The return home: Transitioning from a 28-day remote outdoor education programme

Abstract

Transitioning This article shares the findings of a research project on the transition process experienced by year 10 girls (aged 14) moving from a residential 28-day outdoor education programme at a remote campus called Te Kahu (a pseudonym) back to their school and family life in the city. The school is a high achieving private school for girls, located in a major city in New Zealand. As an outdoor education teacher with experience working in girls' schools, I wanted to explore not only the impact of significant time immersion in the outdoors, but also how adolescent girls adjusted back into a city environment and how the wider social implications of the transition are addressed. As defined in the Oxford English Dictionary, a transition is a "a passing or passage from one condition, action, or (rarely) place, to another" ("Transition," 2015). This process of adaptation effects physical, mental, and emotional changes in a person's life. Bridges and Bridges (2009, p. 3) describe a life transition as a "process that people go through as they internalise and come to terms with the details of the new situation that change brings about." Such transitions involve adaptive developmental processes. Bronfenbrenner (1994) proposed a framework of ecological factors that impact on development, suggesting that a person's capacity is impacted by the wider systems of culture, customs, and economy (macrosystems) and the relationships and interactions between the person, family, school, peers, and social roles (microsystems). He proposed that optimal combinations of such diversities possibly suggest "a potential for human natures yet unseen" (p. 41). Literature on transitioning to school describes how this process of adaptation impacts on children's stress, anxiety, and learning which "could influence their life trajectory" (Landsberg, 2013, p. 31). Research on youth transitions to adulthood recognises the importance of relationship factors, which can influence or constrain adolescents' development towards their life goals. Bynner (2005, p. 379) points out that "social relations identified with family, school, leisure and workplace contexts can reinforce stagnation or motivate growth." This suggests that an ability to adapt and transition to new situations and develop relationships in wider social networks can positively impact on growth and maturation. Educational opportunities provided through direct experiences in a contrasting environment can challenge students' existing levels of understanding and encourage a change of thinking and behaviour. In the transition from this contrasting environment, students must decide how to adopt and integrate changes to their regular life (Cushing, 1997; Leupp, 2007; Whittington, 2006). Research findings on the transition to school for new entrants suggests that strong relationships between students, teachers, and families have the potential to assist students positively with the transition process (Landsberg, 2013). I start with the background to the programme and explore its origins, philosophy, and structure. I then introduce the research questions and explain the methodology and methods used to conduct the research. The results and discussion section is divided into six main subsections that explore: the process of leaving Te Kahu; the social uncertainties of transitioning from Te Kahu; methods of coping with transition; returning to school in the city; adapting to life in the city; and the girls' perceptions of Te Kahu as a healthy passage to adulthood. I examine the readjustment process involved in the transition between leaving Te Kahu where the girls are introduced to new experiences, values, and perspectives, and their return to very different lives in the city. Background to the Te Kahu remote outdoor programme Development of the Te Kahu remote outdoor programme (which opened in 2008) began when the school's principal identified a need to promote further the personal development of her students, especially in relation to levels of resilience. …