Outdoor Education Bill puts the power of outdoor learning back on the agenda
Image: Field Studies Council
Liberal Democrat Schools Spokesperson Caroline Voaden MP has introduced a new Outdoor Education bill to the UK parliament in a bid to harness the benefits of outdoor learning for young people across the country.
Following her success in the parliamentary ballot, Caroline Voaden MP used a parliamentary debate known as a Ten-minute Rule Bill debate on Tuesday 7 July to introduce a Private Member’s Bill – the Outdoor Education Bill. The proposed legislation makes it a requirement that children:
spend at least 30-minutes a day outside during school hours
are taught a minimum of one lesson per week outdoors (of any subject)
are offered one outdoor education experience during both primary and secondary school
Caroline Voaden has been a strong supporter of outdoor learning in Parliament, putting her name to a recent Early Day Motion and attending events organised by outdoor learning organisations. She is supported and co-sponsored by Tim Farron MP whose own Outdoor Education Bill is currently making its way through Parliament.
In presenting her Bill, the MP for South Devon and Liberal Democrat Schools Spokesperson highlighted this as an opportunity to tackle the child mental health crisis through outdoor learning, citing the many benefits of outdoor learning to children’s education and wellbeing.
Caroline Voaden MP says:
“Outdoor education is a topic that really means a lot to me. Having grown up experiencing the wilderness of Scotland, it breaks my heart to see just how far opportunities for children to play and enjoy the outside world have fallen. This statistic, in particular, floored me: the amount of time children spend outside has declined by 50% in a generation.
It goes without saying that being outside is good for your physical and mental health and I don’t believe it’s a coincidence that child mental health referrals are skyrocketing as their time outside plummets. My Bill seeks to change that.
“While I am proud to present this bill, it should be seen as the start of a wider conversation.
“Access to nature and unstructured play is so thoroughly missing from young people’s lives that one bill is not enough to turn the tide. As the recent devastating figures on youth mental health make painfully clear, we urgently need to prioritise getting our children outside more, to benefit from the healing effect of being in nature.”
The bill’s presentation comes a week after the Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza said we are ‘facing a crisis’ in young people’s mental health, with roughly one in 10 children being referred to mental health treatment in England in the 12 months to March 2025 – almost double the number recorded in 2018/19.
Yet there is one therapy, says Voaden, that is quick, easy and cost-free and that is nature. Schools in South Devon all comment on the improved wellbeing of their pupils after experiencing outdoor education.
Liam Fielding, Headteacher at Blackawton and East Allington Primary Schools, says:
“Outdoor education in all its forms plays a vital role in supporting the wellbeing of our children, which in turn supports their readiness to learn. We know that children who are physically active, emotionally regulated and connected to the natural world are often better able to engage with learning back in the classroom.”
Caroline Voaden MP with representatives of outdoor education groups including the Outward Bound, Field Studies Council and the Scout Association.