JS News: 26 Oct 22
By Nick Martin, Assistant Head of Junior School Learning 3-6
One of the goals within the Radford College Strategic Plan (2021-25) in the ‘Learning and Teaching with Purpose’ area is: “To continue to review and renew our curriculum to offer internationally minded, evidence-based programs that are responsive to our changing world.” As a College, we continue to reflect on the nature of our “changing world” and how this has implications for the way we operate as a school and the approach to learning that we employ.
Through this reflection, we have become conscious of the changing lifestyle habits of children. Children are spending more time indoors, on screens, or in structured activities. Reviews.org undertook a survey in 2021 that revealed young people from Generation Z (born 1997-2012) spend 7.3 hours per day, on average, on a screen. The Australian Institute of Family Studies has explored the implications of this excessive screentime, which include:
- Motor and cognitive development impairments;
- Impacted social and psychological wellbeing;
- Emotional problems;
- Issues with weight and diet;
- Behavioural problems;
- Anxiety;
- Hyperactivity;
- Attention;
- Self-esteem;
- Depressive symptoms;
- Disengagement; and
- Reduced attention.
Another interesting element that has fed into our learning in this area is the changing nature of work. The World Economic Forum in its Future of Jobs report has documented a shift in the types of skills that are valued by the workforce. Increasingly often, employers are looking for workers to have well-developed skills in problem solving, critical thinking, creativity, people management, teamwork, and emotional intelligence.
The ongoing challenge for schools is to ensure that the type of learning we provide addresses these realities. The question that schools are asking is: Are we giving our students what they need?
There is a significant body of research which identifies the positive impacts of being outside and learning outside. The paper titled Outdoor Learning into Schools: A Synthesis of Literature provides a long list of benefits, including physical, emotional, and cognitive benefits. An organisation in the US, the Children and Nature network, states that “spending time in nature enhances educational outcomes by improving children’s academic performance, focus, behaviour, and love of learning.” Network founder Richard Louv coined the term “nature deficit disorder” in his book Last Child in the Woods and speaks of the benefits of spending time and learning outdoors.
So, with this context in mind, we wanted to explore the benefits of learning outdoors for students at Radford. We have begun this year in a few small ways, and we hope to build on this in the coming years. Under the guidance of our Outdoor Learning Leader Rachelle Hayward, we have enhanced some of our existing programs, including wellbeing and Godly Play through bushwalks and firepits. Rachelle has also introduced lunchtime ‘out the gate’ sessions. These sessions have made productive use of some of our lesser-used playground spaces and have engaged students in unstructured play. Rachelle provides a range of resources, mostly loose parts, such as ropes, sticks, bricks, spades, buckets, water etc. It has been amazing to observe the learning that has taken place when our students are provided the time and space to create. The level of engagement observed in these sessions is also quite phenomenal.
One of our Visual Arts Teachers, Robyn Evans, has trialled an art unit of inquiry that has been undertaken predominantly outside. The unit is part of the Year 5 program and has the central idea that an outdoor classroom gives us unique opportunities to learn with and from the natural world. This unit has been very successful as the students have been fully engaged in authentic learning while developing a range of important skills. A quote from a Year 5 student sums up the benefit of taking learning outside: “When you walk past Gossan Hill, you don’t notice anything, but when you are in it, painting it, you can feel it.”
As an International Baccalaureate school that places importance on an inquiry-based approach to learning, the importance of play and the development of approaches to learning (thinking, communication, research, social, and self-management skills), outdoor learning sits very comfortably within our approach. It has been wonderful to observe the engagement from both students and teachers within the initial phase of our outdoor learning journey. We are encouraged to further develop our practice in this area.
If you would like to read more about outdoor learning, play and inquiry learning, the following resources are a great place to start: