I do not think there is anyone who will contest the value of Outdoor activity / residential experiences for helping young people to develop in life, education, health and social relationships. High quality Outdoor Education / residential experiences develop young people for life’s challenges, greater understanding of the natural environment, greater social interaction and make them aware of the natural environment and climate issues.

The Scottish Government and local authorities have many sins to answer for.

Over the last two years over I reckon 12 local authority outdoor centres / services have been closed or drastically cut back by lack of Scottish Government support and local political party politics.  Low Port Centre, West Lothian’s residential service, was closed in January and the remaining service significantly reduced.  North Lanarkshire Council’s  Kilbowie centre in Oban have been recently informed they will likely be closed in the coming months.

On the party politics, under financial pressure, the SNP minority administration in Glasgow voted to close Blairvadach, with this opposed by Labour, while in North Lanarkshire the opposite has happened.  The Labour minority administration voted to close Kilbowie, with this opposed by the SNP! (see here).

Like Blairvadach, the Scottish Government could intervene to stop such closures but they choose to blame their convenient “fall guy”, the Westminster parliament.  It is more a question of what the Scottish Government values to invest in – or not.

True outdoor adventure activity and residential experiences are becoming more socially exclusive and affordable only to children who have wealthier families. As local authority centres close, more expensive private providers are stepping in and profit making. Private centres generally do not offer concessions or subsidise children from low income households, unlike local authority centres such as Blairvadach.

Funding for trips and fees which could go to local authority centres are taken out of the council system, as they send school groups to private centres, further undermining the sustainability of public outdoor education provision.

The Scottish Government are paying lip service to Health and Well Being and “Outdoor Learning” as they are closing outdoor education services and taking away the highly experienced professionals who deliver activity and train many teaching staff to deliver Outdoor Learning within their schools.

The Scottish Government claim they have championed Outdoor Learning in primary schools. Outdoor Learning has experienced positive growth in schools but this generally happens on school grounds and local green spaces as it is low cost and can be safely managed by teaching staff.  Outdoor learning has also revitalised school learning by using creative ideas outside to develop health and well being, group work, literacy and numeracy and wider curriculum. However it has some way to go to be truly integrated with teacher training and school curriculum.

Outdoor Learning is one pillar of outdoor education but it is not an outdoor residential experience or an adventure type of outdoor activity which Blairvadach provides.

Outdoor centres / services have been slashed more than the Thatcher government in the ‘70s and ‘8Os. Fortunately the Tories did not manage to close all local authority centres . The current Scottish Government appear to be finishing the job off for them.

Scotland was once the world leader in outdoor education but we are now the disillusioned nation who accepts the eradication of outdoor education centres/ services while its government still proclaims its education is great. When are people going to actively protest at council offices and the Scottish Parliament as the politicians do not appear willing to listen to copious amount of comments on Facebook and blogs such as this?

Councils conduct public consultations on efficiency measures when they have already decided cutbacks.  They use the screen of consultations to justify their actions. When you scratch the surface, very few people agree with outdoor centre closures as they appreciate their educational / social value.

This has been  written by an outdoor education professional who, as a teenager went to an outdoor centre and became passionate enough to make it their career, which has now ended.  I am saddened to see such unique resources being eradicated but more for the removal of positive opportunities for future generations of children. What is the true cost to society of these cutbacks?