Outdoor Education: Moments that Changed us! - Alex

A Personal Reflection of Outdoor Education by our Lead Instructor Alex

Alex - Lead instructor out in the lochs of Scotland

For our first blog post, I thought rather than trying to sell the Wild Schools Project to you with some catchy buzz words or reference the literature reviews of the many studies on the benefits of outdoor education. I thought I’d introduce myself (Alex) through my own experience of Outdoor Education and the impact its had on me.

Like many kids with Dyslexia I was acutely aware I struggled with school, and my complete lack of sporting ability meant I was never going to make it as an athlete. This left me with a lack of confidence in both my abilities, future prospects and how I viewed myself in relation to my peers. This generally meant I was a fairly quite and immature kid (I appreciate that first part may come as a shock for those who know me now). To put this into Einstein’s metaphor, much of my school life felt like a goldfish being asked to measure it’s self by its ability to climb a tree and not swim an ocean.

The Picture below was taken during my year 6 (P7) outdoor education residential back in the summer of 2000. Quite literally this was taken at the moment that changed how I would go on to view everything, from my intelligence, my peers and eventually my choice in career.

Alex (July 2000)- Post BMX ride. 

Story Time!

It was the first full day of a 5 day residential; We had met our group leader “T” who was taking us BMXing . On went the helmet that would keep slipping over my eyes and gloves that were probably two sizes too large. As we got to the BMX track, I remember feeling a little anxious. Looking at, what appeared to a 10 year old to be, drops the size of mountains, gaps that felt like they could swallow a bus and jumps that would only end in the need for more than an ice pack. I remember the academic kids had already calculated the list of injuries, probability of outcomes and summed up this was a terrible idea. To my surprise the “sporty” kids who use to tease me for being quite and thick, looked pale, lost and remarkably quite for once. 

After the Safety brief, that on reflection had gone in one ear and right out the other, T asked for a volunteer to go first. To this day I have no idea what convinced me to put myself forward, but to everyone’s surprise off I went. Now the problem with letting the dyslexic child go first, is when you say “don’t go left at the junction" they have no idea which ones left. So off I went at a pace, hurtling down the first ramp into the corner and out of sight into the infamous junction. Of course unknown to me, I had chosen the very turn I was not to go down. This led me to the top of a rather large jump that was meant for teenagers and adults, not 10 year old's. To the horror of my year six teacher and T, I was unfortunately travelling to fast to stop. Despite the inaudible shouts to stop, my brain had calculated I had enough speed to make it through the jump and that id need to absorb the landing with bent knees and loose elbows. So off I went. Landing the jump without incidents and continuing to fly round the remainder of track with growing confidence.

I remember the silence of my group, and the shock on my teacher and instructors faces as I came back to the start. I asked what the shouting was about, and Sean one of the sporty kids with a huge grin on his face replied “If you were wondering, that’s was left… You weren’t meant to go off that jump”. From that moment my peers saw me in a very different light. I was no longer the quite kid they perceived to be scared of his own skin. I was apparently afraid of nothing, and a source of external confidence (“If Alex can do it, I can at least give it ago”).

That experience is a foundation of the adult I am today. It led to me thinking that my value as a person wasn’t based on a test sheet score, that I could contribute meaningfully to those around me in different ways and that I was someone who my peers could take confidence from.

25 years on from that experience: Its helped me gain a B.A Hon’s. in Adventure education, numerous professional qualifications in adventure sports. Taken me across the planet to some remote parts of the world. Gave me something to base my practice as an outdoor educator on and influence other professionals as a former chief instructor and center manager. It’s helped me as an active mountain rescue volunteer remain calm in stressful situations, and will continue to influence the challenges and experiences I am yet to face.

I believe these types of experiences to be more important now than ever, as students continue to recover from the impact of covid. However with the growing cost of residential visits and increasing amount of students experiencing anxiety with being away. It can seem like a impossible prospect. Essentially this was the formation of the Wild Schools Project. How do we make these experiences accessible? Our answer, We come to you! For those who already attend outdoor ed residentials, we can help to build confidence and an understanding of what to expect from a residential while in the comfort of your own school grounds. For those where residential are not a possibility any more we offer an affordable alternative.

For more information please feel free to get in contact.

Alex

Lead instructor, Partner,

#madebydyslexia: Big adventures, with sometimes challenging spelling and grammar!