Hello John and all - Your question deserves discussion I think. I can say a
few words on this but I suspect that UK based folk will be able to say more
and possibly better. But here goes from what I know :-
a) There is no definition as such but there are guidelines and general
comments which act as a kind of defining domain. In fact Peter Higgins
(2000) has written " ... there is no curricular requirement for outdoor
education..." ( see his article in the oslo friluftsliv conference report
from January 2000 available from University of Oslo). I know that the above
quote does not say that there is no definition as such but it leads us
towards the position somewhat.
2. According to David Hopkins and Roger Putnam (1993) in their UK book "
Personal growth through Adventure" the same story comes out. They write that
there is no set definition but they do give a fair amount of public and
governmental guidelines for the OE work. ( see especially pages 193 - 201 ).
3. What comes out from my reading is that OE and adventure-based education
and/or OAE is, in the UK throught to be something like this -
cross-curricular (not one subject) - and based still firmly upon self, other
and environment - and still attached to one or another sense of
"citizenship/community".
4. But as Higgins and others have noted this might be changing now.
I hope this helps a little John
see you
steve bowles
John Quay wrote:
> Hi all
>
> I was just wondering if the British National Curriculum had a definition
> of outdoor education? If so - could anyone point me towards a source
> document?
>
> Thanks
>
> John Quay
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