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Outdoor education – dead and buried? Dan Meade hopes not – and explains why teaching outside remains dear to his heart Maybe Outdoor Education is outdated? Perhaps it’s no longer relevant to kids today? Sure, your parents walked to school in the snow with bare feet and it ‘toughened them up’, but perhaps the time of kids climbing trees and stepping into the wilderness has passed and the same experiences and benefits can be obtained via our ever-evolving technology? Health and safety in the workplace, and in schools, is tightening up around the world – and for good reason. Standards and expectations around safety are higher, and liability can – and will – be squarely placed on the shoulders of the negligent should anything go awry. What’s the result? More teachers and adults wiping their hands of education outside the classroom and filing that baby neatly in the ‘too hard’ basket. Actually, in my opinion education outside the classroom needs to remain an integral part of the education system. I could write a novel, the length of which would rival the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but in the Spring
Autumn |
| 2018
interest of space I’ll stick to the key reasons why Outdoor Education is, and always will be, dear to my heart. Safety is, of course, of the utmost importance – as is the specific way in which Outdoor Education should be delivered to achieve these desired effects. As Brown (2008) puts it: ‘The comfort zone model, or variants of it, is widespread within adventure education literature (eg Exeter, 2001; Luckner & Nadler, 1997; Prouty, Panicucci, & Collinson, 2007). It is based on the belief that when placed in a stressful or challenging situation people will respond, rise to the occasion, overcome their hesitancy or fear and grow as individuals’. As much of a cliché as it sounds, Outdoor Education gives students the opportunities to push their boundaries and step outside their comfort zone. Between the ‘comfort zone’ and the ‘panic zone’ lies the optimal ‘stretch zone’. The stretch zone is different for each child, and the key to effective outdoor instruction is identifying that optimal zone in each individual.
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