Tackling the confidence barrier: Outdoor education for educators

Outdoor education (OE) can be an important tool to help address the social, mental, and physical health concerns of today's youth. In circumstances where OE may be appropriate, various barriers, including lack of educator confidence, impede its use. This phenomenological research determines how an outdoor experiential education workshop impacts educator confidence in taking students on future OE trips. Participants comprised five educators from Vancouver School Board's District Alternative Resource Programs for "at-risk" youth. Research findings demonstrate that participant confidence levels increased slightly, but that competence levels, especially of safety awareness, increased dramatically. Results of this research may inform school board decisions to provide OE workshops for their educators as a way to increase educator confidence in taking "at-risk" students safely outside, and thus receive the health benefits of this type of programming.