I represent YET on the Institute for Outdoor Learning (IOL) Stakeholder Group, and would like to bring YET members’ and visitors’ attention to an excellent piece of work that IOL has recently released.
IOL has published ‘High Quality Outdoor Learning 2025’ which is relevant to anyone who has an interest in outdoor learning, whatever that outdoor learning may look like and whatever that interest might be. The IOL has made it available for free on its website.
It has been asked by numerous people if it could produce a printed version and that is now available to order up until 8 August 2025.
“High Quality Outdoor Learning – a Guide for All (96 pages)”
Limited print run, £19.50 plus postage & packing to UK addresses only.
Note that delivery will follow printing.
For IOL Members the cost is only £11 plus postage & packing to UK addresses only. This is a specially discounted price exclusively for members of the Institute for Outdoor Learning and you must be logged in to get this rate.
High Quality Outdoor Learning 2025 is aimed at practitioners, providers, decision-makers, and non-specialists. It brings together research, standards and practitioner experience from the UK and further afield. Successive drafts underwent extensive review by a broad selection of sector experts.
The guide consists of two main parts:
- The first part sets out the societal context for outdoor learning and the potential benefits, supported by extensive research references. This section is also available as a separate document aimed specifically at policy and decision-makers.
- The second part focuses on the structures, practice and outcomes associated with high quality outdoor learning.
Structures: These encompass physical and organisational features critical to effective practice and achieving outcomes.
Practice: This covers programme delivery and activities that practitioners can influence. Core elements include safety management, inclusion, relationships, environmental awareness and sustainability, intended outcomes and continuity of learning.
Outcomes: These are the results of outdoor learning experiences. They may be defined by participants, providers, funders, or emerge naturally from the process. Outcomes might reflect specific group characteristics, such as teamwork, or align with organisational frameworks.
The guide is not a prescriptive manual. Providers and practitioners can use the descriptions of high-quality practice and reflective questions as a basis for self-evaluation and improvement. It also informs external observers, helping articulate good practices that may otherwise be implicit. The guide combines global research and practice with a UK perspective and while it outlines common good practices, the diversity of outdoor learning settings and approaches means that quality must be interpreted in context.