Stepping up into secondary education is a significant life change for all children. Some find new challenges easier than others, but for many, particularly the vulnerable, the transitional stress can be difficult to navigate. How can outdoor learning help?
Moving into secondary education is a significant adjustment for young people both socially and academically. Levels of motivation, psycho-social well-being and subsequent academic attainment can be impacted as a result of school transitions. Risk factors associated with transition vulnerability include the loss of old friendships, feelings of isolation, and lack of curriculum continuation.
That’s where outdoor adventure residential programmes lend a helping hand by enabling behavioural adaptions that support positive educational transitions, and more optimistic outlooks. Research suggests that by empowering children to take responsibility for their own comfort, safety and learning, through tailored outdoor adventure programming, authentic consequences are provided which can lead to improvements in their well-being and personal adaptability.
We know, you may think, that’s easy for us to say as a provider of outdoor adventure and experiential learning. But it’s true. Kingswood’s Head of Impact and Learning, Dr John Allan, alongside Vikki Slee from Leeds Beckett University, created an evidence-based study that evaluated the efficacy of three contrasting induction programmes chosen to facilitate improvements in children’s psychological well-being and self-determination during their transition into secondary school.
The study was created in partnership with educational providers and outdoor practitioners, and a group of 100 school children, mean age of 11 years, as a purposive sample of pupils transiting into three inner-city secondary schools in the North of UK. It is worth noting that, the majority of pupils were representatives of lower SES households (classes 5 and 6) and ethnic minorities. Of the 100 school children, 60% attended a tailored outdoor adventure residential (which incorporated the associated school’s values and objectives), 20% carried out classroom-based activities, and the remaining 20% participated in a pre-existing, more generic outdoor adventure residential.
The group of 60% attending a tailored outdoor education residential were continually aligning with the school’s ideology to develop self-determined learners and promote the core values of honesty, integrity, compassion and excellence. These principles equate to the recognised qualities needed for transition and are associated with the three underpinning components of the Self Determination Theory. These components include Competence (the ability to complete tasks), Autonomy (the capacity to self-direct learning) and Relatedness (how well a person can connect with others). Findings showed that:
The first comparison group experienced an active one-week induction programme delivered in school. Activities focussed on integrating pupils into their new environment, familiarising them with subject areas, and helping them to form friendships. A second comparison group involved children who attended a five-day commercial OA residential programme. This comprised team building challenges, land- and water-based pursuits. There was no attempt to align this programme to the school’s educational objectives or aspects of self-determination and general well-being. All activities were delivered by experienced qualified personnel.
Immediately and four months later, findings from quantitative and qualitative data, including psychological needs and well-being scales, open discussions and semi-structured interviews, showed that:
“I was proud of raft building, I kept falling off but learnt how to climb back on.”
“I learned that you can show compassion without even realizing it! I know that I can show it to my friends now. I feel happier.”
“Having done the residential I think I can cope with secondary school responsibility because I know I am capable of it.”
“My favourite thing was doing a presentation, this made me feel excited to do it again at school and not be so scared.”
“I found working together meant it were easier - If I was on my own, I wouldn’t have done it.”
“I have lots of people to talk to now and I can go to my teachers.”
“We have more friends because we slept in the same room and did activities together so we helped and supported all the time.”
“If the trust and relationship is not there, the pupils do not have much confidence in the classroom (or in you) which links into lower academic attainment.”
“Usually we see pupils only twice a week for an hour and so it takes longer to form relationships... gaining trust and understanding of how they learn may take till Christmas - this is a way to get them on track before then.”
“Unfamiliar activities act as a leveller, whereby some children who traditionally are more dominant in school may be stretched out of their comfort zones outside, and those quiet kids get a chance to shine.”
“When I started this school, I was really shy but now my confidence has grown because I got to know people better than if we didn’t go on residential.”
“Yeah, I remember the time we had at the Outdoor Centre, and when I start to feel nervous, I remember how well I got on and how you have to try something even if it is scary.”
“Practice makes perfect as I learnt in archery that’s because I saw improvements in me, so I practice much more now with other things.”
Read the full research study, here
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