Children Learning Outside the Classroom: From Birth to Eleven

The new edition of this bestselling textbook continues to help students and professionals understand the importance of getting children learning outside the traditional classroom, and is packed full of creative information and ideas for teachers and practitioners to incorporate outdoor activities throughout the school curriculum.

Significantly revised and updated the second edition now includes 7 brand new chapters on:

• Methods of assessment and evaluation
• Global perspectives on outdoor learning
• Developing whole school approaches to indoor and outdoor teaching
• Technology and its role outside the classroom
• Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and learning outdoors
• Forest School
• The environmental sector and outdoor learning

Whether you′re training to become a teacher, or already working in the classroom, this book demonstrates how the outdoor environment is enriching learning opportunities for children and deepening their connections with the natural world.

NOW FEATURING! Online resources that include free SAGE journal articles, weblinks, annotated further readings and video to help translate theory into real life practice.

Sue Waite will be discussing key ideas from Children Learning Outside the Classroom: From Birth to Eleven in the SAGE Early Years Masterclass, a free professional development experience hosted by Kathy Brodie. To sign up, or for more information,

Sue Waite is Associate Professor (Reader) in Outdoor Learning in Plymouth Institute of Education at Plymouth University, investigating how place, people and pedagogies interact to support positive societal outcomes in play, learning, health and wellbeing through the great outdoors. A qualified primary school teacher, over the last 20 years, Sue has published widely in academic and practitioner journals and edited books. Her research projects have included a sequence on Forest School practices and principles, a series looking at youth benefits from living and engaging with activities within National Parks, Economic and Social Science Research Council grants looking at ‘Opportunities afforded by the outdoors for alternative pedagogies in children’s transition from Foundation Stage to Year 1’ and ‘Understanding educational and wellbeing implications of learning outside the classroom through cross-national collaboration’. She also conducted a study about the effect of camping on children’s educational outcomes for the Camping and Caravanning Club. A BIG Lottery Research Programme award, Good from Woods, developed research capacity in third sector organisations to investigate ‘Social cohesion and well-being deriving from woodland activities’ and more recently the Natural Connections Demonstration Project, the largest outdoor learning project in the UK commissioned by Natural England, DEFRA and Historic England, provided strong evidence for multiple positive outcomes of curricular learning in local natural environments. She sits on Editorial Boards of several international journals:  Pastoral Care in Education, Education 3-13, Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning, the Journal of Outdoor and Environmental Education and the Journal of Experiential Learning. 

Sue Waite will be discussing key ideas from Children Learning Outside the Classroom: From Birth to Eleven in the SAGE Early Years Masterclass, a free professional development experience hosted by Kathy Brodie. To sign up, or for more information, click here.