OUTDOOR education in Scotland is on the brink of a catastrophic collapse from which we are unlikely to recover from in this generation. And we risk impoverishing a generation of young people from outdoor education experiences.

This comes at a time when the educational and developmental outcomes provided by our sector are never more needed and when we ought to be preparing to play a critical role in the national health and wellbeing recovery efforts of our country – instead we are fighting for our survival.

Third-sector providers are now all under threat. The latest casualty was Girlguiding Scotland’s Netherurd House in West Linton in the Borders, which announced permanent closure last month.

Current Scottish Government guidance is that residential provision is to remain closed and that looks set to be the situation for the remainder of the year.

Centres are being creative in terms of current alternative offerings, but with other measures coming to an end, such as the imminent end of the furlough scheme, this is having limited impact.

Data from YouthLink Scotland confirms third-sector organisations currently provide 70% of bed spaces for residential outdoor educational experience and with the threatened and expected closures of many local authority centres, this will only increase.

Scottish Outdoor Education Centre (SOEC) is a significant provider – we account for 25% of the provision in Scotland and have provided for more than one million young people since inception in 1939. We remained viable having varied our business model to become a social enterprise and meeting the needs of young people and delivering the range of educational, health and wellbeing and personal development outcomes in our national curriculum.

For many years we have proudly operated without the support of government investment or ongoing grant aid – 95% of our £1.4m income is self-generated.

SOEC employs more 60 people across our head office and three residential centres at Belmont in the valley of Strathmore, Perthshire; Broomlee south of Edinburgh; and Dounans in the heart of Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park. The majority of our staff are qualified instructors working directly with our customers on a range of activities, training programmes and off-site expeditions.

As a charity and social enterprise, our £1.4m income goes back into the Scottish economy in wages and supplies every year, sustaining green jobs in rural areas of Scotland. In addition, our independently determined social return on investment ratio is 1:11 where every £1 results in £11 in outcomes for young people and social impact. Meaning that we contribute more than £15m in social benefit to the Scottish economy.

Furthermore, SOEC has a unique and seldom told story to tell. Having been previously government-run, our centres provided essential accommodation for city children evacuated to the countryside during the Second World War.

We have supported international refugees – indeed we housed members of the Dutch royal family during the war.

With such a powerful – but largely forgotten – heritage and indeed history in national crises, it would be a travesty to see these centres killed off by a new one.

Deputy First Minister John Swinney recently said “I am keen to ensure that residential outdoor learning experiences continue to be part of the Curriculum for Excellence.”

Despite this, there has been a recent decision to decline financial support to the sector and this keenness does not seem to be matched with any priority.

Hugh Torrance is a trustee for Scottish Outdoor Education Centres

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