An exploration of how primary school children’s social values are influenced by their experiences during residential outdoor learning.

This phenomenological research explores how primary school children’s social values
were influenced by their experiences during residential outdoor learning, through
interviews and focus groups with 26 children and five teachers from five state-funded
schools in England. Children and teachers were interviewed two to three weeks after
returning from residentials. The study finds that the residentials did not act as temporary
communities or create connections to place. It concludes that there may have been
social benefits derived from the enhancement and enlargement of social relationships
within the group, but that these benefits were predominantly related to informal social
interactions. It suggests that these social interactions were likely to have positively
impacted on children’s social agency and their sense of belonging; that there was some
impact on values of fairness, particularly with relation to social inclusivity; that the
children developed trusting behaviours suggestive of a positive valuation of other people;
and that the children commonly exhibited empathy and care for others. However, the
evidence on open-mindedness and fairness was unclear; teachers observed changes in
both, but some children’s responses suggested that this was a temporary behaviour
change related to wanting to maximize the experience rather than a change in values.
Thus, the study finds that residentials are intense social experiences that influence
children’s friendships, but that there was limited evidence of change in social values.