FSC Campaigns and Research

Promoting Fieldwork and Outdoor Learning

In 1943, the FSC’s founders recognised the life-inspiring opportunities which residential trips could provide for children from London and other cities. The FSC emerged, literally, from the ruins of world conflict and it is particularly appropriate for the organisation, over 65years later, to act as a lead organisation in providing residential courses for schools from all over London, as part of the DfES London Challenge project. The FSC’s founders would applaud the vision shown by current leaders in supporting these trips.

The FSC is a pioneering charity which has had a remarkable impact on many of the 2.5 million people who have visited its field centres. There are still many challenges for the FSC and its partners, however. Until recently, the FSC has not been a vocal campaigning body but growing pressures on biology fieldwork and outdoor learning have shown that there is a very important role for bodies such as the FSC to take a lead in championing the rights and opportunities for people of all ages and interests to experience their environment at first hand.

The FSC has joined with partners to lead in two campaigns. The first, Save Our Biology, is still very active and aims to reverse the continuing decline in science and biology fieldwork in secondary schools. A broader campaign, Real World Learning, involved working partners wuch as RSPB, National Trust and Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust aims to build opportunities for out-of-classroom learning for children of all ages. Both campaigns have been instrumental in bringing these issues to the forefront of government’s policy and its publication of the manifesto for Learning Outside the Classroom in November 2007. Since that time, the FSC has been working closely with the government and other partners to develop out-of-classroom learning (see www.lotc.org.uk/) , including the creation of a national badging scheme which ensures quality of the childrens’ experiences when they venture into the ‘outdoor classroom’.