The Nature and Scope of Outdoor Education in South Australia: A Summary of Key Findings

Abstract

This paper reports on a survey of South Australian secondary Schools conducted in 2000 regarding the nature and scope of outdoor education in South Australian secondary schools. The survey was.adapted from Lugg and Martin (2000,) study of outdoor education implementation in Victorian secondary schools, ajid was sent to all outdoor and physical education coordinators, as well as school principals of every secondary school in South Australia. The survey results suggest that most secondary schools in South Australia offer outdoor education in the curriculum in one form or another. Perceived outcomes by teachers were largely in the personal and social development domain. Environmental outcomes, although perceived to be of reasonable importance, were largely not achieved through outdoor education in South Australia. The outdoor education curriculum area has strong links to physical education in this state with most teachers having a background in physical education, and outdoor education was often taught as part of a physical education program. Despite this, the outcomes of outdoor education did not appear to be closely related to physical education. Outdoor education was generally valued within the curriculum, but structural (logistics, cost, staffing, etc.) issues appeared to restrict the implementation of outdoor education. The survey generally indicates that outdoor education is a well-established component of the curriculum of South Australian secondary schools.