What is LOtC
Learning Outside the Classroom (LOtC) is the use of places other than the classroom for teaching and learning. It is about getting children and young people out and about, providing them with challenging, exciting and different experiences to help them learn.
The ‘places’ where learning happens can have a significant effect on how a young person engages with a subject or an idea. Learning outside the classroom can happen at almost any time and almost anywhere – outdoors or indoors: in the school grounds, on the high street, in the local park, in museums and art galleries, on mountain tops and rivers, in Britain’s remote places, or elsewhere in the world.
As an essential way of learning it should not be restricted to the summer or as an ‘add-on’ after examinations.
Learning outside the classroom should be built into planning for all learners, every week and all year round. It is a powerful tool that is proven to raise attainment, bolster social, emotional and personal development and contributes to the health and well-being of children and young people.
Learning outside the classroom clearly supports the principles and goals of the Children’s Plan particularly in terms of identifying and realising the potential of all young people of all ages.
In this way, learning outside the classroom is a key component in the organisation of learning.
LOtC Manifesto
Launched in 2006, the LOtC Manifesto is a shared vision to raise achievement through an organised and powerful approach to learning in which direct experience is of prime importance.
The LOtC Manifesto aims are to:
To improve training and professional development opportunities for schools and the wider children and young people’s workforce;
To provide all young people with a wide range of experiences outside the classroom, including extended school activities, integrated and targeted youth support, early years work and one or more residential visits;
To better enable schools, local authorities and other organisations working with young people to manage activities safely and efficiently;
To make a strong case for learning outside the classroom, so there is widespread appreciation of the unique contribution these experiences make to young people’s lives;
To provide easy access to information, knowledge, expertise, guidance and resources;
To offer learning experiences of high quality;
To identify ways of engaging parents, carers and the wider community in learning outside the classroom.
http://lotcqualitybadge.org.uk
