Brian Davies, chairman of the British Association of Heads of Outdoor Education Centres, discusses the effects of licensing on outdoor education, the decline of spontaneity and adventure in outdoor education, private versus public outdoor education centers, what makes a good outdoor education teacher, diversity represented by different outdoor…

Criticizes the New Zealand approach to outdoor leadership, which relies on teaching risk assessment and management from manuals and checklists and which asserts that risk-management skills are transferable between risky sports. Suggests that sound outdoor practice involves more than "legal duty of care," and recommends reliance on…

A high-profile liability case concerning a fatal ice-climbing accident provides the background for this discussion of liability issues in adventure activities. A brief history of outdoor adventure litigation, emerging trends, and how outdoor guides can protect themselves and their clients is presented. Guides should candidly describe the risks…

In the United Kingdom, insurance is becoming harder to get and society is becoming increasingly more likely to demand criminal sanctions when accidents occur. Adventure educators can protect themselves by having a demonstrable, transparent system of risk assessment, safety equipment, training, and control, but they must also educate the public to…

Technology is influencing the evolution of adventure and outdoor education. Technology can negate adventure by dispelling the need of skill and mastery for attainment and by fostering a consumer mentality. Technology can enhance adventure by creating new experiences and suggesting that more is now possible. The challenge is to embody appropriate…

Significant increases in global self-esteem and the four subdomains of physical self-worth were measured in 66 males and 60 females with a mean age of 15.1 years who participated in a (British) Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme expedition, indicating that adventure education can be a vehicle for personal and social development. Contains 21…

Participants at a British workshop on outdoor education and spiritual development concluded that outdoor programs provide special opportunities for developing spiritual awareness; maximizing relevance to everyday life is essential; and facilitators need good group-work skills. Participants also discussed contemplation versus excitement in outdoor…

In November 2000, a conference in London hosted by three outdoor education associations examined the growing culture of risk aversion in the United Kingdom, the role of risk in learning, the increasing difficulty of finding a balance between risk and adventure, and the challenges of tempting children away from computer games and dealing with…

A trainee in psychotherapeutic counseling conducts an allegorical trip to the Greek underworld via a caving trip to demonstrate the healing and learning potential within the risk-based experience. The acknowledgement of one's fears and their origins can have a powerful effect and serve as a metaphor for transformation in other areas of life.…

The death of a 17-year-old British girl on a youth expedition to Vietnam prompts questions about the ethics and role of expedition education and about accreditation and regulation of the adventure field. Should the agenda be controlled by a central corporation, government, or the field itself? Those in the field should present a united front on…

Reviews "Quality Work with Young People" (John Huskins, 1996) and other writings of the 1990s concerned with outdoor adventure education, youth work, "risk," and risk management. Compares these works with those of the 1970s. Criticizes deterministic trends in adventure education "interventions" and the present-day…

A study examining the effect of outdoor adventure experience on student self-concept surveyed 30 British secondary students in a 5-day residential outdoor course and a control group of 30 students. Self-concept scores of the experimental group rose during the course and 3 months later, while the control group showed no significant change. (TD)

In adventure education, risk is important to achieving program objectives. An increased concern with legal liability and the concentration of media attention on negative outcomes have contributed to an increased social aversion to risk. Adventure education must establish that risk leads to personal growth and can be managed constructively in the…