Experiential Learning (EOE) Welcome Speech:

Landscape, Youth & Outdoor Education : What are we doing? What should we be doing?

Professor Barbara Humberstone, UK - Retiring Chair EOE

Honoured dignitaries, Principal of Trinity College Medwin Hughes, Dr John Rose, dear participants and colleagues a warm welcome on behalf of the European Institute.

I am very happy to have the honour to welcome you all to the 8th European Conference on behalf of the Board of the European Institute. After conferences in the  Austria, Scotland, Sweden, Germany, Poland, Brathay England and Poland for a second time we are now in Trinity College, Wales.  The institute with nearly 400 individual and organisational members has been operating for 12 years and can look back on a strong history. The 10th anniversary was celebrated through the publication early this year of the European Institute’s 10th Anniversary book edited by Jochem Schirp and our esteemed former Chair Professor Peter Becker. This book records past and new writings which highlight the philosophies and praxis of the Institute and Outdoor Experiential Education.  I will highlight here a short reflection which aims to communicate something of the philosophy and the concerns of our Institute and how this collaboration with our colleagues at Trinity College continues the work and interests of the Institute.

As Peter Becker has  said earlier, ‘everything started with a conference in 1996 in the Austrian town of Spital on Pyrn. The idea of founding a European Institute concerned with adventure, experiential learning and outdoor education joined together two already existing discussion networks. One of these came mainly from an academic background, having met in 1994 at the Charles-University in Prague. The other had a rather more social pedagogical background, whose members had got to know each other at a conference near Frankfurt also in 1994. The joining of these two groups occurred in Spital and was the first of many European Institute conferences, allied seminars and European funded projects’.

Globalisation, the widening, deepening and quickening of the worldwide interconnections in social, cultural, political and economic life, has created a world which appears to be getting smaller in scale as economic and other relations become larger in scale. Consequently, we all experience the influences of down turn in economy in one major country very rapidly. The increase in consumerism, commodification and the related standardisation of experiences has affected all aspects of our lives, no less outdoor adventure and experiential learning. These influences of rationalisation, control of physical space and the body, fragmentation of lifestyles and the hyper-reality in aspects of the world wide web  run counter to notions of the holistic view of life, nature, the environment, feelings, embodiment and authenticity of experience.

It should be noted that possibly one of the most ‘rationalised’ nations in Europe, the UK has also been found in a survey in 2007 to have the least measure of well-being and one of the highest measures of depression amongst its children. A conference on Performative Health and Body Pedagogies in UK highlighted the comparison between the dominant technological culture in which we live and the Taoist culture, and the affect that our ways of being are creating a culture of unhappy, depressed and ‘obese’ children. Yet The Green Agenda for Mental Health which was released in UK May 2007  www.mind.org.uk/mindweek for mind week suggests evidence that being in the outdoors does ( when acting with the forces of nature as in the Taoist philosophy, and not against them) reduce depression. Whilst a very recent survey undertaken for Playday UK highlights the change in opportunities for and spaces where young people can now play (Lester and Russell, 2008). In the past it was possible for children to play adventurously in the street, local woods and so on but now, the survey says many children can only have adventurous play in specially designed play grounds. Playday calls for more free adventurous play in outdoor natural spaces.

Linking these issues together, it could be said that the focus of such circumstances practically demanded and still does an institution like the European Institute that systematically deals with both the theoretical analysis of these social processes and the practical application of body-related methods of learning related to the outdoors.

The first conference in Spital was organised by Günther Amesberger from the University of Vienna, and  joined the two groups from Prague and Frankfurt. Spital was not only the founding conference but it shaped part of the self-awareness of the Institute: that is the part that sees itself as catalyst of international projects that strive to achieve their pedagogical aims through the methods of experiential learning and the activities of adventure. The EOE Statement of Intent1, which encapsulates the vision and mission of the EOE, were instigated from discussions and thought of all those present at that conference. The days of Spital were framed  by discussions in international working groups, whose aim it was after in-depth exchange of experiences of their everyday work to develop common projects. The conference which followed was hosted by Pete Higgins at Edinburgh University was characterised by lectures and theoretical input as well as discussions. This pattern of conference topic where International project development alternates year on year with conferences focusing upon research and theoretical input has continued in the planning of European Institute’s major conferences.

Some examples of the international projects realised through these meetings included the development of vocational key qualifications for young people who had been unemployed for a long time, gender projects with men and women based on outdoor activities or attempts to use experiential learning as prevention against violence or drug abuse. A few projects have reflected this conference theme of moving in and through landscape this included: rafting on the Danube, a border trip on water and across country by bicycle and in wheelchairs with children with disabilities.

This idea of a conference for collaboration on practical projects was very successful in 2002 in Marburg, Germany. The Marburg projects again were concerned with: disabilities, school and youth work, gender, nature/sustainability, immigrants and social exclusion. From this meeting two large-scale EU funded projects evolved, which were each led by members of the Institute Board. One led by Jochem Schirp, BSJ and was funded through the EU Leonardo Da Vinci scheme. This New Experiences in Training (NEXT) project was concerned with the provision of outdoor experiences for youth in transition from school to work and brought together social workers and trainers from 5 countries. The project led to the publication The Next Step. The other led by Dorin Festeu funded by the EU ‘Youth for Europe’ programme brought together trainers, teachers and youth and social workers from 13 European countries to develop a programme of non-formal education through outdoor activities. This led to a number of planning and training meetings in Brathay, UK, Brasov, Romania, Marburg Germany and in Czarnocin, Poland and a final publication ‘Non-Formal Education through Outdoor Activities Guide’. The last conference preceding to this conference here at Trinity was held at Fradja, Poland in 2007 and organised and hosted by Board member Magda Jedrzejczyknd colleagues an continued the development of EU projects and the networking of teachers, youth workers and academics across Europe.

The other conferences in Scotland 1998, Sweden 2000, Poland 2002 and Brathay UK 2004 reflected the other focal point of the Institute: the theoretical analysis of cultural forms of outdoor education as well as social and natural areas of action, where outdoor activities are the media to reach pedagogical objectives.

The conference in Edinburgh in 1998, organised by  Peter Higgins & myself at Edinburgh University  , not only dealt with the cultural differences of the national approaches like the Norwegian Friluftsliv, the German Erlebnispädagogik, the English outdoor education, but also with current trends in France, Denmark, the Czech Republic or Austria. The conference in Linköping, two years later, in 2000, organised by our Swedish colleague Anders Szczepanski, analysed "other ways of learning“. On the one hand the Swedish concept "reading the landscape“was introduced and discussed, and on the other hand it was examined how far methods of outdoor education might be able to supplement the bureaucratically organised methods at school in order to make sure that children and teenagers become familiar with ways of perceiving the world that will help them to develop their sensory potentials and their aesthetic awareness. In 2004 the conference, ‘Old Traditions and New Trends’ held at Brathay Hall Trust, UK organised by our colleagues Steve Lenartowicz and Kaye Richards, explored what is continuous  and what is changing in young people’s lives and Outdoor Experiential Learning. This brought us to the awareness of traditional and changing societal influences, the changing culture of young people and the practices which might affect individuals and communities.

This short reflection of our conferences and meetings now leads me to our meeting here: Landscape, Youth and Outdoor Education: What are we doing? What should we be doing?

Landscape has many meanings and different interpretations and has been sadly neglected in much of the practice and theorising of outdoor education, not least in part by the European Institute. Oft times the activity which is undertaken in the outdoors might just as easily be undertaken within the indoor classroom. Or the landscape/seascape is used merely for the resource for some purpose, recreational, training or pedagogical of an outdoor provider. We see that some life-style sports, particularly popular with young people are often pursued within artificial or urban ‘landscapes’.  In addition we also see the demise of young people’s enjoyment of traditional activities such as long distance walking in the landscape.  It is often older people who can be seen is number walking in the countryside, but rarely the young.

What are we doing? What should we be doing? These are important questions that we, as committed academics and practitioners working in, through and for the landscape with young people are required to consider. This conference will help to inform future theory and practice in outdoor adventure education and experiential learning.
 
It is now my pleasant duty to thank everybody who has been involved in making this conference happen. These are our Trinity partners, in particularly the Principal of Trinity College Medwin Hughes, colleagues at Trinity Andy Williams and Nic Tucker-Welton and I would also like to thank my colleagues on the EOE Board for their commitment and their ideas in organising this event.

I wish us all a very stimulating and fruitful conference.
Thank you

Reference

Lester,S. and Russell,W (2008) Play for a change. National Children’s Bureau

Note

1. Statement of intent and mission

What is outdoor adventure education?

There are many views concerning outdoor adventure education. There is, however, a great deal of common ground.

Practitioners seem to agree that OAE comprises most, or all, of the following elements:

• stimulate personal and social development:
  • academic, aesthetic, spiritual, social and environmental elements
  • increased responsibility for own learning
  • developing increased confidence and self respect
• direct experience (ie experiential learning)
• some experience with the outdoors
• a "journeying"element
• respect for the environment
• professional standards to ensure:
  • community
  • physical and emotional safety
  • protection of the environment from overuse.

Issues affecting the development of OAE

These are some of the key trends and issues influencing the directions in which OAE is developing:

• Mind and body. There have been many debates over the centuries about the relationship between mind and body. In modern education, the debate concerns whether or not a primarily intellectual form of education is adequate for the proper development of the individual, or whether a more direct, non-abstract form of educational experience is more appropriate
• Relationship between the individual and society. As civilisation moves and change accelerates, many individuals become disconnected from society. They feel that they have no control and influence through the political process to bring about beneficial changes in their lives and within their communities.
  Practitioners can work outdoors to help people to identify areas where they can take control of their lives and take a more active part in their communities.
• Relationship between individuals and the environment. Environmental issues are of increasing importance in the political agenda, yet many people live an urban life which does not allow them to experience the relationship between their actions and the elements which support life on earth.
  Outdoor adventure education can provide direct contact with the natural world, which can enable people to develop informed values and opinions.

The Institute`s Mission

The Institute will:

• promote the development of OAE through an exchange of practical and academic knowledge
• develop new frameworks, initiatives and approaches to enhance OAE across the community

The values of the institute are based on:

• respect for diversity and community
• the promotion of equality of opportunity
• the recognition of professional standards

The purposes of the institute are:

• to develop theoretical foundations for the field of OAE
• to develop professional standards that recognise commonality and diversity
• to undertake research and implement project to influence the quality of practice
• to identify and develop areas of commonality with environmental education

The Institute will achieve this by:

• developing networks and exchanges for academic staff, students and practitioners
• facilitating conferences
• promoting information exchanges through electronic media, publications and congresses
• coordinating collaborative research projects
• developing transnational codes of practice
• developing professional development programmes and core curricula for programs to achieve an international accepted degree
• monitoring and evaluating the quality of provision