Learning for sustainability: action plan 2023 to 2030

Annex B Wider Research Base for the plan

The following research has taken place across a number of different contexts and has focused on different aspects of outdoor learning and/or LfS over the past three years.

Key themes emerged from all contexts which aligned with the intended impacts of the Action Plan:

• there is a huge appetite for LfS amongst practitioners and young people.
• LfS and particularly outdoor learning have clear benefits for young people's wellbeing, personal development and support their academic development.
• there is good practice taking place around the system but LfS is not always well integrated into the curriculum and is not always well known.
• further funding and resourcing is needed for LfS to be more impactful.
• the crossover between outdoor learning and LfS could be improved.

Research which has informed the new Action Plan

Learning for Sustainability: Children's Parliament Report - 2022

(commissioned by Scottish Government)

Key findings from the research and how they link to actions within this plan

• Finding: "LfS is important to children as it supports learning, improves wellbeing and inspires climate action around Scotland"
  • Links to Action 17: In support of "Target 2030" and specifically to ensure continued meaningful engagement of learner voice in this plan, Scottish Government will convene national LfS Children and Young People Leadership Groups. The groups will be invited to codesign key deliverables in this plan including the new LfS online portal and development of Indidcators for LfS.
• Finding: "There are clear examples of good practice in outdoor learning, global citizenship and sustainable development but not necessarily an understanding that this constituted LfS and there is a need for CLPL for educators "
  • Links to Action 13b: Education Scotland will complete a mapping exercise to gather and share good practice examples on the whole-setting approach to LfS. Key examples and a list of key support organisations, programmes and funding streams will be shared via the new LfS portal.
  • Links to Action 20: In support of "Target 2030" Sustainable Learning Settings, Education Scotland, with funding from Scottish Government, will commission the development of a LfS Portal covering all themes and aspects of LfS.
  • Links to Action 22: In support of "Target 2030" Sustainable Learning Settings, Scottish Government will work with the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA), Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) and relevant partners to scope out and report back on how LfS should be better embedded in all benchmark qualifications in Childhood Practice and HNC^[5] and SVQ^[6] routes to early learning and childcare.
  • Links to Action 24: In support of "Target 2030" Sustainable Learning Settings, Education Scotland and the Scottish Council of Deans of Education (SCDE) will establish a new national working group which will create a single national approach to support LfS within Initial Teacher Education.
• Finding "The climate emergency is the pre-eminent issue which underpins children's understanding of and engagement with LfS"
  • Links to Action 20: In support of "Target 2030" Sustainable Learning Settings, Education Scotland, with funding from Scottish Government, will commission the development of a LfS Portal covering all themes and aspects of LfS.
• Finding "Children's rights and children's agency should be at the heart of how LfS is designed and delivered"
  • Links to Action 17: In support of "Target 2030" and specifically to ensure continued meaningful engagement of learner voice in this plan, Scottish Government will convene national LfS Children and Young People Leadership Groups. The groups will be invited to codesign key deliverables in this plan including the new LfS online portal and development of Key LfS indicators
  • Links to Action 7a: The Scottish government will work with key partners to define and implement a new set of Key LfS Indicators which will be adaptable to every context – i.e. setting level, local level, regional level and national level.

Learning for Sustainability: young people and practitioner perspectives – University of Dundee - 2023

(commissioned by Scottish Government)

Key findings from the research and how they link to actions within this plan

• Finding: "LfS needs to be highlighted as a core principle in education for young people and communities and the pathways required to implement regionally adaptable LfS through curriculum options, funding, infrastructure, training and support for practitioners need to be identified."
  • Links to Action 1: The Scottish Government and Education Scotland will formally launch its "Target 2030" Sustainable Learning Settings programme in September 2023, by issuing a Call to Action to all children and young people, educators, education leaders, national bodies, local authorities and regional bodies. The Call to Action will invite all organisations to integrate the 2030 commitment into their improvement plans, strategic plans, curriculum frameworks, corporate plans and activities.
  • Links to Action 5b: Scottish Government and Education Scotland will work with all partner organisations, including all relevant third sector organisations funded by government, to ensure that LfS is reflected within their respective principles, standards, programmes and corporate plans.
  • Links to Action 9: In support of "Target 2030" Sustainable Learning Settings, Education Scotland will work with relevant partners to ensure that LfS is better embedded in all relevant leadership programmes across the school, early learning and childcare, GME and community learning sectors and in line with the relevant standards relating to General Teaching Council of Scotland, Scottish Social Services Council and Community Learning and Development Standards Council. This work will be closely aligned and integrated with the work to create the new LfS mentor role.
  • Links to Action 24: In support of "Target 2030" Sustainable Learning Settings, Education Scotland and the Scottish Council of Deans of Education (SCDE) will establish a new national working group which will create a single national approach to support LfS within Initial Teacher Education.
• Finding: "integration of LfS throughout Curriculum for Excellence to promote awareness in all education contexts."
• Links to Action 1: The Scottish Government and Education Scotland will formally launch its "Target 2030" Sustainable Learning Settings programme in September 2023, by issuing a Call to Action to all children and young people, educators, education leaders, national bodies, local authorities and regional bodies. The Call to Action will invite all organisations to integrate the 2030 commitment into their improvement plans, strategic plans, curriculum frameworks, corporate plans and activities.
• Links to Action 7b: If/when the quality framework for the inspection of education settings – 'How Good is Our School' – is reviewed and updated, HM Inspectors of Education will consider how and in what ways LfS can be better reflected across the framework. In addition, and as part of its role in considering relevant topics for national thematic inspection, HM Inspectors of Education will consider the need for a national thematic inspection on LfS.
• Links to Action 10: In support of "Target 2030" Sustainable Learning Settings, the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) Partnership will provide enhanced support to all programme providers involved in the development of new LfS-related qualifications. The aim is to ensure that such programmes can be recognised and credit rated for inclusion in the SCQF Framework.
• Finding: "educators need the time and resources to engage with LfS and integrate it into their respective area."
  • Links to Action 3: In support of "Target 2030" Sustainable Learning Settings, Education Scotland will work with key partners on the LfS Leadership Group to design and implement a new programme to create an LfS mutual mentoring support network.
  • Links to Action 11: In support of "Target 2030" Sustainable Learning Settings, Scottish Government, Education Scotland and relevant national agencies and bodies will engage with partners to look at how to provide better support and advice to support collaboration on LfS at national, local, regional and local cluster level. HM Inspectors of Education will also work to share examples of good practice through relevant channels.
• Finding: "integrate LfS into policy at school, Community Learning and Development and local authority level to guide practice and support stakeholders to identify good practice and related outcomes".
  • Links to Action 12: In support of "Target 2030" Sustainable Learning Settings, Education Scotland will further strengthen, connect and coordinate LfS networks to enable them to build a central role in building the movement of change required for this action plan.
• Finding: "young people need more opportunities to exercise agency in contributing to LfS".
  • Links to Action 17: In support of "Target 2030" and specifically to ensure continued meaningful engagement of learner voice in this plan, Scottish Government will convene national LfS Children and Young People Leadership Groups.
• Finding: "appoint LfS leads in every setting to ensure policy is disseminated, practitioners are aware of and enact good practice locally and regionally and that LfS activities are mapped across settings."
  • Links to Action 3: In support of "Target 2030" Sustainable Learning Settings, Education Scotland will work with key partners on the LfS Leadership Group to design and implement a new programme to create an LfS mutual mentoring support network.

Further research on LfS and outdoor learning

Educational outcomes of Learning for Sustainability – University of Edinburgh – 2020 (commissioned by Scottish Government)

Key findings:

• LfS impacts the personal development of learners and engages them in local community issues.
• LfS can enable young people to think about the connections and dependencies between different aspects of life and citizenship.
• LfS has the potential to support progression and 'attainment' particularly through outdoor learning, where there is increasingly strong evidence that experiences in nature can boost academic learning.
• LfS can encourage the development of critical thinking skills for life and work beyond formal education.
• LfS can improve the culture, and therefore indirectly support improvement within an educational setting.

Learning in Local Greenspace – an evaluation report – NatureScot - 2022

Key findings:

• awareness of local greenspace has improved amongst teachers.
• teachers' confidence in taking learning outdoors has improved.
• educational setting grounds are being used more often.
• local greenspaces were being used more often.
• all curriculum areas (except foreign languages and RME) are more likely to be taught in the establishment grounds or local greenspace on a fairly regular or very regular basis.
• learners are more connected to nature.
• learners' emotional wellbeing may have improved.
• learners were more engaged in learning outdoors.
• local greenspaces were improved for the school and wider community.

Social and economic benefits of learning in natural environments – Natural England – 2022

Key findings:

• learning outside the classroom in the natural environment is considered to be an important part of the overall learning experience for children in primary school.
• pupils enjoy time spent outside and seem to experience more varied social interactions when learning outside as opposed to the classroom.
• pupils engage with their peers in different way, together with showing an increased confidence in their abilities to problem solve and learn.
• learning outdoors supports children to develop their self-awareness and self-knowledge, the positive impact of peer working across a wide range of age groups, and the widening of all round knowledge.

Teaching, learning and play in the outdoors: a survey of provision in Scotland – NatureScot – 2022

Key findings:

• Early Learning and Childcare provision outdoors has increased with 39% of the time, on average, being spent outdoors.
• Primary outdoor provision was down in 2022 – less than 30% of outdoor events addressed LfS.
• considerable numbers of staff across primary and early years lack confidence in facilitating outdoor learning and LfS.
• Primary teachers had higher confidence in outdoor learning (62.9%) than in LfS (40.3%).
• a little over half of all practitioners surveyed felt that outdoor learning had increased compared to pre-COVID.
• schools providing more outdoor learning time tended to be smaller.
• outdoor learning continues to be experienced by teachers as curriculum enhancing.