Outdoor education


Outdoor education is organized learning that takes place in the outdoors, such as during school camping trips. Outdoor education programs sometimes involve residential or journey wilderness-based experiences which engage participants in a variety of adventurous challenges and outdoor activities such as hiking, climbing, canoeing, ropes courses and group games. Outdoor education draws upon the philosophy, theory, and practices of experiential education and environmental education.
File:CircleOfFriends.jpg|thumb|A group of Outward Bound participants with physical disabilities after completing a ropes course, c. 1996.

Scope

Outdoor education encompasses a wide range of organized learning activities that take place predominantly outdoors. It can involve learning about, in, or through natural environments. The focus varies widely: some programs emphasize environmental stewardship, while others prioritize personal or social development through nature-based challenges.

Key aims and outcomes

Common objectives of outdoor education include:
  • Building teamwork, problem-solving skills, resilience, and self-confidence via experiential and wilderness-based activities such as hiking, camping, ropes courses, and canoeing.
  • Promoting environmental awareness, ecological literacy, and a sense of place through direct interaction with natural environments.
  • Supporting social and emotional development, including improved focus, well-being, and interpersonal relationships among students.
  • Strengthening physical and mental health through increased activity levels, reduced stress, and improved mood.

    Theoretical foundations

Outdoor education draws on:
A systematic review highlighted gains in engagement and well-being from outdoor learning but also noted that long-term academic outcomes are under-researched. Current trends include:
  • Addressing issues such as nature-deficit disorder and climate change.
  • Incorporating Indigenous perspectives to support reconciliation and contextual learning.
  • Developing inclusive and low-cost approaches, such as school gardens and community-based outdoor classrooms.

    Definitions

Outdoor education can be defined as experiential learning in, for, or about the outdoors. The term "outdoor education", however, is used broadly to refer to a range of organized activities that take place in a variety of ways in predominantly outdoor environments. Common definitions of outdoor education are difficult to achieve because interpretations vary according to culture, philosophy, and local conditions.
Outdoor education is often referred to as synonymous with outdoor learning, outdoor school, forest schools and wilderness education. Outdoor education often uses or draws upon related elements and/or informs related areas, such as teaching students how to pitch tents and cook over a campfire. The hallmark of outdoor education is its focus on the "outdoor" side of this education; whereas adventure education would focus on the adventure side and environmental education would focus on environmental. Expeditionary education involves expeditions into wilderness "where man is but a visitor." All of these activities typically involve experiential education.

Education outside the classroom

"Education outside the classroom" describes school curriculum learning, other than with a class of students sitting in a room with a teacher and books. It encompasses biology field trips and searching for insects in the school garden, as well as indoor activities like observing stock control in a local shop, or visiting a museum. It is a concept currently enjoying a revival because of the recognition of benefits from the more active style. The Education and Skills Committee of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom has reported that it brings history and art to life, develops social skills, and clearly enhances geography and science. There are key policies in place for outdoor learning in England, Scotland and Wales.
Despite the evidence supporting an extension of educational camping and outdoor learning for children, there are a number of obstacles in the way. One of these obstacles is risk aversion amongst teachers, parents and others, raising reluctance to such diverse and physical tasks. The journalist Tim Gill has written about parental and institutional risk aversion affecting many activities with children in his book "No Fear". Another obstacle is the perceived high cost of facilitating outdoor learning. Creating an outdoor learning environment needn't cost a great deal, however. The UK Early Years Framework Stage, which outlines best practice in Early Years teaching, asserts that: "Outdoor learning is more effective when adults focus on what children need to be able to do rather than what children need to have. An approach that considers experiences rather than equipment places children at the centre of learning and ensures that individual children's learning and developmental needs are taken account of and met effectively"
Linda Tallent, a UK-based educational consultant who has worked extensively with schools to develop their outdoor spaces into learning environments, agrees. She believes that by focusing on activities and skill development, it is possible to develop an outdoor learning curriculum on a 'shoe string'. She cites a comment by Will Nixon, who reminds readers that 'Using the real world is the way learning has happened for 99.9% of human existence. Only in the last hundred years have we put it into a little box called a classroom.'. Tallent also refers to evidence from a number of studies that the most effective way of learning is through participation, and calls on educators to make a special effort to create opportunities for children to participate in their learning.

Aims

Some typical aims of outdoor education are to:
  • learn how to overcome adversity;
  • enhance personal and social development;
  • develop a deeper relationship with nature;
  • boost self-confidence when camping with classmates;
  • raise attainment through better teaching and learning experiences.
Outdoor education spans the three domains of self, others, and the natural world. The relative emphasis of these three domains varies from one program to another. An outdoor education program can, for example, emphasize one of these aims to:
Outdoor education is often used as a means to create a deeper sense of place for people in a community. Sense of place is manifested through the understanding and connection that one has with the area in which they reside. Sense of place is an important aspect of environmentalism as well as environmental justice because it makes the importance of sustaining a particular ecosystem that much more personal to an individual.

History

Modern outdoor education owes its beginnings to separate initiatives. Organized camping was evident in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century in Europe, the UK, the US, Australia, and New Zealand. The Scouting movement, established in the UK in 1907 by Robert Baden-Powell, employs non-formal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities. The first Outward Bound centre at Aberdyfi in Wales was established during the Second World War. The Forest schools of Denmark are examples of European programs with similar aims and objectives.
Key outdoor education pioneers include Kurt Hahn, a German educator who founded schools such as the Schule Schloss Salem in Germany; the United World Colleges movement, the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme, and the Outward Bound movement.
The second half of the twentieth century saw rapid growth of outdoor education in all sectors with an ever-widening range of client groups and applications. In this period Outward Bound spread to over 40 countries, including the US in the 1960s. Other US based outdoor education programs include Project Adventure and the National Outdoor Leadership School. Project Adventure focuses on day use of ropes courses. NOLS uses the outdoor setting to train leaders for outdoor programs and for other settings including training every new US astronaut and 10% of the US Naval Academy. The Association for Experiential Education is a professional association for "experiential" educators. The Wilderness Education Association is a consortium of college outdoor education programs with a standard curriculum based on an academic model.
A history of outdoor education in the UK has been documented by Lyn Cook, and a history of outdoor education in New Zealand has been published in Pip Lynch's Camping in the Curriculum.

Philosophy and theory

and theory about outdoor education tends to emphasize the effect of natural environments on human beings, the educative role of stress and challenge, and experiential learning.
One view is that participants are at their "rawest" level when outdoors because they are "stripped" of many of the conveniences of modern life. Participants can become more aware that they are part of a greater ecosystem and are not as bound by social customs and norms. In essence participants can be true to themselves and more able to see others as people regardless of race, class, religion etc. Outdoor education also helps instill the basic elements of teamwork because participants often need to work together and rely on others. For many people a high ropes course or an outdoor activity may stretch their comfort zone and cause them to challenge themselves physically which in turn can lead to challenging oneself mentally.
The roots of modern outdoor education can be found in the philosophical work of:
Foundational work on the philosophy of outdoor education includes work by:
A wide range of social science and specific outdoor education theories and models have been applied in an effort to better understand outdoor education. Amongst the key theoretical models or concepts are: