Outdoor learning is becoming increasingly important as schools prepare for changes to the national curriculum and new expectations around enrichment.
The benefits are clear. Learning outdoors can increase physical activity, improve engagement and help pupils develop teamwork, resilience and problem-solving skills. It can also bring subjects such as science, geography, maths and English to life.
However, teachers cannot be expected to create a separate outdoor curriculum, plan additional lessons and manually record every activity.
For outdoor learning to become part of everyday school life, it must be simple, repeatable and manageable.
Outdoor Learning Should Not Mean More Planning
A common barrier is the belief that every outdoor lesson needs new resources, specialist equipment or detailed risk assessments.
In reality, outdoor learning can begin with familiar curriculum content delivered in a different setting.
Examples include:
- measuring distances and angles in maths
- observing habitats in science
- completing map work in geography
- collecting vocabulary for English
- following routes in PE
- discussing environmental issues in citizenship
The learning objective remains the same. The outdoor environment simply provides a more active and practical way to explore it.
Schools that use this approach do not add outdoor learning to the curriculum. They use it to deliver parts of the curriculum they are already teaching.
Start with Short, Repeatable Activities
Outdoor learning does not need to fill an entire afternoon.
A focused activity lasting 10 or 15 minutes can give pupils an opportunity to move, investigate or collaborate before returning to the classroom.
Schools are using short activities such as:
- vocabulary trails
- maths challenges
- habitat surveys
- wellbeing walks
- map-reading exercises
- team problem-solving tasks
Repeating familiar formats also reduces workload. Once pupils understand how a trail or investigation works, teachers can change the questions without having to explain a completely new activity.
Use Shared Resources
Creating every activity from scratch is neither necessary nor sustainable.
Schools can reduce preparation by developing a shared bank of outdoor activities that staff can adapt for different subjects and year groups.
A maths trail created for Year 4 might later be adapted for Year 2 or Year 6. The same checkpoints could support a science investigation, spelling challenge or geography course.
Shared planning also helps outdoor learning become a whole-school approach rather than something led by one enthusiastic teacher.
The Department for Education’s school workload resources encourage schools to remove unnecessary tasks and use technology effectively.
Our earlier article, How Can Teachers Reduce Stress and Workload?, also explores how shared content and automatic reporting can save time.
Make Better Use of School Grounds
Schools do not need access to woodland or extensive playing fields to deliver meaningful outdoor learning.
Playgrounds, paths, gardens and small green spaces can all become learning environments. The key is to establish a consistent structure that teachers can use repeatedly.
A mapped school site with permanent checkpoints can support:
- curriculum trails
- OAA and orienteering
- science observations
- active revision
- inter-house competitions
- pupil-created challenges
Once the infrastructure is in place, teachers do not need to put out and collect equipment before every lesson.
The Outdoor Classroom turns existing school grounds into a permanent active learning resource. Pupils use a map to navigate between plaques and complete questions or challenges set by their teacher.
Use Digital Tools Purposefully
Technology should save teachers time rather than create another system to manage.
Digital outdoor learning tools can reduce workload by:
- generating courses automatically
- providing ready-to-use activities
- reusing existing lessons
- presenting questions in different formats
- recording participation automatically
- storing pupil responses
- producing activity and impact data
This removes the need for printed worksheets, manually planned routes, clipboards and separate participation records.
It also allows teachers to focus on questioning, supporting pupils and assessing learning while the technology handles the administration.
Keep Training Practical
Staff confidence is another major factor. Teachers may be interested in outdoor learning but unsure how to organise pupils, use the school grounds or deliver OAA effectively.
Training should therefore focus on practical routines rather than theory alone.
Staff need to understand:
- how activities are started and finished
- how pupils move between locations
- how equipment and devices are managed
- how tasks can be differentiated
- how outdoor learning connects to existing lessons
Allowing staff to experience an activity as pupils can be particularly valuable. It helps them understand the process and see that outdoor learning does not need to be complicated.
The Association for Physical Education also provides professional support for schools developing PE and OAA provision.
Introduce Change Gradually
Trying to introduce outdoor learning across every subject and year group at once is likely to create unnecessary pressure.
The Education Endowment Foundation recommends approaching school improvement through careful planning and implementation.
Schools could begin with:
- one year group
- one curriculum subject
- a short weekly activity
- a half-term OAA unit
- one whole-school challenge
Staff can then review what worked, make improvements and expand the approach gradually.
A successful small programme is more valuable than an ambitious plan that teachers cannot sustain.
Record Evidence Automatically
The new enrichment expectations place greater emphasis on participation, accessibility and outcomes. However, this should not mean teachers completing additional forms after every activity.
Digital reporting can automatically capture information such as:
- pupils participating
- sessions completed
- time spent active
- distances travelled
- subjects covered
- classes and year groups involved
This gives leaders useful evidence for curriculum reviews, governor reports and school development planning without creating a separate reporting exercise for teachers.
Final Thoughts
Outdoor learning becomes sustainable when it is built around existing curriculum content, shared resources and simple routines.
Schools do not need teachers to plan more. They need systems that help staff use their time, grounds and curriculum more effectively.
By starting small, reusing activities and automating course planning and reporting, schools can expand outdoor learning while protecting staff workload.
The Outdoor Classroom provides ready-to-use activities, automatic course generation, permanent school resources and digital reporting in one system.
Create a free teacher account and discover how outdoor learning can become part of everyday teaching without adding to staff workload.
