Approximately 7 million pupil visits already take place every year meaning
that thousands of pupils are going on visits every week.
From a geography field trip to a week at a residential activity centre, out
of classroom education can help bring a subject to life. The Government
wants education outside the classroom to be an important part of all young
people’s education.
DfES Press notice: 15 February 2005
There are probably 3 million school children who are involved in adventure
activities each year, and 7 – 10 million days of school visits.
Marcus H. Bailie: Head
of Inspection Services, Adventure Activities Licensing Authority
2.5 million people have visited its Field Study Council centres since
1943.
Field Studies Council
The Real World Learning campaign partners host visits for 1.5 million
school children each year, but this is well below capacity and numbers have
fallen by 10% in the last five years.
Real World Learning Campaign
Extract from the Government's response to
the Second 'Education Outside the Classroom' Report We agree with the Committee that there is a wealth of good practice and many
committed teachers, Heads and providers who value the benefits of learning
outside the classroom and who make sure pupils experience a range of safe
and stimulating activities. We believe these experiences should be widely
acknowledged as an essential part of children's education at all stages.
We also agree that evidence from different sources, sometimes contradictory,
provides a patchy picture. Evidence direct from schools appears generally
more positive than that from other sources.
In July 2004 MORI research on study support (out of school hours activity)
found that 67% of secondary schools provided field trips; the 2003-4 survey
of school sport partnerships showed that 68% of the 6500 schools taking part
in the survey offered outdoor and adventurous activities (which are part of
the PE curriculum).
In Autumn 2004, we commissioned the Duke of Edinburgh's Awards (DoE) and The
Scouts Association (SA) to do a survey of school visits for 7 to 16 year
olds in 900 secondary & primary schools. The draft report shows 86% of
primary and 99% of secondary schools offer pupils at least one residential
opportunity during their time in the school.
Extract from the Government's response to
the Second 'Education Outside the Classroom' Report from the
Education and Skills Committee, Session 2004-05
The survey mentioned in the report above is Research into residential
opportunities available for young people through schools, by The Scout Association, Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and
DFES,2004
Out-of-school
learning: the uneven distribution of
school provision and local authority support by Taylor, C., Power, S. and Rees,
G. (2010), British Educational Research Journal,
36(6), 1017-1036.
This paper reports on two
studies: one on provision by local authority centres and the other on provision
and participation in out of school learning in UK secondary schools.