The bigger picture

By Dr Dave Harvey, Outdoor Learning Consultant · 27 Oct 2026

Why outdoor residentials deserve a place in legislation

Outdoor residential experiences have become a valued part of school life, particularly in primary education, where outcomes such as confidence, teamwork, resilience and communication are often cited as key benefits. Despite significant financial and organisational pressures, schools continue to invest considerable time, effort and resources in making residential experiences possible. This commitment reflects a deep understanding of their value. Teachers see, year after year, how these experiences support personal growth and help shape the qualities and characteristics that schools seek to develop in young people. These outcomes are valuable in themselves, but perhaps their wider significance lies in how they contribute to the broader aims and values that schools hold for their pupils.

School mission statements frequently emphasise aspirations such as nurturing confident individuals, successful lifelong learners, responsible citizens, and healthy, active contributors to society. These ambitions are embedded within curricula such as Scotland's Curriculum for Excellence and the Welsh Curriculum and are reflected more broadly in educational expectations across England. Outdoor residential experiences provide a powerful and distinctive means of bringing these aspirations to life.

Viewed in this context, residentials are not simply enrichment activities or curriculum add-ons. They are an important vehicle for achieving some of the most fundamental outcomes of education. In many schools, they are regarded as a defining experience or even a rite of passage. The willingness of schools, families and teachers to overcome the challenges involved demonstrates the value attached to them.

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However, rising costs, budgetary pressures, workload challenges and escalating transport costs are making access more difficult. As a result, participation is becoming increasingly dependent on where a child lives, the priorities of their school, and the financial circumstances of their family. If residential experiences contribute to the core purposes of education, this growing inequality of access is difficult to justify.

This is where legislation has a role to play. If society values the personal development, resilience, confidence and citizenship that residential experiences help foster, then access should not be determined by local resources or individual circumstances. Legislative support could help ensure that every child, regardless of background, has the opportunity to benefit from these experiences.

Private Members' Bills proposed by MPs Caroline Voaden and Tim Farron reflect this principle by calling for guaranteed access to outdoor education experiences. Such measures would help safeguard provision, sustain sector capacity and prevent rising costs from narrowing opportunity.

Ultimately, the issue is not whether outdoor residentials have educational value. Schools have already answered that question through their continued commitment to them. The real question is whether we value these experiences enough to make them available to all children. If we are serious about educational equity, we must ensure that opportunity is not determined by circumstance.

Dr Dave Harvey

Outdoor Learning Consultant

Dave Harvey is a Senior Fellow of the Institute for Outdoor Learning, Honorary Senior Lecturer at Bangor University and a coach for the Institute for Outdoor Learning's Accredited and Leading Practitioner professional accreditation schemes.

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