Whilst I'm in danger of being a little too England-centric, I think the current consultation by OFSTED is reflective of the developing opportunities for outdoor learning in education through schools. It is encouraging to see that OFSTED is proposing under its new inspection framework that its inspectors will make a judgement on the personal development of learners. The importance of developing young people's life skills in preparation for life beyond the school is recognised by The Social Mobility Commission, Sutton Trust and the Education Endowment Foundation. All have recognised how good personal development can narrow the gap between pupils from more disadvantaged backgrounds and their peers.

As I write this we are stepping up preparations for the 2018 UK Outdoor Learning Sector Conference. Its inception, planning, content and ultimately the event itself, has and will be representative of the evolution of the Sector in recent years. It will be attended by a wide variety of folk from a wide range of different outdoor learning practice areas, some long established and some more recently developed.

If you attend you will bump into people with a passion for ensuring the value placed on outdoor learning and the numbers participating continue to grow.....

Outdoor Learning:  It’s not just an educational thing
With the increasing emphasis in education on evidence base and sharing of good practice it is possible to lose perspective when outdoor learning meets national and local government aspirations.