Building Capacity for Outdoor Education in Secondary Schools
This research project is about building capacity for outdoor education in NSW secondary schools.
We want to explore how previous training in outdoor education has influenced the knowledge, confidence and professional capabilities of teachers and school executives.
Through individual interviews, we are asking teachers and school leaders to reflect on how outdoor education has shaped their teaching and/or leadership practices. This includes their approaches to student engagement, wellbeing, environmental learning, risk management and delivery of the Duke of Edinburgh International Award Program. Participation involves a voluntary and confidential interview of approximately 45–60 minutes, conducted at your school or online.
Register your interest, and you will receive the relevant consent form via email.
More Information
Your Voice Can Shape the Future of Outdoor Education
Your participation in this research project will assist in promoting Outdoor Education to more secondary school students in NSW public schools. By sharing your experiences, insights, and reflections, you will contribute to a deeper understanding of how outdoor education is supported, implemented, and sustained in school settings.
The study is exploring how teachers and school leaders perceive the role of outdoor education, how professional learning influences its delivery, and what factors help schools successfully embed outdoor learning opportunities for students. Findings from this research will inform future recommendations, professional learning initiatives, and advocacy efforts that support outdoor education across NSW secondary schools.
Whether you are currently leading outdoor education programs or have experience supporting outdoor learning within your school, your perspective is valuable. The knowledge gained through this project will help identify the capabilities, competencies, and supports that enable teachers and school leaders to create meaningful outdoor education experiences for young people.
How Your Contribution Makes a Difference
- Supports evidence-informed advocacy for outdoor education in secondary schools.
- Helps identify effective professional learning pathways for teachers and school executives.
- Contributes to research examining how outdoor education enhances student engagement, wellbeing, and environmental learning.
- Informs future recommendations and professional development programs designed to strengthen outdoor education capacity across NSW.
Your insights will help build a clearer picture of how outdoor education can continue to grow as a meaningful and accessible learning opportunity for all secondary school students.
Project Resources
Why we need your insight
For the last forty years, outdoor learning and outdoor education have been investigated extensively around the globe. Against this backdrop, few studies have examined the teacher capabilities and competencies that emerge from involvement in initial teacher education, including opportunities to undertake tertiary-level outdoor education classes. This phase of the study aims to glean valuable insights into teachers’ and school executives' perceived ability to facilitate and promote OE in their educational setting because of their initial teacher education in outdoor education.
By exploring teacher and school leader reflections, the study can illustrate the dual challenge outdoor education teachers face in navigating pedagogical approaches and the associated perceived risks of outdoor learning (Ernst, 2014; Öztürk Samur et al., 2023). In short, the objective is to analyse how teachers perceive outdoor education training as an enhancement to their pedagogic repertoire, leading to their ability to engage students, promote environmental stewardship, and make real-life connections to learning.
Overall Project
This project is part of a larger project that aims to evaluate what teacher and school executive capabilities and competencies facilitate the sustainable uptake of Outdoor Education in NSW secondary schools.
A four-phase exploratory sequential mixed-methods research (MMR) study is being conducted, where one stage informs the next (Creswell & Creswell, 2018). Interviews are the second phase of this study.
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Project Ethics - Completed
- September 2025: Ethics approval was granted for this project by WSU Human Ethics Committee. Approval H16935.
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Scoping Review Protocol - Completed
- December 2025: A scoping review protocol was registered with the Open Science Framework.
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Scoping Review - Completed
- July 2026: A scoping review has been completed. This scoping review aims to identify and map the existing literature on the necessary attributes and skills of teachers and school executives that facilitate and promote effective outdoor education experiences for secondary school students. Awaiting publication.
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Phase 2 - In Progress
- July - December 2026: Interviews with teachers and school leaders.
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Phase 3 - Upcoming
- January - July 2027: A quantitative comparative analysis of teachers and school executives with and without tertiary-level outdoor education training will aim to identify any differences in pedagogic skills, teaching quality, environmental attitudes, and willingness to facilitate and promote nature-based utdoor education experiences for students in Australian secondary schools.
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Phase 4 - Upcoming
- July - December 2027: Final Report and recommendations. Design and delivery professional development program for teachers and school executives.
- Publications: Four peer-reviewed papers in high-impact scholarly and practitioner publications.
- Presentations: Co-presentation at National and International Education Conferences.
- Advocacy: Advocacy for outdoor education component of Initial Teacher Education.
- Professional Development: Design and delivery professional development program for teachers and school executives.
Contact Us
Helen Cooper is the lead researcher and main contact for this project. This study contributes to Helen's PhD.