Overboard! The turbulent waters of outdoor education in neoliberal post-secondary contexts

Abstract

In this paper, we report on formal semi-structured interviews with seven well-established outdoor education (OE) academics from around the world who have navigated the decline and/or closure of an outdoor education program in their university. The interviews sought to understand the reasons why their once-vibrant program had declined or been closed. Analysis revealed three clusters of themes that prompted the declines/closures: 1) societal trends and beliefs – which included the rise in neoliberalism and poor understanding of OE’s role in universities; 2) high level leadership and power structures – which revealed the significant role of senior administrators (especially newly appointed ones) looking to make change, the formidable impact of internal and external reviews, and the misconception around OE resourcing; and, 3) personal role – which included lack of strategic advocacy. In response to these three theme clusters, we unpack emergent lessons that may be useful for OE academics working in higher education, whether their programs are under threat, or not. Lessons include a need to: understand the neoliberal agenda driving universities; maintain strategic relationships with senior academics; position oneself in high level academic positions; participate in reviews equipped with evidence; strategically advocate for OE programs; and, question the merit of being overly humble in the cut-throat evidence-based world of neoliberal universities.