Inspiring Learning foundation

About us

Making outdoor education accessible for all

ILF was created by Alex Williamson, CEO of Inspiring Learning Ltd. Alex saw every day the great benefit of Outdoor Education and he and his team wanted to ensure that this benefit was available to all young people. To make this happen, Alex brought together a team of experts from across the outdoor education sector that includes academics, educators and outdoor centre operators to agree how best the sector can support young people. As a first step the group invested in a series of research programmes which looked at what is available for young people, what issues young people face and what is available already. This research revealed that there was a forgotten group of young people, who are not getting any support to find what they are great at. The team at Northampton University, led by Professor Emma Whewell, researched this group of young people and saw them in action at ILF pilot programmes and were able to produce our first ILF thesis. From this, the team at In2action worked with our trustees to create a programme called Growth Mindset, which is the first step in our Building Blocks To Success programme. 2023 saw us running our final pilots before launching the programme nationally in Spring 2024 to all young people across the UK.

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Building Blocks to Success

We are creating a series of residential outdoor education programmes that take a young person from Y8 all the way to Y12, when they will be ready to join with confidence, NCS style programmes. This continuation will allow them to enter adulthood with ambitions, confidence, resilience and the ability to make a positive contribution to society and live fulfilled lives. Our first programme for those in Y8 is aimed at those who are lacking direction or ambition and as a result are coasting in the middle of the class, often being overlooked, and the spark that is within them failing to be lit. Our course will give each participant the skills to find that spark and set it alight. All of those that participate in our courses are invited to join our Learning Platform that will help them continue their growth journey and offer them along the way careers advice, training opportunities and even apprenticeships.

Research And Published Articles

Professor Emma Whewell produced our first research piece which you can read here. Or you may prefer to read the article written by one of our Trustees, Dr John Allan, based on this subject for Horizons Magazine.

Getting Involved

Teachers

As an educator you see every day the societal issues that trip a young person up. You may have pupils in your class who are lacking direction. You can reach out to us to share your observations on what young people need and to suggest pupils that would benefit from our training programmes. To book a pupil onto a course click here. Or to share your thoughts on future training programmes fill in our contact form here.

Parents

You see your child’s potential and might get frustrated when they don’t see it. Our programme will give them the skills they need to recognise and nurture their strengths. If you would like your child to benefit from one of our programmes, click here. If you or your company would like to support our programme by being a funding partner, or you would like to fundraise for us, please fill in our contact form here.

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