After completion of the programme, students can take part in further leadership and community service awards.12 Slovenia After Slovenia gained independence in 1991 from the former Yugoslavia, a special government department repurposed disused military bases into “outdoor schools” around the country. A government organisation, CŠOD (Centre for Schools and Outdoor Education), is responsible for the “outdoor school” infrastructure, staffing and programmes. The provision at the “outdoor schools” while initially sports-based, is now linked to the curriculum. All programmes involve “experience-based learning” in nature to “facilitate the education process and promote sustainable development…” 13 The funding to visit and take part in the outdoor education programme is from the national education budget, since it forms part of the curriculum. However, subsequent visits, must be funded by the parents (transport and accommodation) at a nominal cost. This cost, for a five-day residential, is approximately £60 and for those, whose parents cannot afford this, a “general fund” covers the cost. The courses on offer are diverse in choice, well-liked and managed through a central booking system. Each year around 45,000 students attend five-day courses and 32,000 visit on a day basis.
Why an entitlement to Residential Outdoor Education is important In recent years an impressive and growing body of academic literature has emerged that supports getting young people outdoors as a means of improving a wide range of educational, social and health and well-being outcomes14. The message could hardly be clearer: “Hundreds of studies now bear on this question, and converging evidence strongly suggests that experiences of nature boost academic learning, personal development, and environmental stewardship…a thorough review reveals an evidence base stronger, deeper, and broader than this first impression might suggest: weak research designs are supplemented with strong ones; striking findings are replicated in multiple contexts; the research on nature and learning now includes evidence of mechanisms; and findings from entirely outside the study of nature and learning point to the same conclusions.”11
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(Ng Thian Choon, PowerPoint, 2020, OAE Masterplan, a vision for youth development). Dimec D., Kokalj I., The development and role of outdoor education in the Slovenian Education System. The changing world of outdoor learning in Europe, 2020, Routledge. 14 Kuo M., Barnes M. & Jordan C. (2019). Do experiences with nature promote learning? Converging evidence of a cause-and-effect relationship. Frontiers in Psychology. 13
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