Outdoor learning is a powerful tool for engaging children, helping them connect with nature, and supporting their well-being and academic success. While teachers often lead outdoor learning sessions, school support staff play a crucial role in ensuring these experiences are meaningful, safe, and inclusive. From learning assistants and playground supervisors to administrators and janitorial staff, every member of the school community can contribute to a thriving outdoor learning environment.
The Role of Support Staff in Outdoor Learning
Support staff bring a wealth of skills and experience that enhance outdoor learning in a variety of ways:
- Providing Additional Supervision: Outdoor learning environments require active supervision to ensure children remain safe while exploring freely. Support staff help maintain appropriate ratios, allowing for more small-group interactions and hands-on experiences.
- Supporting Individual Needs: Many children require additional support to fully engage in outdoor learning. Support staff can provide one-to-one or small-group assistance, ensuring that all learners, including those with additional needs, can participate fully.
- Encouraging Confidence and Independence: Some children may feel uncertain or hesitant outdoors. Familiar support staff can encourage and reassure them, building their confidence to take part in new experiences.
- Helping with Regulation: Some children struggle with self-regulation in the classroom, and outdoor spaces provide an excellent opportunity to support their emotional well-being. Support staff can use outdoor activities such as sensory walks, mindfulness exercises, movement-based play, and nature-based grounding techniques to help children regulate their emotions before returning to the classroom. This approach not only supports well-being but also fosters engagement and readiness to learn.
- Using Outdoor Activities to Support Learning: Support staff can incorporate outdoor learning into their interactions with children, reinforcing literacy, numeracy, and problem-solving skills in a hands-on and engaging way. For example, they might use natural materials for counting games, storytelling prompts from the environment, or simple science experiments that involve observing changes in nature.
- Bringing Expertise and Enthusiasm: Whether it’s sharing a love of gardening, storytelling, or identifying wildlife, support staff often have valuable skills that enrich outdoor learning.
- Helping with Practicalities: Setting up, tidying away, and organising materials are all essential but time-consuming tasks. Support staff can make outdoor learning sessions run more smoothly by assisting with these behind-the-scenes elements.
Fostering Collaboration Between Teachers and Support Staff
For outdoor learning to be truly effective, collaboration between teachers and support staff is essential. A dedicated staff meeting can provide a great opportunity to explore how everyone can contribute to outdoor learning and share ideas for making it a success.
Ideas for a Staff Meeting on Outdoor Learning Collaboration:
- Understanding the Value of Outdoor Learning: Start with a discussion on why outdoor learning is beneficial for children’s learning and well-being. Share success stories and reflect on previous experiences.
- Exploring Different Roles: Identify how various support staff members currently contribute and discuss how their involvement could be expanded.
- Addressing Barriers: Talk about any challenges staff may face, such as time constraints, confidence levels, or resource availability, and brainstorm possible solutions.
- Practical Strategies for Engagement: Share effective strategies for engaging children outdoors, supporting behaviour, and ensuring inclusion.
- Using Outdoor Spaces for Regulation and Learning: Discuss how outdoor activities can be used to support emotional regulation and reinforce academic concepts in a natural setting. Consider creating a shared resource bank with simple outdoor activities tailored to different subjects and needs.
- Action Planning: Decide on small, achievable steps to strengthen the whole-school approach to outdoor learning.
Discussion Questions to Encourage Reflection and Dialogue
- What role do you already play in outdoor learning?
- What strategies help engage and support children outdoors?
- How can teachers and support staff work together to enhance outdoor learning?
- What challenges do you face in supporting outdoor learning, and how can they be addressed?
- How can outdoor spaces be used to help children self-regulate and re-engage in learning?
- What are some practical outdoor activities that can reinforce literacy, numeracy, or science learning?
- What unique skills or knowledge do you have that could enrich outdoor learning sessions?
- How can outdoor learning be better integrated into daily routines and school life?
Making Outdoor Learning a Whole-School Approach
When outdoor learning is embraced by the whole school, it becomes more impactful and sustainable. Support staff should feel empowered and valued for their contributions, knowing that their work helps shape positive learning experiences for children. By fostering collaboration and providing opportunities for shared reflection, schools can create a stronger culture of outdoor learning that benefits everyone.
If your school hasn’t yet had a conversation about how support staff contribute to outdoor learning, now is the perfect time to start!
