Some outdoor educators’ experiences of outdoor education

Abstract

Abstract The phenomenological study presented in this paper attempts to determine, from outdoor educators, what it meant for them to be teaching outdoor education in Victorian secondary schools during 2004. In 1999, Lugg and Martin surveyed Victorian secondary schools to determine the types of outdoor education programs being run, the objectives of those programs, who was teaching them, the work conditions of the outdoor education staff and issues those staff faced. In this paper connections or disconnections are drawn between the backdrop provided by Lugg and Martin's survey and the lived experience of some outdoor education teachers. Introduction If ever conducted, we would probably be alarmed at, or wouldn't want to see the results of a research study that examined the effects of our profession on the destruction of our interpersonal and family relationships. (Gass, 1998, p. 16) School staff made 910 stress claims in the five years to 2000, while police, prison and fire brigade staff made 995. (Webber, 2001, p.1) The comments above suggest a disconcerting picture of the situation of people involved in either outdoor educating or teaching respectively. Gass (1998) argues that the very attributes that make outdoor educators effective, for example independence, strong commitment and lifestyle investment, are the ones that most threaten their longevity in the field. The recognition of high stress levels among teachers is not uncommon (Dinham, 1993; Dinham & Scott, 1996; Webber 2001) and has been connected to the rapid social, cultural and economic changes occurring in contemporary industrial societies (Ball & Bowe, 1992; Bessant & Woock, 1997; Dinham & Scott, 1996). These changes have created tensions in education and altered the nature of teaching. Yet little is known of the lived experience of the people who work in the outdoor education field. The research project described in this paper investigates the lived experience of the research participants as teachers in Victorian secondary schools and, more specifically, as outdoor educators and provides insight into the nature of teaching outdoor education in Victorian secondary schools. Specifically, this paper will focus on a comparison between the lived experience of teaching outdoor education as reported by the participants in this project and a survey completed in 1999 by Lugg and Martin (2001) looking at the nature and scope of outdoor education in Victorian schools. Methodological considerations The most appropriate method for investigating the lived experience of teaching is a qualitative one. The reduction of human experience to numbers or standard descriptive phrases, as is often the case in quantitative research, does little to inform the reader of the actual experience of the people involved. Teaching is a very human experience, a very emotional project (Connell, 1985; Dinham & Scott, 1996) and, therefore, the lived experience of teaching can be affected by a wide variety of factors. The time of the year, time of the week and time of the day can all have significant impacts. Outside-of-school experiences will impact on teachers' and students' inside-school experience; location of the school and even the weather can make a difference. With teaching providing such a diversity of possible experiences in a wide range of contexts any attempt to establish a priori variables, as is required in quantitative research, becomes extremely difficult. Qualitative methodologies provide a more apposite means of researching complex human experience (Guba & Lincoln, 1994, Porter, 1998). As a qualitative methodology, phenomenology guards against the risk of overgeneralisation as it focuses on the essential themes of a particular lived experience (Crotty, 1996; Van Manen, 1990; Willis, 1999). Phenomenology questions the assumption (that seems foundational to much quantitative research) that we all experience the world in the same way. …