Having worked with children and adults of various ages and
backgrounds in many different settings such as that of outdoor centres and
schools, both abroad and in the UK has given me first hand experience of
facilitation and allowed me to create my personal philosophy on the use of soft
skills.
Based on my own personal experiences and from what I have
witnessed first hand in the sector I believe that using adventure as a medium
can promote and foster personal growth and development. This however I believe
to be small part of the puzzle, and that by merely taking part in adventurous activities and reflecting upon them does not instantly change a persons entire
outlook on life due to a successful week long program at a outdoor centre.
My own personal experience has shown me that it is the
instructor that denotes as just to how applicable the use of soft skills are
with their own specific group of individuals. And that all individuals have the
ability to push themselves and make gains in their own personal growth prior to
participating in a course at a adventure centre. The adventures activities are
merely used and facilitated by the instructor’s to elicit these responses and
build upon what is already present within that individual, and it is the
instructor’s use and personal leadership styles and experiences that cement
this process. Hopkins (1982) found that
the “positive effect of the adventure experience on the growth of self-concept”
could be negated by the influence of a “competitive, confrontational and
unsympathetic” instructor.
Hopkins finding were
reflected in that of an outdoor centre in which I worked where a large element
of the client base was that of Polynesian schools who were predominately from
farming or lower social backgrounds. Used to working with their families from
an early age in various forms of labour many of these groups required a very
specific type of facilitation. However instructors not recognising this found
these groups challenging difficult and in some cases were unable to facilitate
activities let alone being able to tie in a particular life lesson that would
improve them as individuals for the day’s events.
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| Figure 1.A Kura Kaupapa Māori school group from the Northland area of the north Island in NZ taking on the high ropes course very successfully |
However despite these observations I also became aware that
despite not understanding why they had participated in the activities or what
it had been in aid of many of these students still showed a significant rise in
confidence or their own personal self-esteem. Fox (1998) ‘Self-esteem is generally viewed as a global and
relatively stable evaluative construct reflecting the degree to which an
individual feels positive about him or herself.’
Barrett and Greenaway (1995) used the ‘dynamic adventure
environment’ model to illustrate what it is that they think enhancing
self-esteem is. They argue that the combination of physical exercise, fear and the
support of both the group and instructor, all act upon increasing self-esteem
as they adapt to the unaccustomed, dynamic adventure environment. This model supports my observations of how
many of the groups coming through despite having very little soft skill
application from their instructors during the week still achieved many of its
desired outcomes such as an increase in self-esteem.
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| Figure 2. Barrett and Greenway (1995) Dynamic Adventure Environment model, with input factors in order of importance based on my own personal experience |
So while I don’t fully endorse the belief that a week long
program at a adventure centre can improve upon a person’s personal growth and
development I do consider it to be a valuable learning experience and
potentially the gains can be great, but expecting a child to do a week long
program and be a changed person from there on out is quite an optimistic ideal .
Barret, J., Greenaway, R. (1995) Why adventure? The role
and value of outdoor adventure in young people’s personal and social
development. Coventry: Foundation for Outdoor Adventure.
Fox, K.R. (1998) Advances in the measurement of the physical self.
In:Advances in Sport and Exercise Psychology Measurement, (edited
by J. Duda .), pp.295-310. Morgantown, WV: Fitness Information Technology.
Turesky, E, & Gallagher, D 2011, 'Know thyself: Coaching for
leadership using Kolb's Experiential Learning Theory',Coaching Psychologist,
7, 1, pp. 5-14,
Bandura, A. (1982). Self-efficacy: towards a unifying theory of
behavioural change. Psychological Review, 84(2),
191–215.
