Outdoor learning in Aotearoa New Zealand: voices past, present, and future (original) (raw)
Related papers
What's the story? Outdoor education in New Zealand in the 21st century
Physical Educator-Journal of Physical …, 2008
Outdoor education, in its various guises, has been part of the New Zealand education system for decades and is considered by many to be Integral to school life. This paper addresses outdoor education within physical education in primary and secondary schools. It critiques the priority historically given to personal and social outcomes, suggesting that this has served to keep outdoor pursuits and adventure activities at the forefront of many school programmes, particularly in secondary schools. In turn, it is proposed that this has sidetracked the focus from outdoor environmental education, a problematic outcome given contemporary concerns about the need to foster environmental appreciation, understanding and action. A range of possibilities for a practice of outdoor education that deliberately and creatively fuses simple, 'skill-full' adventures, and student connectedness and commitment to local environments is highlighted.
The nature and scope of outdoor education in New Zealand schools
This paper reports on a study conducted in 2002 and 2003 investigating the nature and scope of outdoor education in New Zealand primary and secondary schools. The aim of the study was to gather data on teachers' practices in outdoor education in New Zealand, the beliefs and values that shape those practices, some of the barriers teachers faced teaching in the outdoors and resources that they felt would support them in their teaching. Findings suggest that teachers use the outdoors to support teaching across the whole curriculum but the types of activities undertaken and the reasons for using the outdoors to enhance learning varied across the primary and secondary sectors. The learning outcomes that respondents considered most important were primarily around personal and social development. The study highlights that there is considerable ambiguity in terminology and understanding around teaching and learning in the outdoors that merits further investigation.
This research examines teaching outdoor education in two rural primary schools in Aotearoa New Zealand. The aim was to give ‘voice’ to how outdoor education is taught, programmed and understood. Underpinning the research was the question: What factors enable/constrain teachers’ ability to implement outdoor education? The findings suggest: confusion about outdoor education terminology and the educative purpose of school ‘camps’; schools ‘do what they have always done’ particulary when decisions about outdoor education contexts are dominated by senior management; financial restrictions; and teachers feeling ill prepared in terms of safety managment because of their limited pre and post service teacher education. This research highlights that what to teach, how to teach, and where to teach outdoor education needs more consideration and attention for teachers to be better informed about safe outdoor practices and quality pedagogy in, for and about the outdoors.
2011
We live in a world characterised by significant environmental degradation issues, increasing social inequality, and economic uncertainty. These pressing issues compel an active response from all sectors of our society to work towards a more sustainable future. The role that education, and more specifically outdoor education, has in this response is an important one. This thesis, therefore, explores how school-based outdoor learning experiences can more effectively educate for a sustainable future. Guided by an eco-justice and sustainability theoretical framework this critical qualitative research engaged eight teachers in ethnographic and participatory action research which attempted to challenge the status quo and re-envision sustainable outdoor education pedagogies in Aotearoa New Zealand. This research revealed concepts of outdoor education to be contested and influenced by deep cultural assumptions such as anthropocentrism, individualism, and consumerism. The transformative intent of this project stimulated pedagogical change for teachers which included: increasing understandings of sustainability, adopting more sustainable approaches to resource use and programming, and developing innovative teaching and learning strategies. Attempts to re-envision outdoor education through sustainability included initiatives such as: focusing on connection to place, utilising cross-curricular approaches to learning and assessment, and developing underlying programme philosophies with a sustainability focus. However, there remains tension surrounding conceptual disparities in teachers' understandings of sustainability and silences on social justice issues within their thinking and practices. This research also revealed the limitations of current outdoor education practices, even those with a sustainability focus, to influence students' attitudes and behaviours towards sustainable action. Enhancing students' ability to love and care for local and degraded environments, as well as the distant and 'pristine' environments where outdoor learning experiences often occur, is a further challenge for sustainable outdoor education pedagogies.
Journal of Adventure Education & Outdoor Learning, 2012
The paper is based on a comparative and qualitative case study of friluftsliv in Denmark and outdoor education in New Zealand. Cultural analysis with a comparative cultural perspective informed the research approach. Configurational analysis was used as an important supplement to focus on cultural patterns linked to bodily movement. It is argued that outdoor education in New Zealand is focused on action, risk and challenge, with personal development as the central pedagogical goal. There seems to be a general search for effectiveness and a special relationship to land and nature with both functionalism and personal relationships linked to identity. Outdoor education in New Zealand can generally be understood as a reproduction of political ideas and values in western liberal societies. Friluftsliv in Denmark exhibits complexity of forms and settings within outdoor education, with simple life in nature and adventure being two dominant trends. The study identifies differences as well as similarities between the cultural expressions of friluftsliv and outdoor education in New Zealand and discusses the results using theories of late modernity.
A cultural and comparative perspective on outdoor education in New Zealand andfriluftslivin Denmark
Journal of Adventure Education & Outdoor Learning, 2012
The paper is based on a comparative and qualitative case study of friluftsliv in Denmark and outdoor education in New Zealand. Cultural analysis with a comparative cultural perspective informed the research approach. Configurational analysis was used as an important supplement to focus on cultural patterns linked to bodily movement. It is argued that outdoor education in New Zealand is focused on action, risk and challenge, with personal development as the central pedagogical goal. There seems to be a general search for effectiveness and a special relationship to land and nature with both functionalism and personal relationships linked to identity. Outdoor education in New Zealand can generally be understood as a reproduction of political ideas and values in western liberal societies. Friluftsliv in Denmark exhibits complexity of forms and settings within outdoor education, with simple life in nature and adventure being two dominant trends. The study identifies differences as well as similarities between the cultural expressions of friluftsliv and outdoor education in New Zealand and discusses the results using theories of late modernity.
Outdoor education has a long and well documented history in Great Britain which is regularly linked to Hahn, Gordonstoun School, and the Outward Bound movement. A kayaking tragedy in 1993 resulted in the introduction of new legislation through Parliament. This has led to major changes in outdoor education in Great Britain and extensive debates, which are only partially documented. This paper outlines some of these changes and offers readers references that direct them to more detailed information. In addition, some of the resulting trends and debates that have emerged in the aftermath of the tragedy are provided. The paper concludes by considering some implications for outdoor education as a profession and argues that outdoor educators in Great Britain ought to consider the value of becoming a profession before striving to become one. Finally, some suggestions are made as to why these reflections on' turbulent times' might be relevant to the field of outdoor education in Australia and other countries.
Dealing with a quandary: Funding outdoor education in Aotearoa New Zealand
2017
School websites are one of a number of ways that schools communicate their vision, values, programmes, successes, and about their community in the public domain. An initial stimulus for this article was a study conducted by one of the authors investigating the presence and profile of outdoor education on secondary school websites in Aotearoa New Zealand. The cost associated with some senior outdoor education offerings
A Critique of Outdoor Education in Victoria
This brief article examines the underlying assumptions present in mainstream outdoor education in Victoria, Australia. It critiques the educational and social values readily assumed, yet rarely considered, by outdoor educators in Victoria.