Learning Outside the Classroom Quality Badge awarded to the Trust
Warwickshire Wildlife Trust
gets top marks for Educational Visits
Warwickshire Wildlife Trust at Brandon
Marsh Nature Centre, CV3 3GW has shown itself to be at the top of
the class for educational visits by being awarded a Learning
Outside the Classroom Quality Badge (Route 2).
Awarded by the Council for Learning Outside
the Classroom, the Quality Badge combines for the first time
learning and safety into one easily recognisable badge for all
organisations providing learning outside the classroom
experiences.
Warwickshire Wildlife Trust spokesperson
Jen Jones, Education Manager said "Being awarded the Quality Badge
is a real coup for all the staff here as it shows that we offer
young people the type of high quality learning experiences they
really benefit from. We're thrilled to get official recognition for
our efforts and we look forward to welcoming even more children and
young people from the local area to our Environmental Education
centre."
The Quality Badge was developed as part of
the Learning Outside the Classroom Manifesto, a national initiative
to ensure young people are given more opportunities to have these
experiences as part of the curriculum. The Quality Badge scheme is
part of the Government's £4.5m Out and About package which, along
with the badges, provides guidance and information for teachers on
how to plan and organise high quality activities. The badge is
designed to make it easier for teachers to identify providers of
quality educational visits. Organisations will display the badge as
a signal to schools that their venue has met required standards, so
teachers do not need to carry out their own risk or quality
assessments.
There are two routes to the Quality
Badge. Route 1 is for organisations offering activities that
are considered relatively low risk and activities that take place
wholly in controlled areas used by the public, such as museums,
galleries, places of worship and zoos. Route 2 is for
organisations providing activities that require a degree of
technical knowledge and experience beyond the lay person. For
example, adventurous activities such as rock climbing and river and
coastal fieldwork, where young people enter the water to make
measurements.
Providers looking to gain the badge will
need to meet a set of six quality indicators and will be supported
through a developmental process by a package of on-line support
materials, which will include guidance, good practice exemplars,
downloadable templates and training materials.
Ed Balls, Secretary of State Children,
Schools and Families, said:
"Educational visits are among the most
memorable experiences in a child's school life. Quality
Badges offer teachers a guarantee that not only is a venue
providing the sort of educational value that they can build on in
class long after the visit but they also have the appropriate risk
management structures in place.
It is a significant victory in our battle
to move away from the misguided perception that learning outside
the classroom is a potential minefield for teachers. I want
to see teachers using Quality Badges as practical decision making
tool. It should ensure that many more young people have memorable,
exciting and valuable learning outside the classroom experiences. I
congratulate Warwickshire Wildlife Trust on being awarded the
badge."
The Quality Badge is available to large and
small organisations providing quality learning outside the
classroom experiences and managing risk effectively. Organisations
already awarded the badge include museums, adventurous activity and
field study centres, places of worship, art galleries, visitor
attractions and farms, with many more starting to apply.
The Quality Badge was developed by the
Department for Children, Schools and Families in conjunction with a
wide range of partners. Badges are awarded by the Council for
Learning Outside the Classroom.
For more information about the Learning
Outside the Classroom Quality Badge, please visit www.lotcqualitybadge.org.uk
Notes to Editors
The Learning Outside the Classroom
Manifesto was launched in November 2006, making eight specific
pledges to expand access to educational opportunities outside the
classroom for all 0 to 19 year olds.
The Quality Badge brings together a number
of existing schemes that cover safety primarily; puts the emphasis
on the quality of teaching and learning provided (of which risk
management is a part); and offers a quality standard for sectors
that hitherto have not had a scheme at all (e.g. museums and
galleries, field study centres). The first badges were awarded in
January 2009, with the new Council for the Learning Outside the
Classroom acting as the awarding body Organisations can register
online at: www.lotcqualitybadge.org.uk/
The Quality Badge is available to all
organisations providing learning outside the classroom experiences.
There are two routes to the Quality Badge - the route an
organisation takes to achieve the Quality Badge will be determined
by the degree of risk management required to manage the activities
offered..
Route 1 is for those
organisations whose activities are considered relatively low-risk,
such as environmental centres, art galleries, museums, visitor
attractions and places of worship. Organisations applying
through Route 1 will need to complete an online Self Evaluation
Form to demonstrate that they have met a set of quality indicators;
a sample of organisations will receive a quality assurance visit
from a Quality Badge assessor.
Route 2 is for those
organisations whose activities require a degree of technical
knowledge and experience that are beyond the lay person, such as
ensuring children are operating safely on a high ropes course,
around livestock and farming equipment, or when entering rivers to
make measurements. Residential and overseas visits are also
included in Route 2, due to the unique risk management issues they
present to teachers.
Providers proceeding through Route 2 must
meet the same quality criteria as Route 1, but will also be
assessed by the relevant awarding body. This is to ensure that they
meet the quality indicators and have adequate safety management
systems in place. There are five Route 2 awarding bodies: Access to
Farms (ATF); Adventure Activities Industry Advisory Committee
(AAIAC); Field Studies Council (FSC); School Travel Forum (STF);
and Expedition Providers Association (EPA)
In October 2008 an Out and About package
was launched to help teachers integrate more learning outside the
classroom into the curriculum. Including advice, guidance,
resources and training modules to support schools, colleges, early
years' providers and youth groups provide learning outside the
classroom opportunities. It is available at www.lotc.org.uk. The package
aims to breakdown barriers to pupils getting out and about - with
'how to' guidance, including planning learning into the curriculum
and information on where to go and who can help.
The Council for Learning Outside the
Classroom was launched in April 2009 and is the leading voice on
learning outside the classroom issues.