or unknown adult approaching. Children should know never

to leave the group without your agreement.

Courtesy of LtL Scotland © Malcolm Cochrane Photography

Full resource available at www.beyondyourboundary.scot. COVID-19 Guidance at https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-re-opening-schools-guide/

Reflect on this blog on hand washing and plan your own approach.

You will also need routines to ensure effective application of sun

cream/insect repellent; can your group come up with a rhyme, song

or rap to facilitate this and ensure no areas are missed?

Consider this toileting outdoors blog. If you are too far from school,

investigate if local facilities are available and what procedures need

put in place.

Work with your learners to create a greenspace/ environmental

code that they all sign up to. As well as behavioural expectations,

they should consider other users and their rights and

responsibilities in the outdoors.

There is a lot of advice and support available online, e.g. numerous

Facebook groups; CreativeSTAR Learning and Learning through

Landscapes Scotland.

Courtesy of LtL Scotland © Malcolm Cochrane Photography

Full resource available at www.beyondyourboundary.scot. COVID-19 Guidance at https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-re-opening-schools-guide/

Professional Learning 6: Using your greenspace: your first few visits

Time invested in establishing boundaries and routines (Professional

Learning 5) and developing policies and procedures (Professional

Learning 4) is time well spent and lays the foundations for stress-free

learning in local greenspace. And, of course, risk-benefit

assessment (Professional Learning 3) is essential.

Your first few visits with pupils should support them to explore their

greenspace, connect with it and begin to develop a sense of

ownership of it. Let your place be your source of inspiration and

resources. Avoid bringing in lots of things.

Professional Learning Tasks

There are extensive resources available online, packed full of ideas

for learning outdoors across the curriculum, but it can be easy to

become overwhelmed with the options. Find and try out activities to

help pupils get to know their space and really feel at home there,

such as the ones below. Reflect on what works for you and what

interests your pupils; learn with them; reflect and adapt where

needed:

Ask pupils to choose a tree or area that ‘draws’ them; explore it, give

it a descriptive name (e.g. Mossy Hollow), tell others about it.

Revisit it on subsequent trips; how is ‘your’ space, what has

changed?

"These learning experiences have helped to consolidate

much of the theory in the topic and the pupils found it a

memorable experience.”

Biology & Geography Teacher, Stirling

© Kilpatrick School

Full resource available at www.beyondyourboundary.scot. COVID-19 Guidance at https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-re-opening-schools-guide/

Carry out some exploratory or sensory activities, like blindfold games

(e.g. Meet a Tree); sound bingo or colour ‘catching’. Give each pupil

a cardboard tube or small mirror to help them see things from a

different angle (e.g. from below); use magnifiers, play ‘I spy’, there

are almost unlimited options – and even older pupils enjoy and

benefit from these.

Generate questions about your space, which you might work

together to answer over time.

Conduct research into current users and uses. How might this

impact on your plans to access your space for learning; can you

work together to embrace the opportunities or address the

challenges?

Explore what is available in your space, e.g. via a greenspace audit;

leading to discussion on what they might like to investigate during

future visits (such as why does a certain plant grow so well in a

particular area) or how they might, in time, enhance it.

Discover more about the biodiversity of your greenspace, e.g. via a

Citizen Science activity. This could feed in to ideas for enhancing

your greenspace for the benefit of biodiversity; which, ultimately, will

enhance learning (as the more diverse your space, the more diverse

your learning opportunities). If you lack confidence with identifying

what you find, apps like Seek can help.

Map their space: make a natural map, use compasses, create

orienteering routes or set up a Geocache.

"After the first visit my brain was buzzing with ideas…

I think this will have a very memorable impact on the

class.”

S3 teacher, Fife

Full resource available at www.beyondyourboundary.scot. COVID-19 Guidance at https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-re-opening-schools-guide/

Turn issues and setbacks into learning opportunities, which will also

help foster ownership and stewardship in the pupils; e.g. they could

write letters or create posters regarding dog waste.

Embrace the different learning opportunities brought about by

changes in the weather; for example make a rain gauge, kite or

wind sock.

Let yourself be guided by the pupils’ interests and involve them in

planning future visits.

Investigate and reflect on:

what happens if you allow yourself to be less rigid in your planning?

How does this impact on the pupils and their learning? It is

important to build in time just to ‘be’ and to play, even for older

pupils.

different approaches to reviewing and evaluating outdoor learning.

There are lots of interesting and playful ways to do this.

Full resource available at www.beyondyourboundary.scot. COVID-19 Guidance at https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-re-opening-schools-guide/

Professional Learning: Next steps and recognition

These professional learning activities should help you well on your way

to making learning in local greenspace a core part of your practice.

Chances are, by the end of your first few visits you will have found a

whole host of learning opportunities you can’t wait to try out. A great

starting place for practical outdoor learning ideas and activities is the

Outdoor Learning Directory.

For more professional learning; reading and research; tips for parental

involvement; community engagement suggestions; greenspace

improvement ideas; links to the National Improvement Framework; tips

for getting colleagues on board and much, much more visit the full

resource: Beyond your boundary: easy steps to learning in local

greenspace.

If you would like a certificate of participation for this professional

learning, contact sharon.cunningham@nature.scot

"This allowed me to really embrace the concept of

delivering a fully cross curricular topic through outdoor

learning, rather than taking a series of separate lessons

outdoors.” P6 teacher, Inverclyde

© John Muir Award