Outdoor Education Advisers' Panel

Following a meeting with the School Travel Forum, Bob Russell MP has tabled an Early Day Motion (Number 2111) in the Westminster Parliament supporting Learning Outside the Classroom (LOtC) and the Quality Badge.

Early Day Motion 2111 promotes the crucial role of learning outside the classroom in inspiring young people and supporting their academic attainment.

This motion has been tabled to draw attention to the barriers for schools organising trips which include fears over health and safety, lack of status of learning outside the classroom in Ofsted inspections and bureaucratic rules tying teachers to the classroom, and to the solutions to overcome them.

The motion calls for the Government to do more to promote the role of the Learning Outside the Classroom Quality Badge (LOtC Q . The Quality Badge provides for the first time a national accreditation combining the essential elements of provision – learning and safety – into one easily recognisable and trusted Quality Badge for all types of LOtC provider organisations. The motion also calls for there to be a greater status of outdoor learning in Ofsted inspections