Bucket School (Invented by Nikki Bolton)

Bucket school is the innovation of the fabulous Nikki Bolton (Former Senior Lecturer at Edge Hill University). This concept has been introduced to trainees for the past few years so the idea is definitely spreading. As can been seen in the picture, buckets can be used to create your own mobile, outdoor classroom.

The benefit of this is you only need 30 buckets, which you can get from B&Q for £1 - so can have an outside classroom for as a little as £30! This cheaply facilitates the potential to take learning outside the classroom without the obvious prohibitive costs of formal outdoor classrooms.

But the bucket is more than a seat, it is also a tool. You can use it as a stepping stone (carefully!) or even better for collection - and maybe make your very own man! Our experience of bucket school at university was in science, but it is not exclusive to that subject. I would propose it could be for every subject - I even experienced a music lesson which included time outside to gather inspiration.

Recently I was talking to a university lecturer who does not see the rationale of teaching about learning outside the classroom - "because that's just what you do when you teach". What he hadn't considered is that with the currently rigours of the curriculum that inherent element of teaching in the natural environment is becoming less prevalent. Every minute counts so a transition to an outside lesson is sometimes seen as more trouble than it's worth - which is why we need evidence to support why it is so important!

There is lots of evidence for learning outside the classroom (LoTC), and I will blog about this repeatedly as I believe it is important. I do however appreciate the challenges in the classroom and am aware that if I do not make it a priority in my classroom when I am teaching I may easily become someone who finds it too hard to get out. My reflections during training will hopefully help me to argue with myself that it is worth the time (and stress).

#musings #TS4