Natural England Commissioned Report NECR215 Annex part Natural Connections Demonstration Project, 20122016: Analysis of the key evaluation questions part First published 05 September 2017 www.gov.uk/natural-england Foreword Natural England commission a range of reports from external contractors to provide evidence and advice to assist us in delivering our duties Background The Natural Connections project was intended to: Stimulate the demand from schools and teachers for learning outside the classroom in the local natural environment Support schools and teachers to build learning outside the classroom in the local natural environment into their planning and practices Stimulate the supply of high quality learning outside the classroom in the natural environment services for schools and teachers This report is part of Annex of the final project report, NECR215, that was published in 2016 and presented the key findings from the Natural Connections Demonstration Project These reports, and other evidence, have been used by Natural England and a wide range of partner organisations to shape the design of the demonstration project The project was funded by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), Natural England and Historic England, commissioned by Natural England, and delivered in South West England by Plymouth University This report should be cited as: GILCHRIST, M., PASSY, R., WAITE, S., BLACKWELL, I., EDWARDS-JONES, A., LEWIS, J & HUNT, A 2017) Natural Connections Demonstration Project, 2012-2016: Analysis of the key evaluation questions Natural England Commissioned Reports, Number 215 Annex York Natural England Project Officer – Martin Gilchrist, martin.gilchrist@naturalengland.org.uk Key words – nature connection, nature connectedness, national, natural environment, wellbeing, proenvironmental attitudes, behaviours, health, adults, children, visits Further information This report can be downloaded from the Natural England Access to Evidence Catalogue: http://publications.naturalengland.org.uk/ For information on Natural England publications contact the Natural England Enquiry Service on 0300 060 3900 or e-mail enquiries@naturalengland.org.uk or MENE@naturalengland.org.uk This report is published by Natural England under the Open Government Licence - OGLv3.0 for public sector information You are encouraged to use, and reuse, information subject to certain conditions For details of the licence visit Copyright Natural England photographs are only available for non commercial purposes If any other information such as maps or data cannot be used commercially this will be made clear within the report ISBN 978-1-78354-445-5 © Natural England and other parties 2017 KEQ and What was the baseline LINE activity in project schools and how did this change during the project lifetime? Project element and objective Brokerage: Stimulate demand for LINE activity in schools Assumption There is a latent demand for LINE in schools that the brokerage element of the project can stimulate KEQ and What was the baseline LINE activity in project schools and how did this change during the project lifetime? 1.1 Types of LINE activity 1.2 Time spent on LINE 1.3 Teacher, TA and volunteer involvement with LINE 1.4 LINE-related CPD 1.5 Working with LINE providers 1.6 Use of green spaces Data sources School baseline survey; July 2015 school survey; June 2014 school activity log; May 2015 activity survey Key points Positive changes were achieved in two types of LINE activity: school time, and afterschool/ lunchtimes These were not statistically significant changes There was a statistically significant decrease in the proportion of schools not involved in LINE activities (p-value