Outdoor Education Advisers' Panel

What Outdoor Education Advisers' Panel does

The Outdoor Education Advisers' Panel (OEAP) is a UK registered charity (charity number 1209654) operating as the lead body for guidance, advice, and training related to outdoor learning and educational visits in England and Wales. Its core product is National Guidance — a comprehensive library of over 200 downloadable documents organized into eight thematic folders covering legal frameworks, good practice, policies, FAQs, specific activities and hazards, and role-specific guidance for more than 15 different positions. OEAP coined the term Educational Visits Coordinator (EVC) in 2001 and created the first EVC training programme. Its National Guidance is officially referenced by the Department for Education (DfE), Welsh Government, and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in their own guidance documents.

The organization generates revenue through three primary streams: membership fees (Ordinary, Accredited, Fellow, Associate, Retired, Honorary, and Co-opted categories), training courses (EVC, Visit Leader, MoVE, and Outdoor Learning Cards training) delivered by accredited OEAP members, and resource sales of Outdoor and Environmental Learning Cards distributed through Harvey Maps. A central technology product is the eVisit online management system, developed over 15 years in partnership with QES Ltd, which integrates OEAP National Guidance throughout the visit planning workflow. Distribution is achieved through a regional adviser network covering all English Local Authority areas, all 22 Welsh Local Authorities, all 33 London Boroughs plus the City of London, and the British Crown Dependencies.

OEAP operates with 7 employees from Ambleside, Cumbria, and is governed by a Board of Trustees including a National Chair (Ruth Hawker), National Secretary (Richard Painter), and Treasurer (Dave Barham). The Welsh-specific sub-brand OEAP Cymru delivers bilingual (English/Welsh) guidance aligned with the Curriculum for Wales. The organization functions as a membership-based professional association rather than a commercially driven enterprise, which shapes its growth profile and operational scale.

Name

Outdoor Education Advisers' Panel

Legal name

The Association of Advisers for Outdoor Learning and Educational Visits

Website

https://oeapng.info

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Outdoor Education Advisers' Panel (OEAP) is a UK charity providing government-recognized National Guidance, accredited training, and an eVisit management system for outdoor learning and educational visits across England, Wales, London, and the Crown Dependencies, serving schools, Local Authorities, and Academy Groups.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Outdoor Education Advisory Services

NAICS

Educational Support Services (611710)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

OER Quality Review, Alignment & Certification (rubrics/standards) (EDAGAJAN)

akta.pro secondary industry

Open Educational Resources (OER) & Open Access Academic Publishing (MPAJABAG)

Keywords

• Outdoor education guidance
• Educational visits training
• School trip safety
• Outdoor learning advisory
• Evisit management system

Headquarters

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership Fees: OEAP operates as a professional association with membership categories including Ordinary, Accredited, Fellow, Associate, Retired, Honorary and Co-opted members. Individual advisers and professionals join to access training, guidance and professional network.
2. Training Courses: OEAP provides accredited training courses including Educational Visits Co-ordinator (EVC) Training, Visit Leader Training (VL), Management of Visit Emergencies (MoVE), and Outdoor and Environmental Learning Cards training. Only OEAP members can run accredited courses badged with the OEAP logo.
3. Resource Sales: Sale of Outdoor Learning Cards and Environmental Learning Cards through Harvey Maps. These resources received the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom Resource Provider Award.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

OEAP publishes comprehensive National Guidance documents for outdoor learning, educational visits and adventurous activities in England and Wales, and delivers accredited training courses (Educational Visits Co-ordinator, Visit Leader, and Management of Visit Emergencies) through a network of regional advisers serving schools, Local Authorities and Academy Groups. It also operates the eVisit online management system in partnership with QES Ltd and provides Welsh-language services via OEAP Cymru.

Product overview

OEAP operates as a professional association providing a unified ecosystem of guidance, training, and advisory services for outdoor learning and educational visits. The core offering is National Guidance—a comprehensive set of downloadable documents covering legal frameworks, employer systems, good practice, policies, and specific activity guidance. Supporting this are OEAP Training Courses for Educational Visits Coordinators and Visit Leaders, the eVisit online management system (developed with QES Ltd partner), OEAP Cymru for Welsh-specific services, Outdoor Learning Cards as educational resources, and the OEAP Adviser Network for localized support. The organization functions as a membership-based charity (number 1209654) recognized by UK Government bodies.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• OEAP Cymru: Welsh-language branch and professional association for outdoor education advisers and educational visits advisers working with establishments based in Wales
• eVisit

Products and services

• National Guidance

Quantifiable outcome

• National Guidance enables schools to deliver high-quality outdoor learning that contributes to raising standards and developing knowledge and skills

Named customers7 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• QES LtdcoreTechnology or IntegrationOEAP Ltd and QES Ltd have worked in partnership for more than 15 years to develop and deliver eVisit – an online management system for Educational Visits. The system integrates OEAP National Guidance throughout the visit planning journey, providing users with direct links to specific advice. The recently upgraded system offers enhanced functionality including one-page forms, automatic alerts, and dynamic risk assessment builders.
• UK Government (DfE, Welsh Government, HSE)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational Guidance was developed at the request of the Government, and with some initial Government funding. DfE's Health and Safety on Educational Visits guidance, Welsh Government's Educational Visits and Outdoor Learning guidance, and HSE's School Trips guidance all reference OEAP National Guidance for more detail.
• Welsh GovernmentcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOEAP Cymru works closely with Welsh Government and is endorsed in their Educational Visits and Outdoor Learning guidance. Partnership supports Welsh schools in implementing outdoor learning aligned with Curriculum for Wales.
• Harvey MapsminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorOutdoor Learning Cards and Environmental Learning Cards are available from Harvey Maps. Both sets of resources received the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom 'Resource Provider Award'.
• Association of Directors of Education in Wales (ADEW)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerOEAP Cymru works with ADEW to represent Local Authorities in Wales and ensure statutory responsibilities are fulfilled.
• Wales Council for Outdoor LearningminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerOEAP Cymru collaborates with Wales Council for Outdoor Learning to promote and support outdoor learning in Welsh institutions.
• Association of Heads of Outdoor Education Centres (AHOEC)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerOEAP Cymru works with AHOEC to support outdoor education centres and share best practice in Wales.
• Council for Learning Outside the Classroom (CLOtC)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerOEAP's Outdoor Learning Cards and Environmental Learning Cards received the CLOtC Resource Provider Award, recognizing quality resources for learning outside the classroom.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• Mountain Training Association: Mountain Training certifies leaders and instructors for hill walking, climbing, and mountaineering in the UK and Ireland. It is an adjacent specialist training and accreditation body operating in the same adventurous-activities category that OEAP National Guidance references in its specific activities and hazards folders.
• British Activity Providers Association (BAPA): BAPA is the UK trade association representing providers of outdoor and adventure activities to schools, and it operates its own quality framework for providers. This serves the same outdoor-education supplier ecosystem that OEAP regulates through its National Guidance and Visit Leader training.

Direct peers

• Association of Heads of Outdoor Education Centres (AHOEC): AHOEC is the UK professional association for managers of outdoor education centres and is a formal partner of OEAP Cymru. It represents the provider side of outdoor education while OEAP represents the adviser side, making them structurally adjacent and shared-stakeholder peers.
• Learning Away: Learning Away is a UK charity promoting residentials and educational visits with practical guidance for schools. It directly overlaps OEAP's remit on residentials and adventurous activities and shares a charity-based membership model serving the same schools and local authorities.
• Council for Learning Outside the Classroom (CLOtC): CLOtC is the UK charity that developed the LOtC Quality Badge and operates as the sector standards body for learning outside the classroom, directly comparable to OEAP's mission of providing guidance, training, and quality recognition for outdoor educational visits. OEAP has partnered with CLOtC and both serve overlapping school audiences.

Others

• Adventure Activities Licensing Authority (AALA): AALA is the statutory regulator licensing providers of certain adventure activities for under-18s in the UK. It is referenced by OEAP's eVisit integration and shapes the regulatory backdrop against which OEAP's National Guidance operates, though it is a regulator rather than a competitor.

Broad incumbents

• Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA): RoSPA is a UK-wide safety charity that runs safety training, audits, and guidance covering road, home, leisure, and occupational safety. While broader than OEAP, RoSPA's education-facing safety training (e.g., school safety advisor services) overlaps OEAP's health-and-safety framing for educational visits.
• Field Studies Council: Field Studies Council is a long-established UK environmental education charity delivering outdoor fieldwork courses and teacher training across multiple centres. It is a broader incumbent with overlapping outdoor-education training content and school customers, though it operates residential courses rather than advisory services.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/theoeap
• Facebookfacebook.com/Outdoor-Education-Advisers-Panel-217131875067621
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/outdoor-education-advisers-panel-limited
• Instagraminstagram.com/theoeap

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles19 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Outdoor Education Advisers' Panel