The ‘Welsh way’, outdoor learning within the primary curriculum: a ‘fringe add-on or mainstream pedagogical practice’?

The increasingly robust evidence base from across the globe highlights a range of potential benefits for children in engaging with outdoor environments including increased physical development, improved mental health and wellbeing, increased resilience and higher levels of engagement. However, children’s access to outdoor environments may be limited by factors such as a lack of available ‘safe’ spaces, concerns such as ‘stranger danger’ and a focus on more structured extra-curricular activities during ‘out of school’ hours. We suggest that schools therefore play a key role in providing opportunities for all children to engage in outdoor environments through outdoor play and learning. This paper provides a reflection of key policy and curriculum changes over the last 25 years in relation to outdoor learning within Wales. It identifies that professional learning is a key factor in ensuring that all primary school educators appreciate the value of outdoor learning. It highlights the need for consistency across primary school settings so that all children within Wales have access to high quality outdoor learning experiences as part of mainstream pedagogical practice. Moreover, it proposes that as we look forward to the next 25 years, accountability should be afforded via the Estyn inspection framework.