ABSTRACT
Over the decades the curriculum pendulum has swung periodically between the three ‘R’s at one extreme and child-centred education at the other. Currently, it may be said to be swinging somewhere in the middle. The proponents of each end of the spectrum have always had some sort of application for outdoor approaches within their particular take on the curriculum; those from the structured content-based extreme have seen the opportunities for character building, teamwork, problem-solving skills and other instrumental skills of relevance to the economy while those at the child-centred end perhaps have appreciated a setting where diverse learning styles can be better catered for by more diverse learning opportunities and where pupils’ responses to the environment are explored. There are, of course, to some degree arguments for both perspectives. So as the pendulum has swung, outdoor education has had to adapt its content and delivery to suit the educational mores of the time.
