Kurt Hahn: Inspirational, visionary, outdoor and experiential educator

Abstract

The significant influence of Kurt Hahn in outdoor education, experiential education, and other related forms of education, is hard to argue with. In Australia the idea for the Timbertop campus of Geelong Grammar School, established in 1951, "owed a lot to Kurt Hahn" (Montgomery & Darling, 1967, p. 8). It was not long after, in "the summer of 1956," that "Outward Bound Australia was founded in Sydney" (Summers, 1957, p. 50). Then followed the Duke of Edinburgh's Award scheme, offered in Australia in the early 1960s. These are just a few of the ways in which the influence of Hahn's educational work has spread to Australia and around the globe. In their recent book Kurt Hahn: Inspirational, Visionary, Outdoor and Experiential Educator, Veevers and Allison contribute to our understanding of how this influence evolved. They achieve this by providing detailed situational descriptions of the places, people and emerging ideas that center around Hahn but also include numerous significant others, without whom this "movement" (p. 75) may never have moved at all. These descriptions draw on material not readily available to most, from the Gordonstoun School Archive in Scotland and the Kurt Hahn Archive in Germany, as well as "various first-hand accounts from those involved in Hahn's educational endeavours" (p. 95). In particular, Veevers and Allison are concerned with "charting the development of outdoor activities by Hahn and his associates" (p. xxi). They claim to offer "an in-depth account of the development of outdoor activities, centered upon Hahn, up to and including the Education Act 1944," rather than "an in-depth study, or critique, of Hahn's educational philosophy as a whole" (p. xix). For this they suggest the reader refer to other works. I found this a little puzzling as the book title seems to suggest a broader approach. However Veevers and Allison don't disappoint as they do, in fact, tackle their main interest by calling on a wide and rich range of historical material which further illuminates Hahn's educational work. Hahn's introduction of outdoor activities The main thread that Veevers and Allison weave through the book is Hahn's emphasis on activities, especially outdoor activities, in relation to the achievement of particular educational aims. The background to Hahn's work with activities is that of the broader educational context of the time in both Germany and Britain. In the case of Hahn, the central features of this context were to do with progressive educational ideas. During the decades of the latter 19th and early 20th centuries there was a significant discourse in Germany and Britain (as well as in other nations) focused on alternatives to traditional forms of education, much of which found an organised international voice in the "New Education Fellowship" (p. 1), instituted in 1921. Veevers and Allison reveal how Hahn's early thinking in education, especially as this concerned the introduction of outdoor activities, was "influenced by the New Education Fellowship and the Wandervogel movement" (p. 3) and exemplified in initiatives undertaken by German educators such as the "Arbeitsschule (School of Activity) ..., Schullandheim (School Outdoor Centres) (p. 1), along with various versions of "independent, Country Boarding Schools which ... appeared as an alternative to the state system" (p. 2). Hahn was able to enact his understanding of these educational ideas and initiatives through the Salem School which he founded in 1920 with Prince Max in Baden, Germany. The "activities at Salem" undertaken by students between "1920 and 1933" included: "morning run; ... working on the school farm; guilds - naturalists, landworkers, mechanics, heralds ...; metalwork, carpentry, choir, school fire department" (p. 8). In addition to these were "activities which occurred outside the school walls" such as "bicycle tours," "mountain climbing," "walking tours," "expeditions in the surrounding countryside," and "skiing" (p. …