‚adventure education‘: 10 years after the storm

Johan Hovelynck

‚Adventure Education‘: 10 years after the storm

Current developments and bearings for practice

Johan Hovelynck – Seikkailukasvatuspäivät 2012 – Metsäkartano

Adventure Education:

10 years after the storm

Situating adventure education

The wake of the ‘adventure boom’

Program environment

Activities

Participants

Staffing and Facilitation

Bearings for practice?

‚Adventure Education‘: what‘s in a name?

Situating outdoor programs in a broader field of practice

(Edinburgh University)

Adventure education: what’s in a name?

Recreation Purpose: recreation, leisure

Program design: based primarily on fun, ‘kicks’ and relaxation time => entertainment.

Staff role: ‘animator’.

Instruction: ~ ‘education’ Purpose: learning about the environment and/or the activity

Program design: based primarily on predefined learning materials / curriculum => ‘didactic’.

Staff role: instructor

Facilitation: ~ ‘experiential education’ Purpose: learning about personal and group behavior.

Program design: ‘emergent’: based primarily on experiences during the program.

Staff role: facilitator.

Account of a caving activity in which a participant

group was to find their way out of a cave. Given the

15-meter rappel they did just before this task, it was

impossible for them to return the way they had come.

Managing the group dynamics during their problem-

solving and decision-making process, the group

managed to reach its objective – the exit.

A look at practice:

the story of a program…


Adventure Education: facilitating learning through adventure activities

Preliminary conclusion:

Adventure education ≠ activity + reflection:

facilitation does not consist of leading a

debrief after the activity is over

Facilitation starts with a perspective on

inter-action and learning

Making my case concrete:

this Adventure Education activity & approach

became impossible with the ‘adventure boom’


The ‚adventure boom‘ and its wake:

Exploring some consequences of the popularization of adventure sports

The ‘adventure boom’:

the popularization of outdoor sports

Adventure as leisure

Not new, yet boost in late 80’ies, mid-90’ies,

depending on country and region

Function of developments with regard to

Leisure time

Technology & equipment

Education

Urbanization

Media

… &

(Vanreusel, 1993)

Commercialization

The adventure boom:

observations / trends in the field

Participants

Influx of corporate &

special target groups

Prior ‘exposure’ to

activities

Activities

Break-through of ‘initiative

games’ & ‘props’

Increased variety in

outdoor activities

Safety regulation,

certification & accreditation

Environment

Impact on environment and

rural communities

Access restriction &

regulation

Man-made outdoor

environments

Staff and programming

Blurring of approaches

‘Professionalization’

Adventure Education

studies


Participants

Influx of corporate and special target groups

Prior ‘exposure’ to activities

Activities

Break-through of ‘initiative games’ & ‘props’

Increased variety in outdoor activities

Safety regulation, certification and accreditation

Environment

Impact on environment and rural communities

Access restrictions and regulation

Man-made outdoor environments



Breakthrough of action + reflection model

‘Adventure Education’ studies

The adventure boom:

observation in the field


Shifts in

participant profile

Shift in program goals:

general specific

Shift in participant

experience, expectations

& modes of reflection

Shifts in physical &

medical condition

Shifts in quality

standards

…

Increased prior exposure

How important is it that

activities are ‘new’?

Pressure for ‘challenge’…


Activities

Break-through of ‘dynamics’ / ‘initiative games’

Focus on ‘props’

Increased variety in outdoor activities

Single-activity programs

Regulation re consumer safety

Certification and accreditation

Environment


Access issues


Regulation re environmental protection





The adventure boom:



‘Adventure’ activities?

Breakthrough of ‘dynamics’ / ‘initiative games’

Importance of ‘props’

Introduction of ‘dynamic props’ in

traditional outdoor activities

Increased variety of outdoor activities

Single-activity programs


Activities in ‘stretch zone’?

Ambivalence towards risk:

embracing eliminating

experience as ‘commodity’?

Liability and insurance:

is ‘risk’ affordable?

Regulation:

Legislation and ‘norms’

Certification & accreditation

(e.g. Baker & Simon, 2002)


Safety management

in adventure activities

Private

‘Institutional’


Governed by different bodies, e.g.:

Insured by different policies…

private ‘institutional’

United Kingdom

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Department for Education and Skills

Belgium Regional Ministry of

Culture, Sports and Youth Federal Department for Economy, SME & Energy

Finland Ministry of Education Ministry of Trade

and Industry

Safety management

in adventure activities


Safety management

in ‘institutional’ adventure activities

Individual instructors

Provider as organization

Self- regulation

Legal requirement

Example: France (Brevet d’Etat)

Examples: United States (AEE)

Belgium (BFNO) Netherlands (VeBON)

Example: United Kingdom (AALA) Belgium (Leisure events)

Example: United Kingdom (NGB’s)

(Hovelynck & Andriessen, 2003)

Environment


Access issues


Regulation re environmental protection






The adventure boom:



Pressure on natural environment

littering, compaction, erosion,

damage to fauna and flora…

Pressure on rural communities

Environmental overload?

noise, local

norms, damage

to harvest


Increase of regulation

Stricter enforcement of existing regulation

Purchase of activity sites

Fencing & closing of

Rock sites

Caves

Forests

…

Access issues


…

Rivers & lakes

Paid access

Access issues


Climbing

Paddling

Caving

…



Ropes course as example:

from small-scale educational endeavor to

multi-billion Euro business…



Johan Hovelynck - Programmaopbouw - Postgraduaat Adventure Education

Beneficial physiological effects

when humans encounter,

observe or otherwise positively

interact with animals, plants,

landscapes or wilderness

(Friedmann et al., 1983a;

Friedmann et al., 1983b; Parsons,

1991; Ulrich, et al., 1991b; Rohde

& Kendle, 1994; Beck & Katcher,

1996; Frumkin, 2001)

Natural environments foster

recovery from mental fatigue and

are restorative

(Furnass, 1979; Kaplan & Kaplan,

1989; Kaplan & Kaplan, 1990;

Hartig et al., 1991; Kaplan, 1995)

Methods of nature-based therapy

(wilderness, horticultural and

animal-assisted…) have success

healing patients who did not

respond to previous treatment

(Levinson, 1969; Katcher & Beck,

1983; Beck et al., 1986; Lewis,

1996; Crisp & O'Donnell, 1998;

Russell et al., 1999; Fawcett &

Gullone, 2001; Pryor, 2003)

The majority of places that

people consider favourite or

restorative are natural places,

and being in these places is

recuperative

(Parsons, 1991; Kaplan & Kaplan,

1989; Rohde & Kendle, 1994;

Korpela & Hartig, 1996; Herzog et

al., 1997; Newell, 1997; Herzog et

al., 2000)

The role of ‘nature’ (Maller et al, 2005)

The role of ‘nature’ People have a more positive

outlook on life and higher life

satisfaction when in proximity to

nature (particularly in urban

areas)

(Kaplan and Kaplan, 1989;

Kaplan, 1992a; Lewis, 1996;

Leather et al., 1998; Kuo, 2001;

Kuo and Sullivan, 2001)

Exposure to natural

environments enhances the

ability to cope with and recover

from stress, and recover from

illness and injury

(Ulrich, 1984; Parsons, 1991;

Ulrich et al., 1991b)

Observing nature can restore

concentration and improve

productivity

(Tennessen and Cimprich, 1995;

Leather et al., 1998; Taylor et al.,

2001)

Having nature in close proximity

is important to people regardless

of whether they are regular

‘users’ of it

(Kaplan and Kaplan 1989; Cordell

et al., 1998)

(Maller et al, 2005)

The adventure boom:



Newcomers driven by a market opportunity

Blurring of program purpose




How to maintain a space for

‘process-experiential’ adventure education

in an increasingly ‘procedurized’ context?


‘Team building’: doing activities together?

‘Incentive’: reward for a job well done?

‘Boot camp’: corrective, alternative sentences

…

Blurring of program purpose

Offer often function of the means available

more than the needs of customer & participants!

Experiential training and education:

personal and relational development

therapeutic


If experiential training is action + reflection…

… then facilitator = sports instructor + psychologist?


“Professionalization”

Voices of center directors all over Europe:

“we get more and more degrees and

certificates, yet less and less experience…”

Problematic: professionalism is mostly

judged by the ‘positivist’ standards that

experiential educators question, such as:

SMART program goals purpose

Knowledge as general theory contextual

Transfer continuous learning process

focus on method rather than the quality of

relation that fosters learning and development

(Hovelynck, 2003)

Account of a rappel activity in which a team of work

colleagues designed and set up the rappel system

themselves, without prior technical instruction. After

getting over their initial disbelief, the group accepted

the task, which they accomplished within a few hours.

Besides a sense of accomplishment and a renewed

closeness, the experience brought a sense of wonder

about the dynamics of planning and implementation.

Or rather, as one of them said, about the dynamics of

“planning and re-planning while putting the plan into

practice…

A look at practice:

the story of a program…


Facilitating learning and development

through adventure activities

structure roles

rules procedure

activity goal

technique

(inter)action ‘drivers’: action theory

behavior

Experiential learning occurs when people recognize their action-theory

and develop, if they wish, additional or alternative action-theory.

Bearings for practice: outdoor experiential education

Sustaining Adventure Education’s

unique proposition

Bearings for facilitating experiential learning through adventure activities

Focusing on people and what drives them:

assumptions, metaphors, themes…;

Creating situations in which participants

can explore this ‘action theory’:

Recognizing: “I experienced this before…”

Acknowledging: “What’s my role in this?”

Reconnoitering: “What are other options?”

Facilitating the(ir) inquiry…

… is a continuous process, not bound

by a line between activity and debriefing!


Participants & customers

Being clear who you’re working for…

Clarifying boundaries:

Alignment of purpose:

see ‘the story of a program’!

Role clarification

…

Verifying that relevant

stakeholders are present

…



Activities & environment

Is ‘adventure’ a suitable platform / support?

Program purpose

Participant profile

…

Considering the benefits of natural

man-made environments

Considering impact benefits to

natural and social environment

…



Activities & environment

The learning opportunities in adventure

activities aren’t worth (serious) accidents

The decisive factors in program safety

management play at the level of the

organization…

…

Individual instructors

Provider as organization

Self- regulation

Legal requirement


Staff & facilitation

Studies that combine ‘exposure’ and

personal / relational development with

insight in underlying concepts

Certification as an indication of learning,

not a required and sufficient proof of

competence

…



Staff & facilitation

procedure

activity (inter)action

Creating conditions for experiencing & learning

Activities that call for ‘actorship’

Flexible program structure

Workable time frame

Focus on experiencing and learning

If looking for ‘tools’,

realize that focused glasses

are the most important one!

Facilitating a moment-by-moment process

‘emergent’ or ‘organic’ program design

… Johan Hovelynck – Seikkailukasvatuspäivät 2012 – Metsäkartano

“Learning is the human activity which least needs manipulation by others.

Most learning is rather the result of unhampered participation

in a meaningful setting.”

(Illich, 1972, 65)

“The question a teacher must ask about teaching

is not ‘what can they do with it?’ but rather ‘what will it do to them?’ ”

(Holmes, 1975, 32)


‚adventure education‘: 10 years after the storm

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