LEVEL 3 AWARD IN LEARNING BEYOND THE CLASSROOM
Many teachers would like to get outside – to make learning more fun, more contextual, to get some air, to breathe… but they are worried…about managing their class, about the weather, about giving themselves more work, about what they are allowed (and not allowed) to do.
We recognise that this desire exists but also that people have barriers to realising it.
Outstanding schools have always used outdoor learning as an integral part of their whole school approach to education and the curriculum. They recognise the benefits for pupil achievement, personal development and physical and mental well-being.
If you want to:
Explore and use your outdoor space for teaching and learning
Have the confidence to do so
Take part in and examine a series of practical, curriculum-linked activities outside
Learn how to manage risk appropriately
then we have the course for you.
We worked with colleagues within the Institute for Outdoor Learning and the Awarding body ITC First to develop and create the ITC First Level 3 Award in Learning Beyond the Classroom – the only nationally regulated Award in Outdoor Learning (Ofqual and RQF).
We run both open courses and whole-school training to give you the confidence to make outdoor learning part of what you offer every day, confidently and without giving yourself more work - in both British and International schools.
High Points offers two distinct pathways to this training and qualification. All courses have the option to either enrol or not to enrol for the Level 3 portfolio of work.
PATHWAY 1
Core module - Taking the Curriculum Outdoors
This one-day course is fully interactive and covers the benefits of outdoor learning; practical ideas for subject specific teaching and learning; facilitation styles, group and risk management; and overcoming barriers.
As well as practical and transferable activities, participants will gain firsthand experience of the principles underpinning outdoor learning appropriate to any key stage. The course is specifically aimed at building confidence to take learning into the school grounds.
Assessment is via submission of a post-course portfolio of school-based outdoor learning activities. Successful completion of the portfolio leads to the award of the RQF Level 3 Award in Learning Beyond the Classroom.
Pathway 1 - Additional module
Teaching and Learning at the Beach 1 (TLAB1)
A fully interactive, one-day course that builds on the learning from TTCO, focusing specifically on the beach environment. The course covers the benefits of taking the curriculum to the beach, planning, access and risk assessment, practical ideas for subject specific teaching and learning, and specific beach related knowledge.
[Note – TTCO is a pre requisite for attending this course]
Learning Outcomes
Understand the benefits of learning outside the classroom environment
Understand the principles and concepts relating to managing groups and facilitating learning outside the classroom environment
Understand risk assessment when planning learning outside the classroom environment
Plan activity linked to the curriculum and defined outcomes through learning outside the classroom environment
Deliver activities linked to the curriculum and defined outcomes through learning outside the classroom environment
Pathway 2
Teaching and Learning at the Beach (2 days)
This two-day course combines the content of the TTCO and TLAB1 one day courses and is focused specifically on the beach environment.
Assessment is via submission of a post-course portfolio of beach-based outdoor learning activities. Successful completion of the portfolio leads to the award of the RQF Level 3 Award in Learning Beyond the Classroom.
Taking the curriculum outdoors
-
Anita Foster
Anita works with Early Years and Primary teachers through consultancy, training and project management, helping them explore opportunities for outdoor learning and embedding this in their curricula.
She also works with schools to develop and improve their grounds, using a collaborative, holistic and sustainable process of change which engages the whole school community and provides numerous contextual learning experiences for pupils.
Anita co-authored the publication Schools for the Future: Designing School Grounds with the Department for Education and Skills.
-
Dr Dave Harvey
A qualified teacher and highly experienced practitioner, Dave has worked in outdoor education centres and across the primary, secondary, further, and higher education sectors for over 30 years.
Dave’s PhD, completed in 2022, explored progression and access to outdoor learning. The result was a deep understanding of the breadth of the outdoor learning field and the challenges that many people face in accessing the potential benefits.
Dave is a frequent workshop presenter & speaker for the Institute for Outdoor Learning, the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom and the Association of Heads of Outdoor Education Centres. He has written numerous articles, most recently the IOL’s new guide to High Quality Outdoor Learning. Dave is an Honorary Senior Lecturer at Bangor University and Leading Practitioner of the IOL.
-
Jim Langley
Jim’s passion is for engaging groups with the natural world. He works with many international schools training teachers to use their local environments for learning, as well as running residential courses and expeditions for their students.
Jim has published a range of educational resources to enable teachers to educate outside the classroom including the Environmental Learning Cards, produced by the Outdoor Education Advisors’ Panel. He is a STEM ambassador and holds an MSc in Conservation and Land Management. Jim works with a wide range of students teaching field studies in Ecology, Geography and Science.
-
Gina Parker (Mullarkey)
Gina’s journey in Outdoor Learning began nearly 30 years ago working as a ‘Teacher Naturalist’ at a Country Park. Her work now focuses on supporting schools through conferences, training, curriculum materials, as an advisor and through practical sessions with pupils.
As an accredited trainer for Learning through Landscapes, Dialogue Works, Society for Philosophical Enquiry and Reflection (SAPERE) and Cumbria Action for Sustainability Gina brings a diverse range of opportunities to outdoor learning. Gina is most proud of the establishment and co-ordination of an Outdoor Learning Network for Primary and SEND schools from across Cumbria, Lancashire and Yorkshire.
FAQs
-
Rules for submitting the portfolio state that your submission must be “valid, authentic, current, sufficient and reliable”. This means that your portfolio should be about something current ie something that you are experimenting with as a result of the course.
-
Ideally you will complete within 3 months of the course, but in reality, it may be that you want to wait until the weather gets better or use a pre-scheduled trip as your ‘outdoor lesson’.
This is fine but we do need you to have completed within 2 years of your course or your registration becomes invalid.
-
Our training day is designed to motivate you to get outdoors, to remove barriers, to enable you to share experiences, to give you lots of ideas for teaching outdoors but also lots of tools which will enable you to adapt any ideas to get them right for your class. We also hope that it will be fun!
Most of the day will be spent outdoors looking at exemplar activities for different curriculum areas – trying them out and then and discussing their use.
We intersperse these activities with short indoor presentations / discussions. We aim for you to leave with a well-developed thought process which will enable you to take your curriculum, confidently, outdoors.
-
After completing the course you will have lots of ideas for outdoor lessons and lots of tools for adapting them to your situation (year group / particular topics etc). We need you to experiment and teach outdoors – this could be a morning or afternoon slot or a series of quick outdoor interventions as appropriate, or a trip.
We need you to plan for it, carry it out and give evidence, keep the children safe but stretched, and evaluate the experience. We expect that this will be happening as part of your usual planning process anyway and remember the principle that choosing to use the outdoors is instead of using the indoors rather than as well as – we do not want to give you loads of extra work!
-
This qualification focusses on the principles and processes which underline and support learning beyond the classroom wherever it takes place. This qualification will give you the understanding and tools to help you consider, plan, deliver and evaluate activities to support your curriculum beyond the classroom, whether this is outdoor maths on the playground, literacy ideas using the school field, or trips and visits further afield.
Forest School usually takes place in a woodland or other natural environment, taking a child centred approach to learning about and through the natural environment over a period of time.
It sits within the wider context of outdoor and woodland education. Forest School qualifications are possible at a number of levels, depending on the role you wish to take.
-
We offer two pathways towards the Award:
Primary School Pathway – Taking the Curriculum Outdoors
Secondary School Pathway – Maximising Learning by Making it Real and Contextual
-
The qualification is the Level 3 Award in Learning Beyond the Classroom. Because the course leads to a Level 3 Award, all candidates are expected to have a good deal of prior experience working with children.
Our courses are aimed at practising teachers and teaching assistants; also, student teachers in the latter stages of their training are eligible.
Training teachers testimonials
