Well-planned and facilitated opportunities to learn in the real world, away from the classroom, and to experience nature and adventure, help to improve the lives of young people.  OEAP National Guidance aims to make these opportunities easier to plan and deliver by giving users easy access to regularly-updated and nationally-recognised guidance.

OEAP National Guidance is inclusive of the full range of provision for young people, including by schools, colleges, youth services, other formal and informal settings, and provision in the public, private, voluntary and charitable sectors. It covers provision across England and Wales, and is recognised by the Department for Education at www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-and-safety-on-educational-visits and by the Welsh Government at gov.wales/educational-visits-and-outdoor-learning.  If you are based in Scotland, please follow this link to the website of the Scottish Advisory Panel for Outdoor Education (SAPOE).

Many employers and establishments have adopted OEAP National Guidance, thus removing the need to write and maintain their own detailed guidance.  Please refer to your employer’s guidance and policy.

OEAP National Guidance is continually improved and updated to reflect the developing understanding of good practice.  It is therefore an online resource and is not intended to be printed as a static ‘manual’.  You are welcome to create links to the website or any page of the website.  If you wish to link to a specific document, we recommend that you link to its information page (via the blue ‘i’ button on the contents page), as this link will remain correct even when we have updated the document.  If you link directly to the downloadable version of the document, the link may display an outdated version of the document.

Financial Support

Without financial support OEAP would be unable to continue the production and updating of OEAP National Guidance and so we ask that any organisation that makes regular use of OEAP National Guidance for commercial gain should consider making a contribution towards the production costs of OEAP National Guidance.

Legal Content

Where OEAP National Guidance provides information or advice on legal issues, this is given to the best of our understanding.  It is not offered as a definitive legal interpretation and is not a substitute for formal legal advice.  If formal advice is required, you should consult your own legal counsel.

Keep up to date

You can keep up to date with changes to OEAP National Guidance via the OEAPNG News page, by following the @theoeap twitter feed, following the Outdoor Education Advisers’ Panel on Linkedin, or liking the Outdoor Education Advisers Panel Facebook page.

Please follow this link for a fuller explanation of the underlying principles and philosophy of OEAP National Guidance.