Young people from across Northern Ireland have been meeting to learn about the process of advocacy and are calling for a spotlight to support #Outdoor Classroom Day.
Young people call for spotlight on #Outdoor Classroom Day
Outdoor Classroom Day
A few years ago young people from 31 Our Bright Future projects, across the UK, were asked “if you could change just one thing about the environment what would it be?” An overwhelming number of young people asked for educational change, they asked specifically for more time to be spent learning in and about nature.
#Outdoor Classroom Day is a global movement to make time outdoors part of every child’s day. On two days of action each year, teachers take children outdoors to play and learn."
All year round, this community campaigns for more time outdoors every day.
The emergence of new movements e.g. school strikes show young people’s desire to do something positive about climate and biodiversity. This concern is now adding to the increasing mental health crisis especially as we continue to deal with the Covid 19 pandemic. Children and young people have been very negatively impacted and many of the young people we work with have stated that that they feel time outdoors has improved their resilience and wellbeing during this time.
The Northern Ireland Our Bright Future group recently asked politicians, teachers and others for thoughts on #Outdoor Classroom Day, we are happy to say the comments were overwhelmingly positive.
Outdoor Classroom Day
On behalf of 32 environmental organisations Our Bright Future has written to the chair of the Education Select Committee, requesting an enquiry into the role of outdoor learning in boosting children’s attainment, resilience and wellbeing.
As our children and young people deal with education at this difficult time, and find themselves in spending even more time front of screens, giving serious consideration to facilitating time for children and young people to get outdoors and connect with nature is more urgent than ever.