'Perhaps a Bit Different to What We Did Twenty Years Ago': Senior Teachers' Perceptions of Outdoor Adventure within Primary Education in England.

Webber Webber,Hardwell Hardwell

doi:10.3390/sports7040092

Abstract

Outdoor and adventurous activities (OAA) are now a compulsory component of the primary education curriculum in England, with senior leadership teams exerting significant influence on its delivery in schools. This study considers senior teachers’ perceptions and value of the OAA strand of the Physical Education (PE) National Curriculum (NC) in primary education. Six senior teachers from across a large northern city took part in semi-structured interviews. Data was analysed using an interpretivist paradigm incorporating a multistage thematic coding process. Findings centred on the lack of guidance given by the NC within OAA and ensuing issues for experienced and less confident teachers of the subject. Different interpretations of OAA were prevalent from traditional skills-based activities to personal and social development through basic activities delivered outside the classroom. Finally, all senior staff highly regarded OAA and offered a strong rationale for its inclusion within curriculum time. The full potential of OAA as a cross-curricular approach to learning in primary education is not being realised and can be partially mitigated by more purposeful integration within teacher education programmes.

Highlights

Outdoor and adventurous activities (OAA) can elicit many positive health and well-being outcomes difficult to achieve via other means [1,2,3,4,5,6]
This study aimed to investigate senior teachers’ interpretations, conceptual understanding and the value placed on primary education OAA
Senior teachers indicated the current NCPE was considerably slimmer and less prescriptive than earlier editions, with minimal inclusion of OAA. Five teachers expressed this allowed greater autonomy, yet another mentioned it suggested a lack of Governmental value. ”It’s gone from a curriculum that was pages and pages and very prescriptive . . . to schools having the autonomy that fits in with their school” (Bob). This lack of policy clarity was said to be replicated within OAA discourse since example activities are no longer provided within or alongside the curriculum forcing teachers to interpret the limited information provided. ”There’s not an awful lot to do with OAA on the curriculum is there

Summary

Introduction

Outdoor and adventurous activities (OAA) can elicit many positive health and well-being outcomes difficult to achieve via other means [1,2,3,4,5,6]. OAA experiences create vivid long-term memories [15,23], through autonomy and exploration [1,17]. These activities often fall outside normal family experiences such as holidays or visiting friends and relatives [2,10,19,24] and can develop healthy lifelong habits [3,20,25,26] which positively influence academic attainment [15,19,20,27,28].

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