The great outdoors and the school curriculum

Sir, – As refreshing as it was to see the alternative perspectives on the education system in “Why the Irish classroom needs to change right now” (Education, March 30th) and the need to “connect with nature”, it re-enforced to us at Airfield Estate that this needs to happen in a way that disrupts the curriculum in parallel with reforming it.

For example, our Farmer Time programme digitally connects farmers to the classroom regularly to create a long-lasting connection and understanding between students and producers. This free programme facilitates the real-life learning of students where they can see their science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (Stem), geography and history classes come to life through animal welfare, biodiversity and business decisions.

The goal for all should be to create innovative educational resources and programmes that harness the real-world experiences of industry and academia, while supporting curricular learning.

We believe the greatest impact in educational and behaviour change comes from places like Airfield working with the Department of Education to create contextual learning by connecting students to the primary sources of information so they can experience classroom learning in an authentic manner. – Yours, etc,