Risk Discussion,
I love the way you explode assumptions Steve - but it leaves a
mess. I guess that's what researchers do - explode things that
are too tidy, and tidy up things that are too messy.
So I'd like to try some tidying up ... I think it would be
helpful to create some clear dividing lines between the very
different kinds of 'risk' that have entered this discussion.
I see three main aspects:
1) OUTDOOR SAFETY (moral and legal issues)
2) LEARNING OBJECTIVES (whys)
3) LEARNING THEORY (hows)
1) On OUTDOOR SAFETY issues there are facts and perceptions. Some
solid statistical work on actual risks, together with pertinent
and valid comparisons would be a very useful information for
providers and users of outdoor learning. Given how much mention
is made of 'challenge', 'adventure', 'pushing personal limits'
etc. it should not be surprising if public perception
overestimates the actual risks. I don't think anyone is seriously
suggesting that providers with the worst accident records provide
the most effective training and education, or that providers with
the best safety records tend to provide the least effective
learning. Let's break this link for good and make safety a
separate issue from learning.
Incidentally - you'll find 24 articles about risk in the
''Insurance, Risk Management and Wilderness Law'' section of
http://www.outdoornetwork.com/
2) On LEARNING OBJECTIVES, it is easy to come up with horrifying
stories and statistics about young people 'at risk' and about
young people who 'take risks'. These are vulnerable young people
who can be helped by suitable interventions. The fact that there
is a word used in adventure sports that also happens to be the
same as the word that is used to describe their vulnerability -
is really just a coincidence. I don't think that the purpose of
an intervention or programme can ever be to encourage people to
''take more risk'' or to ''take less risk''. Such messages are
far too simplistic. I hope outdoor programmes are more
sophisticated and supportive than this. Let's break this link
too - rather than stretch the 'risk' metaphor from the rock face
(where risk pays) to the street (where some risks pay and others
don't) or to the home where 'risk' can mean so many other things
(abuse, neglect, violence etc.)
3) In LEARNING THEORY, risk has a different meaning again. It is
not an isolated, measurable factor but part of a dynamic process
that gets people changing, growing and learning. Good outdoor
learning programmes help to get these learning processes moving.
It is learning itself that is the risk - because it involves
leaving the known world (however 'good' or 'bad' that may be) for
an unknown destination. The fact that risk is an integral part of
the learning process does not automatically mean that
participants are learning about risk. They can learn about
anything! It is surely the potential of the outdoors as a
learning environment (not as a playground for risk takers) that
explains why there is such a huge variety of programmes for
learning and development taking place in the outdoors.
You (outres member) may have another way of 'tidying up' these
many different meanings and uses of the term 'risk'. Please do!
This four lettered word is much over-used. Perhaps we are better
off without it? Perhaps we should also be wary of simplistic
metaphors that crudely connect physical achievements with complex
social issues.
I think that the over-use (and inappropriate use) of ready-made
metaphors in outdoor learning masks a lot of what is really
happening. As researchers we should be able to see through these
generalisations. I applaud Peter's starting of this debate -
searching for greater precision about how we use the term 'risk'.
Just as there are multiple kinds of intelligence, so there are
multiple kinds of risk. Taking part in a public debate is yet
another kind of risk, but sending a message to outres won't make
you a better rock climber ;-)
Roger Greenaway
Reviewing Skills Training
[log in to unmask]
http://reviewing.co.uk
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