There is a political push in New Zealand to merge outdoor education into an outdoor industry driven by recreational interests. Higher education funding and training emphasize recreation and tourism, and educational objectives are being overlooked. However, outdoor education associations are working toward clearer standards for leadership training,…

Societal expectations often teach women to separate their identities from their bodies, which distorts their self-image, resulting in shame and alienation. Adventure programs can create an environment of unconditional acceptance and trust where people can speak their inner fears. Two women who had negative body images relate how adventure…

Identifies competencies required for outdoor leaders in England to gain a National Vocational Qualification in training and development. Describes how an outdoor leader encouraged collaborative learning among participants on a canoeing trip and how the skills and knowledge required of the outdoor leader related to training and development…

Anecdotal accounts of work with two families illustrate how adventure family therapy focuses both on individual client needs and on the power and influence of the family and other interacting systems on behaviors. Sidebar explains why adventure experiences are useful in therapy. Contains 19 references. (TD)

This paper examines practical and theoretical problems and issues that arose during evaluation of an adventure program for young offenders. During 1989-93, the Sail Training Association and the Humberside (England) Probation Service collaborated on a project in which probation clients aged 17-25 made sailing voyages across the North Sea or around…

The Outdoor Program is part of the special education program in a Northwest U.S. junior high school that combines wilderness activities with traditional classroom activities for students with behavior disorders. The goals of the program are to help the students learn to trust each other and the teachers, to teach students how to cooperate, and to…

This digest offers camp leaders, outdoor experiential educators, school and college faculty, or youth agency staff who are interested in nurturing youth leaders a framework for designing youth leadership programs which employ an outdoor setting as a "leadership classroom." Basic categories for leadership theory are defined: trait theory,…

Single-sex adventure education programs for adolescent women give them space to challenge traditional feminine roles, relate to other women without the pressures of mixed-sex groups, and examine issues such as personal relationships and health within a safe environment. If there are insufficient women facilitators, male staff should have awareness…

This paper describes a risk-protection perspective on adolescent problem behavior and mental health and its implications for experiential and adventure educators. Empirically, multiple biological, psychological, and social factors in the individual, family, and environment are predictive of various adolescent antisocial behaviors such as…

Experiments in using outdoor education to affect juvenile development and deter crime abound. Most of these outdoor adventure programs use a setting of developed challenges and perceived risk situations in order to create a life-changing experience. However, these "adventures" remain contrived events and require significant interpretive…

Public recreation administrators have often created bland recreational settings because of legislation, policies, and lawsuits. It is time to reintroduce the opportunity for adventurous, professionally managed risk experiences. Safe activities which give children a sense of risk are discussed, and points to be considered when organizing such…

The current status of secondary physical education is examined in five determinants of curriculum and in presentations of specific styles of physical education curriculum. Curriculum styles such as disciplinary, personalized, and social reordering are chosen based on students, teachers, schools, equipment, facilities, and subject matter involved.…

Describes how a neglected Boston middle school transformed itself into an inviting, tree-lined campus with comfortable reading and study areas and an exemplary physical education program. Project Adventure is an intense six-week physical training course that teaches advanced rock-climbing skills. With classmates' encouragement, participants…

The (British) Adventure Activities Licensing Authority ensures that adventure activities are run by competent people who follow good practices. Discusses how the technical competence of technical advisors is determined, and how their role varies in different situations. Legal responsibility remains with the provider, who must ensure that someone…

The evolution of Project Adventure's Full Value Contract from its original No Discount format is described. Although wording varies among groups, all versions ask the group to create safe and respectful behavioral norms under which it will operate, to commit to those norms, and to accept a shared responsibility for their maintenance. (TD)