This research is concerned with the educational process within an outdoor centre
involving groups of primary school children. It studies group interaction between the
participants in a natural setting by taking a holistic approach, giving an account of
their outdoor learning experience in the context of a group. It appears that there is
little focus on groups in the outdoors, even though most outdoor programmes involve
groups. Most of the research done on groups is quantitative and laboratory based.
Such traditional approaches have been challenged, as empirical limitations and
theoretical problems have been identified. It is argued that a study of group
interactions within a natural environment, such as the outdoor classroom, would
allow for a more insightful understanding of the phenomena involved, and it could
also shed light on the outdoor educational process, which has been neglected by
research in outdoor education. Participant observation and semi-structured interviews
were used as part of an ethnographic approach. This enabled the collection of varied
data, which resulted in a thick description of the phenomena explored.
The findings show that the concept of team building is central to the philosophy of
the outdoor centre and of its staff. The activities, which are used as learning tools, are
group orientated. Teamwork is seen as essential for the learning experience at the
outdoor centre. The study also revealed that the different approaches of the
participants influenced the way learning was constructed. The two main themes that
have emerged were empowerment and control. The empowering approaches offered
support and encouragement to the participants, allowing for collaboration and cooperation to exist between them, which enabled learning to be more effective. The
controlling approaches were characterised by a lack of dialogue between the
participants, which interfered with the learning experience, by not creating an
environment where the participants could work together as a group. A social aspect
of learning was thus identified, which emphasised the importance of viewing
learning as a joint process. The research shows that a well-designed process does not
always result in the participants achieving the ‘desired learning outcomes’. The
teachers/facilitators need to be aware of the impact that their approach may have on
the learning experience of the participants
