It is widely established that learning in the outdoor environment has a positive impact on children’s cognitive, affective, social, and physical skills (Dillon et al., 2005; Rickinson et al., 2004). There is a great deal of overlap between these areas with the benefits reinforcing each other (Marchant et al., 2019). Healthier, happier children have higher educational achievement, and investing in children’s education has the potential to improve their future health and wellbeing (OECD, 2006). Despite these important benefits, there is growing evidence to suggest that children are spending less time in nature (Louv, 2005; Soga and Gaston, 2016). Marchant et al. (2019) argue that the school setting has the greatest responsibility and capacity to provide access to natural environments through learning activities in the school grounds. However, the provision of outdoor learning experiences appears to be insufficient in primary schools, particularly beyond the early years (Waite, 2010). Teachers report a range of barriers to outdoor learning provision, including a lack of time, resources and support (Rickinson et al., 2004). The emphasis on test-based accountability has also been linked with a decrease in outdoor learning provision (James and Williams, 2017; Shume and Blatt, 2019). Waite (2010, 2011) describes the tension experienced by many teachers who value the outdoor environment as a context for learning but feel under pressure to meet the requirements of a standardised and test-driven curriculum. Rather than view standards-based instruction and outdoor instruction as an ‘either/or’ choice, Shume and Blatt (2019) recommend the use of the outdoor environment as a context for learning in core areas of the curriculum such as mathematics. Many teachers around the world appear to be uncertain about how to link the curriculum to outdoor learning, although this may depend to some degree on the policy context and the emphasis placed on the delivery of curriculum content within that education system (Waite, 2022). Providing teachers with access to resources that link the curriculum with the outdoor environment has been shown to help ease the burden on time and curriculum pressures, and increase the provision of outdoor learning experiences (Waite, 2022).
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