Special Report: Adventures Outdoors
Derren Hayes
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Participation in outdoor learning is vital for the health and wellbeing of children, with evidence showing it also aids attainment and social skills but rising costs are restricting access for disadvantaged young people.
Despite a growing evidence-base for the wide-reaching beneficial effects of nature on child development, the amount of time children are spending outdoors is in rapid decline; in the UK, today’s children are spending half the time playing outside than their parents did according to research by the National Trust.
Barriers such as parental concerns around safety, access to natural green spaces – particularly inequality between urban and rural areas – and children’s tendency towards screen-based play indoors, are reducing children’s contact with the natural world.
Such barriers have been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, and there is clear evidence indicating that during this time children reduced their outdoor engagement and physical activity levels. The rising cost of going on trips and residentials is another barrier restricting access to outdoor adventures for disadvantaged groups of children.
Rising energy costs and cuts to public funding have also hit outdoor education providers, with some forced to raise prices and others closing settings that become unsustainable. Other providers have diversified and innovated to ensure they stay commercially viable and remain able to offer subsidised places to disadvantaged children and groups.
CYP Now’s special report on outdoor adventures assesses key policy developments, highlights examples of good outdoor education practice that caters for a range of needs, and experts debate what the next government must do to make learning outside more accessible for all children and young people.
Read more in CYP Now's Outdoor Adventures special report:
Practice examples:
