That's why in 2005 the Committee I chair in Parliament decided to launch an inquiry into 'Education Outside the Classroom'. During the course of the inquiry we found that the provision of outdoor education is extremely patchy, with many schools being deterred by the false perception that there is a high degree of risk associated with outdoor education, not to mention the cumbersome bureaucracy and issues of funding, time and resources.
Since the publication of that report, I've been pleased to see that the Government and wider education sector has taken some important steps to develop and promote more learning outside the classroom.
It's absolutely common sense that we learn differently in new environments. What child wouldn't come away with a new and deeper understanding after walking round the graveyards of world war battlefields, or seeing evidence of huge glacial movement hidden in our landscapes, or speaking a language overseas for the first time?
But it's not just common sense. There's also a raft of new research which shows that when young people are challenged with new skills away from school it helps them to learn in different ways and contributes to their emotional well-being, social interaction, physical experiences and responses to their world.
An Ofsted report in summer 2008 found that

Sadly, research also reveals without these opportunities children are “significantly disadvantaged.” (Source: Making The Case - Learning Outside the Classroom, Malone, 2008)
So what has been done?
In 2006 we saw the launch of the “Learning Outside the Classroom Manifesto” and now, in April 2009 the mantle for delivering this Manifesto will be taken on by the new Council for Learning Outside the Classroom. But there is still a lot of work to be done to ensure that all children have access to these learning opportunities. This new research by Education Travel Group provides us with teachers' points of view. It provides us with a better knowledge of the problems and needs of teachers who want to provide and run school trips. With 94% of teachers taking part stating that it will be harder to run school trips in the current economic climate, it's clear that government, the teaching community and parents will have to re-double their efforts in the coming months to ensure that more children have the opportunity to understand the world beyond their classroom walls.”

"When people ask me what I do for a living I say:

and that quite literally is our role at Education Travel Group. We bring textbooks to life by extending the learning experience beyond the classroom for children. Working in education outside the classroom is incredibly rewarding. I see shy children blossom, cautious children take leaps of faith and enquiring children open their eyes with wonder as they encounter anything from plays, language, history, geography, technology or a piece of music in a new way.

We're in the business of education. Our founder was a language teacher called Victor Groves who saw the benefit in taking his students abroad and so turned it into a viable business. 75 years later and we remain a trusted and established leader having taken close to ten million students on excellent value for money educational trips. In that time our company has seen the increasing demands on teachers who organise such trips and so we support teachers throughout the whole process to ensure that it is as seamless as possible.

Despite the concerns highlighted by teachers in this report, this year we are taking away more children than ever before. Both parents and teachers see the huge benefits in allowing children to learn outside the classroom. We welcome more than 140,000 children a year to our Kingswood UK Activity Centres and send more than 110,000 children a year overseas on educational school trips. We deal with teachers up and down the country from primary through to secondary and university staff.

“We're huge supporters of the government's drive to encourage learning outside the classroom and we felt it was important to provide a voice for teachers in this debate. So these are the voices of teachers.