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Outdoor leadership education: Do recent textbooks focus on the right content?
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Outdoor leadership education: Do recent textbooks focus on the right content?

Glyn J Thomas
Australian Journal of Outdoor Education, Vol.15(1), pp.3-11
2011
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03400910
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Abstract

Specialist Studies in Education Curriculum and Pedagogy outdoor leadership education textbooks facilitator educators
My research, exploring the theories and practices of facilitator educators, led me to ask questions about some potential gaps in outdoor leadership texts published in the last six years. Do the authors and editors of these texts focus on the things that are really important to the effective practice of outdoor leadership? My research with facilitator educators used a naturalistic inquiry approach, to develop a theoretical framework that categorised the different dimensions of programs designed to develop facilitators to work in a range of contexts. One of these dimensions, which I labeled "the person-centred facilitator education dimension," described the importance of 'the person of the facilitator' when working with groups. This included helping emerging facilitators to develop their self-awareness and their presence with their groups. This paper compares the foci of facilitator education programs in my study with the foci of four recent outdoor leadership textbooks. My analysis of the content of these four texts reveals that none of them provide any real focus on what I categorised as the person-centred dimension. Some of the challenges associated with addressing this apparent gap are discussed.

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