Outdoor adventure education for children in Scotland: quantifying the benefits

Outdoor adventure education (OAE) is widely recognised for its ability to elicit personal and social development for its participants. However, quantitative evidence on which this recognition is based is frequently questioned, and is virtually absent in Scotland. To provide some of the first statistically determined evidence from Scotland that OAE benefits personal and social development, and through this understand concerns over the robustness of quantitative evidence, a survey of children 10–12 years old attending a residential week of OAE was undertaken. A small positive benefit was measured after the intervention, but this was lost 10 weeks later. The loss is attributed to euphoria at the time and limited integration of experiences into subsequent classwork. Teachers said they were reluctant to integrate outcomes when some pupils could not participate, commonly those from poorer families. Pupils who perceived themselves as having relatively poor personal and social skills appeared to gain most benefit and then lose the least. Since these pupils may well come from poorer families, funding to allow them to participate would permit integration of outcomes into classwork and benefit all pupils. The methodology highlights the need for carefully selected samples, use of an appropriate questionnaire and control of numerous variables.