Award recognised in learning outdoors report

Report highlights the importance of wild places providing rich and inclusive educational outdoor experiences for children and young people in Scotland.

The John Muir Trust welcomes a recent Education Scotland report that highlights the learning benefits of wild places to communities and society – especially those who experience disadvantage.  

To help them compile the Successful Approaches to Learning Outdoors report, HM Inspectors visited 35 settings and schools across Scotland at the end of 2021.

The John Muir Trust supported one of the inspection visits to Rashielea Primary School in Renfrewshire (pictured below), by discussing the impact on pupils and highlighting the school’s commitment to young people’s engagement in their own learning.

A teacher at the school said: “The John Muir Award gives us an ideal framework to base the planned developments. It empowers children to go out with curiosity and see what they can learn and, most importantly, what they can teach others about what they discover about our wood”.

The John Muir Award featured in several of the report's case studies that demonstrated effective practice for high quality outdoor learning.

The report recognised the importance of the Award as an opportunity for young people to gain recognition for their achievements, as well as a way for teachers to link community projects and partners in the planning and delivery of positive outdoor experiences.

It also recognised the Trust's contribution as a provider of high-quality professional learning, which is helping to build the confidence, skills and motivation of staff to deliver outdoor learning.

The John Muir Trust would like to congratulate the John Muir Award Providers that have been recognised in this report:  Rashielea Primary School, Renfrewshire Council; Woodland School, City of Edinburgh Council, Ormiston Primary School and East Lothian Council.

• Read the full report - Successful Approaches to Learning Outdoors: A Report by HM Inspectors, Feb 2022.