Conceptual illustration of disc evolution scenarios and expected accretion-outflow correlation. Top panels: conceptual representations of the two evolution scenarios. The protoplanetary disc is shown with arrows indicating the direction of the accretion flow. Outflows emerging from the disc are coloured by different processes i.e. internal photoevaporation (green), external photoevaporation (violet), and MHD wind (blue). Note that in the MHD wind-driven scenario, internal photoevaporation is shielded by the emerging MHD wind in an early phase and only acts in a later phase when the MHD wind has decreased. Bottom panels: expected correlations of the stellar accretion rate versus the outflow rates from all processes (red) or external PEW only (blue) based on theoretical considerations.