Debate contribution: Curriculum Mainstreaming and Strategy for Outdoor Learning in Schools

Debate contribution by Mr Nick Mathison on 24 November 2025.

MLA

Mr Nick Mathison

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

24 November 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Committee Business

Heading

Curriculum Mainstreaming and Strategy for Outdoor Learning in Schools

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5253976

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. When the institutions were restored in 2024, the Committee for Education identified a number of strategic priorities, one of which was outdoor education. As Chair of the Committee, I have tried to ensure that a focus on that priority is retained. We all know the competing priorities in education and the impact that constrained budgets have on the Department's work and priorities. I have, however, been clear and the Committee has been united in its view that outdoor education should not be seen as a "nice to do" or an optional extra to learning in our schools. Outdoor learning enhances and deepens children's engagement with the curriculum and is a key tool for promoting the health and well-being of the children and young people in our schools. That strategic priority built on a legacy commitment of the previous Committee to visit the Northern Ireland forest school. Earlier this term, the Committee went to the Northern Ireland Forest School Association (NIFSA) site hosted by the Dufferin Foundation at Clandeboye to hear from the forest school leaders and to carry out strategic planning for the mandate. I am sure that many Members have had the opportunity to visit the forest school and will concur with me about the brilliant work that is delivered there. The motion explicitly states the Committee's appreciation of the input of the Northern Ireland Forest School Association, which really has helped shape the Committee's thinking about and engagement with the policy area of outdoor learning. NIFSA worked with us to develop our Committee stakeholder event on the issue. It took place on 19 March 2025, when NIFSA representatives, plus representatives from Stranmillis University College, St Mary's University College Belfast, Ulster University, Queen's University Belfast, the Scottish Outdoor Learning Association (SOLA), Inspiring Scotland's Thrive Outdoors programme, Field Studies Ireland, the Irish schools inspectorate, Scouts Northern Ireland and Scouting Ireland, among others, gathered in the Long Gallery to discuss the role of outdoor education in our system. On other occasions, we have had valued input from Education Authority (EA) outdoor education settings; in particular, the Committee received detailed evidence and reflections from Magilligan Field Centre. At the stakeholder event, presenters were unanimous in commending the benefits of outdoor education for learning and development and brought with them many examples and outcomes that demonstrated why they were convinced of the need for it to be addressed more fully in our system in Northern Ireland. The Committee has undoubtedly heard evidence widely on the issue. I thank Gillian Kane and the Research and Information Service (RaISe) team for comprehensively collating all the material from the range of evidence sources that we received and from the literature more widely to help inform our thinking and today's motion and debate. The motion calls for the development of weekly outdoor learning opportunities for all learners aged three to 16 and for the Minister to develop, in partnership with the wider sector, an outdoor learning strategy. The strategy should address barriers to outdoor learning, be they resource, curricular, issues at school leadership level, teacher capacity and confidence or time available in the school day. The Committee has been clear — it has been really welcome to see an issue around which the Committee has united — that outdoor learning is real learning. It enhances access to the curriculum and should be embedded in a pupil's learning journey at all ages. There are many definitions of "outdoor learning", but one aspect is key: it is not a stand-alone subject on the curriculum but an experiential approach to education that takes the classroom and the curriculum outside. It should not need to be fitted in as an extra. Teachers in schools that have embraced outdoor learning highlight just how much it enhances the engagement that learners have with the curriculum. It is not something that we need to find time for when the real learning is done; it is real learning in its own right. Outdoor learning enhances physical and emotional well-being. It develops a love and respect for nature, promotes an inclusive approach that can be accessible to all learners and brings the curriculum to life outside of the constraints of the traditional classroom. We are all too familiar with issues around children's screen time and the real challenges with mental well-being. Outdoor learning is one of the simplest and easiest ways to address those in the context of the school day. I want to be clear that the Northern Ireland curriculum promotes outdoor learning. There are some excellent resources. I commend the work of the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA) in that regard, especially in preschools and at Foundation Stage. As children move up into post-primary school, however, there are no bespoke resources delivered by CCEA. That, regrettably, sends a message that outdoor learning ends in primary school. That shouId absolutely not be the case, and we should look at this across the age ranges in our system. There is much good practice in the system. The Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI) review of outdoor learning in 2021 highlighted the amount of good practice that is out there, but it also identified some of the challenges, including inconsistency of provision; varying opportunities being made available to children on the basis of the outdoor space available in their school; and concerns about teacher capacity or confidence to deliver outdoor education. While we have seen brilliant examples of teachers who have really taken the lead on the issue — the Committee has heard from them — others remain lacking in the confidence to get the learning outside in the same way. It is also important to consider what happens in other jurisdictions. Evidence that has come through to the Committee about Scotland, Wales, England and the Republic of Ireland very much shows that Scotland appears to be the most significantly advanced in its approach to outdoor learning. They have developed a curriculum for excellence in outdoor education in 2010 and a national position statement on outdoor learning and play, which was published in 2018 and grounded in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). The Scottish curriculum for excellence sets out an enviable set of curriculum resources to support the teaching of any topic for any age group in an outdoor setting. It features local heritage examples, such as using local heritage landmarks and local literature to enhance that learning. It is not unreasonable to ask that a similar resource be created to reflect the Northern Ireland curriculum and the holistic arts and heritage that we have in our natural landscape. Right now, there are so many opportunities. The curriculum task force work is under way, and it would be fantastic if we could, on the back of the motion, begin to see outdoor learning emerging as a thread that runs through any revised curriculum that materialises, empowering and equipping teachers to deliver learning in an outdoor context. There are partnerships across the sector that the Department can tap into to enhance outdoor learning. NIFSA has already been highlighted. We have the EA outdoor education resources; the outdoor education facility at Stranmillis College; PlayBoard NI and its work in this field; and Field Studies Ireland. There are many more agencies, and they are all keen to promote outdoor learning and to work in partnership to do that. Recently, we saw the Minister's delivery of capital grants for outdoor play equipment. That interest in outdoor play was welcome. However, I emphasise — the Committee has heard it widely — that outdoor learning is about much more than the traditional view of outdoor play. It does not necessarily need big capital spend to work, so, when money such as that becomes available, I would love to see an emerging strategy give that flexibility to schools to use money and resources in ways that would work for them in their context, such as creating areas to rewild or grow vegetables, perhaps accessing training for teachers and creating storage areas for equipment. We should allow our schools to be creative in their approach. That is why a strategy is so important. It could bring together all the strands that are live in the issue: curriculum support; teacher continuing professional development (CPD); capital investment where it is needed; partnership working; initial teacher education (ITE); and real support and direction to ensure that all the learners in our schools, regardless of the size, location or setting of the school or the character of its current outdoor space, can access that vital outdoor learning. I hope that all Members, including the Education Minister, will get behind the call in the motion. It is not a call for funding, necessarily — investment will always help, of course — but it is a call to develop a strategy that sets out how the Department will promote, support and enhance outdoor learning in our schools. All pupils should be accessing it, regardless of age, school sector or setting. I hope that today is a step in a process that can get us to a point in Northern Ireland where learning outdoors is seen as being as much a part of education as what happens in the traditional classroom.

1,542 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:48 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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