Outdoor Education at UWCSEA By Patrick Read, Head of Expeditions How lucky we have been to be part of a school that regards outdoor education as one of its five core elements. Generations of UWCSEA students have enjoyed numerous expeditions and benefitted from the development they provide. Across our two campuses the subject continues to grow and develop. The department includes ten full time instructors who work with teachers, students and parents. The College offers almost 400 overseas trips and expeditions each academic year. This equates to 700,000 student hours
overseas! Quantity is obvious, however quality of experience is always at the forefront of everyone’s mind. The College is very aware that the best trips require everyone’s input if they are to succeed. Instructors, teachers, students, parents and third party providers all work together. Our commitment has founded the first outdoor forum for South East Asian Schools (OFFSEAS), and in 2016 we received global recognition in the ISOS Duty of Care Awards. Our systems of planning prior to trips, procedures during trips and reporting after them have been copied by many other schools and organisations.
The College has committed to a seven-year study of the impact of outdoor education which Oregon State University is undertaking on our behalf, and the results that are starting to emerge are proving extremely interesting. The papers that follow will be available for all alumni to read. From Grade 1 to Grade 11, all students have an outdoor education experience as part of their curriculum. This starts with a sleepover at school and culminates in Project Week. The latter sees students travel on their own to over 120 different locations around
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Full-time instructor Nathan Frye’s insight regarding the Grade 7 Sea Kayaking expedition: I started working with the UWCSEA Grade 7 Sea Kayaking program in 2007 on Tioman Island, Malaysia. I had taught Sea Kayaking in Alaska, California, and Belize before coming to Tioman, but I was instantly impressed with the beauty and uniqueness of the place. I was equally impressed, if not more so, with UWCSEA and its community.
Over the last 10 years we’ve seen an already amazing program move forward year after year with the help of passionate leaders and educators. In those 10 years we’ve moved the program to Sibu Island, we’ve improved the quality of equipment to make it more age and skill appropriate, we’ve improved our approaches to teaching and learning in kayaking to make it more
level appropriate, we’ve incorporated countless other activities into the program to alleviate activity fatigue, we’ve improved the level of training for students coming into the program to set them up for success, and we’ve curated a really stellar team of kayaking Instructors from all over the world to help our students get the most out of this experience.
