Outdoor Learning: Exploring Place and Pedagogy
Outside is Where Learning Happens!
What happens when you bring together 320 school system leaders from across Canada for 3 inspiring days of professional learning in idyllic Banff, Alberta, and you do it outside, rain or shine (or snow!), centre Indigenous knowledge and voices, feature world-class speakers, researchers, and practitioners, embed welcoming networking opportunities, add in a herd of elk and other wildlife, and throw in a pinch of humour for light-hearted ambiance? You create a game-changing recipe for educational transformation.
Throughout my 25-year career as a school and district-based educational leader, I had attended many outstanding conferences, but not one centred on ‘Outdoor Learning’. Not knowing what to expect, I arrived at the renowned Banff Centre for the inaugural Outdoor Leadership Conference this past October with an open mind and lots of warm, comfortable clothes, thank goodness! This first-of-its-kind event was hosted by Take Me Outside (TMO), a non-profit, charitable organization committed to raising awareness and facilitating action on nature connection and outdoor learning in schools across Canada.
So, what exactly is “Outdoor Learning”? While some might consider learning that happens outside a program, it is fundamentally more than that. Outdoor learning is a pedagogical approach – one with many different names and pathways – but all with the benefits that come from spending time outside and away from screens. For the purpose of this article, “Outdoor Learning” (OL) is a broad umbrella term that tries to be more inclusive with nuanced approaches that encompass outdoor education, land-based learning, place-based learning, place-conscious learning, and environmental learning. Each of these respective approaches can lead to different outcomes and pathways, but the key is that outdoor learning, broadly speaking, is an embedded approach – a holistic view of teaching and learning.
Outdoor learning is certainly not new. OL can be closely connected to Indigenous perspectives with an intentional focus on relationship, and has the opportunity to be a pedagogy that can support learning FROM, ON, and WITH the land to help us co-exist, appreciate, and navigate the complexities of the natural world. By doing so, outdoor learning can be a path to reconciliation. Learning outside can also be a path to better health and wellbeing, as well as a path to environmental literacy.
While thousands of Canadian educators already embed outdoor learning into their teaching practices, there is a professional learning gap for leaders in this growing educational direction. Administrators are being left behind, lacking in knowledge, training, and experience. School and district-based leaders need to be equipped with the knowledge, resources, and strategies to support their school communities with safe, equitable, and accessible outdoor experiences for every learner.
Currently, there are numerous non-profit partner groups working collaboratively to heighten awareness and strengthen national efforts in actioning outdoor learning. Two years ago, five such groups teamed up to form the ‘Outdoor Learning Collective’ with the goal of promoting outdoor learning among system educational leaders across Canada. By capitalizing on their combined strengths, Learning for a Sustainable Future, The Outdoor Council of Canada, The Outdoor Learning School and Store, Physical Health and Education Canada, and Take Me Outside joined forces to mobilize knowledge, resources, and professional learning for educators and leaders. The Collective focused on building relationships and a sense of community among leaders to fill the present educational gaps associated with supporting outdoor learning. Recognizing this need as a primary catalyst in their ongoing work, Take Me Outside coordinated the natural next step, by developing the Outdoor Learning Leadership conference with like-minded partner organizations also immersed in this work. The purpose was to equip leaders with the tools, practical strategies, Indigenous perspectives, and evidence-based research to help reduce barriers and build teacher capacity in taking their classrooms beyond the traditional four walls. Survey data collected from conference delegates affirmed the value of the event and a strong desire for further professional learning in this area.
Outdoor learning is a continuum – an ongoing journey. School system leaders, as well as the educators they support, are all at different places on that journey. Cheryl Lenardon, a school Superintendent in BC, says the key to helping teachers is to “meet them where they are”, and support along the way. She took small and incremental steps with her district to “speak it into action, without judgment,” and to incorporate outdoor learning by literally showing the way. Her team embedded and modeled impactful actions with their school-based principals and vice-principals at every meeting and professional learning activity, providing time and space for fun and interaction, all while attending to school district business outdoors.
Outdoor learning enhances and aligns with strategic national priorities in education and is not “one more thing” to add to an already full plate of competing educational causes. In fact, quite the opposite. It would be surprising, if not alarming, to find a school or district anywhere in Canada (and North America, for that matter) that does not have a targeted focus on Health and Wellbeing, Indigenous Knowledge and Reconciliation, Environmental and Climate Change, Literacy, Numeracy – all of which can be achieved and supported through Outdoor Learning.
Recognizing the benefits of outdoor learning, administrators are putting forward policy or strategic plans that include outdoor learning. These kinds of system actions can help advance the positive impacts being seen through this work. If COVID taught us anything, it was that outdoor learning can be a pathway to wellbeing. Youth today are anxious about their future and outdoor learning is a means to creating cultures of care and redirecting their nervous energy towards a positive direction, focusing on purpose and hope. Being outdoors is simply good for our collective spirit. So much good learning can happen outside, and it is what our kids need to be resilient and flourish.
However, while acknowleding the advantages outdoor learning brings, we equally need to address barriers that can impede implementation more consistently in schools or at the board level. Administrators face competing system priorities, and regularly contend with limited funding and resources to support those priorities. Furthermore, they need to support staff with ongoing professional learning to build capacity and confidence to take learning outside. But in speaking with numerous educational administrators, these challenges can be overcome through intentional partnerships, collaboration, policy alignment, leadership tools, and models, and some have found success in doing so.
So what does success look like? Canada is so vast and the landscape varies from coast to coast to coast, but when asked, school system leaders agree. When Outdoor Learning is embedded across all grades and subjects, teachers confidently use natural environments to meet curriculum goals. Learners have equitable access, with safe and intentional outdoor spaces in their own communities. Educators are confident and feel supported, trained, and inspired to integrate outdoor experiences into multiple subject areas. Kids feel connection to and responsibility for the land beneath their feet, having agency to steward their school grounds, backyards, and nearby green spaces. Districts are intentionally embedding climate action plans into their strategic goals. Finally, and most notably, students and staff report increases in wellbeing and belonging.
Outside is where learning happens! The Last Word
Through my conversations with leaders at the Outdoor Learning Leadership Conference in Banff, enhanced by ongoing dialogue with other colleagues across the country, I continue to gain a better understanding and profound appreciation for outdoor learning and why there is a sense of urgency for education now. There is an opportunity to re-think educational priorities that will help meet the needs of our youth in this changing world. Continuing to bring together education system influencers; school and district-based leaders, academics and researchers, decision and policy makers to enhance their knowledge and awareness, can in turn, support new teachers and teachers already on board, bringing outdoor learning to life all across Canada.
Reflection questions
- What benefits have you witnessed when children have the opportunity to learn outside?
- How might you encourage outdoor learning in your school/ school district?
To learn more about outdoor learning initiatives, Take Me Outside and the supporting partner organizations, please see the links below:
The Outdoor Learning School & Store
Learning for a Sustainable Future
Physical & Health Education Canada
GEOEC – Global Environmental and Outdoor Education Council
Meet the Expert(s)
Claire Guy
Education Consultant
Claire Guy is an experienced systems K-12 leader who has advanced equity, diversity, and inclusion in public education for 40 years. As a teacher, principal, district leader, mentor, facilitator and curriculum developer for the Ministry of Education in BC , she has championed student well-being through her depth and breadth within multiple portfolios.
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