Academic presented to King Charles and Queen Camilla in recognition of outdoor education advocacy and leadership

Last week, on Wednesday 8 May, Graham French, senior lecturer in the School of Education, was presented to their majesties King Charles and Queen Camilla at a Buckingham Palace garden party. Graham’s presentation comes in recognition of his contributions to the proposed Residential Outdoor Education (Wales) bill and leadership of the outdoor adventure sector through chair roles with the Association of Heads of Outdoor Education Centres (AHOEC) and the Institute for Outdoor Learning (IOL).

The bill was developed by Graham and a team of researchers from Senedd Cymru and proposed by Sam Rowlands, MS for North Wales. As a members’ bill, the proposal had come through selection from an initial explanatory memorandum, through to a Senedd debate and a vote from members giving leave to proceed. Graham’s work on the early stages in drafting the first explanatory memoranda formed the basis for the Senedd research team’s work. The bill proposed a legal framework that would see every child and young person in Wales having the opportunity to attend an outdoor education residential visit at some point in their school career, funded by the Welsh Government.

The inspiration for the bill stemmed from Graham’s leadership of the outdoor adventure sector through combining the roles of chair of AHOEC (representing headteachers of outdoor education centres), chair of the IOL (representing outdoor learning practitioners) and leading two Welsh Government funded collaborative projects involving researchers from Bangor, Wrexham University and the University of South Wales. These projects demonstrated the value to young people’s physical and mental health of residential outdoor education and outdoor learning work, yet also its inconsistent availability across the nation, aligned closely with household income. This, combined with Graham’s involvement with the Bangor PLUS (poverty and learning in urban schools) project (documented in the University of Wales press’ 2023 publication ‘Child Poverty in Wales: challenges for schooling future generations) led the proposal to Sam Rowland, MS, chair of the Senedd cross party group on the Outdoor Adventure sector.

As a cross-party piece of legislation with significant costs involved, the proposed bill enjoyed much support from both Conservative and Plaid Cymru members, but ultimately it was defeated at its second pass through the Senedd in late April 2024, due to the cost implications to Welsh Government. However, there have been significant moves forward in the non-legislative changes working to achieve the goals of the proposed bill concerning equity of access, and recognising the need for outdoor learning to be an entitlement in the Curriculum for Wales, rather than a nice-to-have enrichment for those who can afford it.

Sam Rowlands, MS, commented, “Graham’s dynamic and creative leadership of what can sometimes seem a disparate sector [the outdoor adventure sector], combined with his direct involvement in cutting edge educational research has drawn the sector together, and brought outdoor learning to the forefront of educational policy debate. His recognition of this work for the children and young people of Wales at Buckingham Palace last week was thoroughly deserved.”