During 2005 a working group was convened to produce recommendations on advancing fieldwork and education beyond the classroom.

A lack of education outside the classroom and poor quality experiences were one of the reasons identified as to why learners are turned off geography by the members of the Action Plan for Geography. Barriers to the provision of effective out of classroom learning included cost, preparation and planning time, health and safety considerations and a lack of confidence especially of non-specialist geography teachers. There is considerable evidence to show that out of classroom learning in geography and other subjects is not being used to its maximum potential.

The overall aim of this Working Group meeting was to produce a succinct set of achievable goals and recommendations on  that were presented to the  Department for Education and Skills.

The draft recommendations were put out for consultation and were strongly that endorsed by the geography community. 

The working group consisted of:

• Barnaby Briggs (Head of the Social Performance Unit, Shell)
• Dr Mike Firth (Headteacher, Meridian Upper School)
• Dr Rita Gardner (Director, RGS-IBG) CHAIR
• Leszek Iwaskow (HMI Subject Specialist Adviser for geography)
• Dr David Lambert (Chief Executive, Geographical Association)
• Dr Nick Middleton (Writer & TV Presenter)
• Tony Thomas (Chief Executive, Field Studies Council)
• Professor David Thomas Honorary Secretary, RGS-IBG)