Peter
Having an involvement with a BTEC course leads me to ask the same questions
on a regular basis. The way I see it is this:
1. The course should prepare the students for working in any vocational
field of their choice. Outdoor activities gives a good forum for looking at
necessary work skills such as: working in a team and all its subsequent
needs, organising and planning, communicating, grafting, timekeeping,
setting themselves high yet attainable standards / goals, meeting deadlines,
being positive and vibrant, being achievers, being proud etc. We do not
teach them to be outdoor workers per se, we just use the outdoors as a fun
and powerful environment whilst explaining what we are doing so that they
can replicate the processes if they do end up working outdoors.
2. More than anything else the students should know who they are and what
they are capable of by the end of the two years.
3. Their attitude should leave employers wanting them rather than their
qualifications. They should however be competent in any areas that they
promote themselves in.
4. There is no doubt that good jobs in the outdoors are few and far between
so they need to be hungry and better than the rest if this is what they
want.
5. We accept that they may not all want to work outdoors so we sit down and
negotiate what skills they would like to improve and we then decide how we
are going to do it. This process alone prepares them more than anything for
being a teacher / facilitator etc in the outdoors.
6. It is not syllabus but attitude that is important.
I hope this helps.
Wil
-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Steve Lenartowicz
Sent: 26 September 1998 17:51
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Degree in Outdoor and Adventurous Activities
Peter
My thinking is that a degree should focus on something other than
activities, as suggested by the phrase OAA. It could be focused on:
- either 1) a particular vocation / profession - e.g. outdoor education
teacher / environmental education teacher / outdoor activities instructor or
coach / development trainer / experiential educator / field studies tutor
- or 2) an academic approach to an aspect of the outdoors.
The weakness with many of the courses on offer is that they lead prospective
students to believe that they will become qualified to work in the outdoors,
but end up dabbling in a shallow way, rather than exploring anything in
depth, and not even reflecting the reality of the outdoor 'industry'.
-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Bunyan <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: 23 September 1998 10:38
Subject: Degree in Outdoor and Adventerous Activities
>The expansion of courses in OAA has led to a flurrish of initiatives about
>the country. At me own institution (Chichester Institute) we have been
>holding back on setting up a degree in OAA (or another appropriate title
>depending on structure) for internal and external reasons. However we
>feel the corner has now been turned and where better to probe the
>market place but with colleagues on the OUTRES list.
>
>
>I will be using the list in the near future to ask many questions but here
is
>the first.
>
>What would a graduate in OAA do?, who would they
>realistically work for or with?, what parts of our industry
>require graduate skills?
>
>At the present time I am not asking what skills they would have, that
>comes later.
>
>Please spend a couple of minutes to reply, the market research part of
>setting up new initiatives is very important.
>
>Pete.
>
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