East Lothian Council Outdoor Learning Service provides high quality sustainable outdoor learning lessons, activities and training to both ELC young people and associated staff in an effective, inspirational and motivating manner.
To compliment and extend classroom based learning we deliver The Curriculum for Excellence outdoors. Working with East Lothian schools and the wider community we provide outdoor learning for pupils and personal development learning for teachers and community group leaders.
Learning Outdoors complements and extends classroom based learning and can also be used to promote wider achievement. The outdoor environment has proven benefit for learning by giving relevance and depth to the curriculum in ways that are difficult to achieve indoors. We know that children and young people are more likely to be engaged in learning outdoors, not only will this raise attainment, it will help them make connections experientially, therefore facilitating their development into confident and responsible citizens.
The benefits of active and outdoor learning in terms of education, physical and mental health & wellbeing, are well documented and will have a long-term positive impact on pupils, families, staff and the wider school community. We can capitalise on learners’ potential to develop as they experience new challenges.
The Outdoor Learning Service also manages East Lothian Council’s Adventure Activities Licensing Authority (AALA) licence. In addition to offering advice and support to the community, the service also provides guidelines for safety and good practice in managing off site visits.
During COVID we are promoting an outdoor approach to learning by signposting Outdoor Learning resources for digital learning and teaching. If you are an ELC school you can follow the link through the Outdoor Learning Online Resources document. This will take you to some of the best resource sheets available for Outdoor Learning lessons.
Also see Guidance and Support section for schools to make the best use of learning outdoors for education recovery in these challenging times.
A presentation of what we do can be found here. (Note this is pre-COVID; our priorities have changed and not all services are currently available.)
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