Diolch, Lywydd. Many colleagues here in this Chamber will be aware that, until March of this year, I was a full-time practising teacher. I certainly enjoyed my 16 years in the classroom, but my best memories of the job are the times spent outside of the classroom. By this, I’m not referring to the supposedly long holidays teachers receive, which, I can confirm, incidentally, are filled with marking, planning and numerous other roles, but to the times I spent with my classes engaging in learning opportunities outside of the confines of four walls. This will be the focus of my short debate today.

I would like to thank the Members’ Research Service and Marc Withers of Ignite Up for their help in suggesting resources I could draw on for my contribution. I’m also glad to offer Rhianon Passmore and Julie Morgan a minute each of my speaking time.

It has long been recognised that time spent outside the classroom can be highly beneficial to pupils’ learning. From my own experiences of teaching history and geography in a secondary school, I always found there was something truly magical about learning that took place outside of the classroom, whether that was a hands-on investigation of a castle, a competitive, team-based geocaching lesson, a field trip to a river where pupils would actually get in the water and measure the width, depth and water flow, or even a simple half-hour out in the school grounds investigating microclimates by measuring wind speed, temperature and so on.