New Teaching Project Moves the Classroom to the Beach
Thousands of schoolchildren are to benefit from one of the biggest Teach on the Beach projects in the UK, being launched by the Ecover Blue Mile and Plymouth University based Natural Connections.
The programme will provide training in blue spaces for teachers across the South West of England. Among the organisations providing the training are the Eden Project in Cornwall and the Marine Biological Association (MBA) in Plymouth.
The training will take place on beaches in Devon, Cornwall and Somerset and on the banks of the River Frome in Bristol during May and June. The training sessions, aimed mainly at primary schools, are open to every school across the region on a first come, first served basis.
Teach on the Beach is the first water-based CPD training initiative from Natural Connections, a Natural England project which is also funded by DEFRA and English Heritage and aims to increase learning in the natural environment at schools. The project is being delivered in partnership with the Plymouth-based Ecover Blue Mile as part of its drive to encourage more children to become involved with the marine environment.
The learning ties in with the new national curriculum, while outdoor lessons are also linked to improved health in schoolchildren.
Project manager at Natural Connections, Ian Blackwell, said: “The aim is for teachers to be able to use blue spaces all year round to help them deliver the curriculum. We know that schools take children down to the beach or the river but often there is no link to the curriculum, so this is different.
“When the curriculum includes history, literacy, numeracy and modern languages, providing this on the beach or beside the river is quite a difficult concept. But with imagination, it’s totally possible. Teachers will get a whole range of skills and the confidence to take their class out and make the best use of blue spaces.”
He added: “There’s a huge demand for this kind of training. This sort of teaching has dropped off because of the pressure of league tables and concerns over health and safety. But in the last few years there’s been a real desire to take children outside of the classroom again and an acknowledgement that it is beneficial to their learning and to their health.
“If it’s as successful as we think it will be, we’ll expand it.”
The Ecover Blue Mile, which works in support of the Marine Conservation Society, already has a schools project called Go Blue! on 6-8 June to encourage schools across the UK to organise a sport or curriculum-linked activity with a marine theme. Conrad Humphreys from the Ecover Blue Mile said: “We want to get children outdoors into the fresh air. We know this has health benefits and it also has learning benefits too.
“Teach on the Beach will be providing around 100 teachers with the tools to deliver curriculum learning to thousands of children in new and exciting ways. We are absolutely delighted to be supporting this programme – the calibre of the organisations delivering the training is world class.”
There are six workshops in all. The Eden Project delivers its workshop at Polzeath Beach on 12 June; the MBA’s workshop is at Batten Bay, Plymouth, on 18 June; Nature Workshops has two sessions in South Devon at South Milton Sands Beach on 19 May and Goodrington Beach, Paignton, on 17 June; and Earthworks is holding a workshop at Snuff Mills on the River Frome as part of the Big Bristol Green Week on 18 June and at the beach in Weston-super-Mare on 25 June.
Eden’s workshop uses a “challenge led and sometimes playful approach to delve into maths, science and literacy; with a splash of creativity and a smattering of risk analysis”. It is focused on the primary curriculum core subjects and will enable teachers to develop outdoor sessions which are easy to plan and simple to resource. Among the topics being covered is power generation from waves and rivers.
Schools Programme Manager at the Eden Project, Sam Kendall, said another key aim is to teach the children about marine conservation: “Children who don’t have a relationship with nature will not become the environmentally-concerned adults of the future so a brilliant way for them to develop a relationship with nature is to do their learning outdoors.
“The other thing is that the outdoors is a brilliant learning environment so it’s a win-win: you’re connecting children to the natural world and you’re developing more interesting, engaging and effective learning experiences.”
The MBA’s cross-curricular workshop looks at species, habitats, life cycles, food webs, evaporation and how humans affect the blue environment. MBA education and research officer Jack Sewell, a marine biologist, will lead the workshop: “We’ll be exploring the wildlife and science and chemistry of it all through games and activities and we’ll be looking at pollution.”
Earthworks’ Teach by the River workshop on the River Frome has hands-on activities including stream dipping, global games to examine issues such as pollution and creative activities to help bring the curriculum alive including sculpture, poetry and performance. Explore the Shore at Uphill Beach, Weston Super Mare, has seashore safaris, ‘Seafood Platter’ exploring who eats who and ‘Changing Coastline’ using creative learning activities to look at climate change.
Nature Workshops in South Devon will explore rock pools and provide activities to increase knowledge and confidence in using water-based environments as a resource for all subjects on the curriculum.
For information on how to apply, visit the Teach on the Beach section of the Ecover Blue Mile website.
