Recent years have witnessed a broad range of natural disasters adding to the existing disadvantages faced by many young people in Australia. These included bush fires, floods and the Covid-19 global pandemic. In the Australian context, Quay et al (2020) argued, these tragic events have had effects that have not been equal. Beyond the individual impacts for young people such as increased isolation, worry and uncertainty compounded during periods of school closures (Mulholland & O’Toole, 2021), international contributions highlight how such events contribute to escalating experiences of violence, abuse and trauma for many young people (Save the Children, 2020). For children already living with disadvantage and potentially vulnerability, such circumstances have likely ‘exacerbated pre-existing inequalities, increasing the economic, social and psychological pressures on children’ (Mulholland & O’Toole, 2021, p. 329). As such, understanding how best to support young people experiencing vulnerability and social injustices through educational interventions has become critically vital (Drane, Vernon & O’Shea, 2021). Contextual and localised examples of how to achieve this in practice are less evident in the literature.

This paper reports on a project designed to explore the potential of an outdoor adventure program for children aged 6-12 years recruited from areas of identified disadvantage in Victoria, Australia. Specifically, children from schools located in bushfire-impacted locations and regions identified as below the average Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage (ICSEA) benchmark of 1000 were purposefully invited to attend. The short, three-to-four-day program sought to provide opportunities that challenge young people to take risks and learn new skills through outdoor experiences otherwise unattainable or not readily available to them. These include swimming with sea mammals, rock climbing and other otherwise ‘risky’ activities under the supervision of highly qualified staff. The research into the effectiveness of the program generated data from multiple sources including direct observations, surveys, interviews and student drawings and written feedback. Participants stressed notions of ‘overcoming fear’ and of ‘meeting the challenges’ they faced as influential, often labelling these as ‘life-changing’ experiences that made them believe they would be more likely to try new things in the future. Central to the nature of the experience had been the non-judgemental encouragement and scaffolded pedagogies employed by program staff that supported young people to tackle challenges fostering courage and confidence. The data collected from students, teachers, program staff and educational researchers supports the thesis that such experiences are likely to provide students with lasting and multiple benefits, now and into their futures.

Many participants spoke of an activity they were asked to perform that they initially perceived to be beyond their capabilities. These activities had been purposefully included in the program to challenge children’s self-belief in their own abilities. Nevertheless, a near constant refrain from the participants was that they were supported into challenging themselves to take risks in trying activities, trusting in the support of the program staff. This encouragement was done with care, rather than by placing the child in a position where they felt pressured to participate. As such, the children understood that if they had agreed to participate that the achievement was their own, and based on their own, improved self-belief.

The change in attitude many of these children experienced surprised even themselves. This led to an increased preparedness to attempt activities or to try new foods. This change in attitude was often noted by their teachers. As such, the power of outdoor education when provided by expert, qualified and dedicated staff proved highly impactful upon the lives of these young people, providing them with a means to reappraise their understanding of their own limitations and abilities.

Theoretically informed by research in outdoor learning and pedagogy (e.g., Gilbertson et al, 2016, Louv, 2010, Parry et al, 2021, Smith & Welsh, 2019), and the broader influence of Dewey’s (1938) notion of experiential learning on the international field, the more extensive research project upon which this paper is based relied upon a mixed-methods study that utilised a range of qualitative and quantitative methods to gather data on the effectiveness and impact of a program designed to encourage young people to engage with the education program’s four main aims: to become more physically active, to choose healthier food options, to be more confident and to show and be shown respect. The quantitative data was collected by the program itself in the form of feedback surveys completed by students (N=1368) and their teachers (N=148). This evaluation tool was developed prior to and without the input of the educational researchers. These data included a range of demographic information concerning the students and their attitude towards aspects of the experience as recorded on Likert scale entries. Qualitative data was obtained from interviews with teachers (N=13), program staff members and program executive staff (N=9). It was also obtained by direct observations of program activities by the research team, and from the written and drawn responses of student participants (N=112) in response to the four themes of the program. Program documents and webpages also provided data. These various data sources were triangulated and thematically analysed (Braun and Clarke, 2006) to provide the analysis reported here. The educational researchers involved in this project met frequently to interrogate and analyse the data collected to develop a nuanced understanding of the benefits of the program and to consider the implications of the data collected to date.

Providing young people with opportunities to engage in outdoor activities that extend their beliefs about what they are capable of achieving provides an opportunity for them to become more willing to potentially take on challenges in other aspects of their lives as well. Many of the young people said that the experiences they had on the program allowed them to understand that they were capable of more than they initially believed – and that often the difference between success and failure was a willingness to participate. The activities often felt like they were just beyond the abilities of the young people. As such, our findings reveal the value of ‘relational’, ‘quiet’ and ‘challenge through choice’ pedagogies employed by program staff had on fostering notions of courage and confidence among participants. This meant that the young people themselves were most likely to discuss the change in attitude to attempting the unfamiliar as being one of the major learning outcomes of the program for themselves. The paper concludes with a consideration of the ways in which various pedagogies can be deployed through outdoor adventure activities to support young people living with vulnerability and trauma.

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