Meanings, values, and life course: a study of participants’ experiences at a Scottish outdoor education centre
dc.contributor.advisor
Higgins, Pete
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dc.contributor.advisor
McLaughlin., Pat
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dc.contributor.author
Telford, John Andrew
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dc.contributor.sponsor
Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
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dc.date.accessioned
2011-11-25T14:55:08Z
dc.date.available
2011-11-25T14:55:08Z
dc.date.issued
2010-11-25
dc.description.abstract
Residential outdoor education has had a significant formal and informal presence
within the education system of the United Kingdom since the 1950s. However, there
is little empirical research into the experiences of participants, particularly from a
long-term perspective. The present study investigates the meanings, values, and
impacts that participants attribute to a five-day residential experience at Ardentinny
Outdoor Education Centre, near Dunoon, Scotland. Participants attended the Centre
as school pupils between 13 and 16 years of age. Ardentinny Outdoor Education
Centre operated as an educational facility under the auspices of the local authority
between 1973 and 1996. Participants were contacted between 2007 and 2008, hence
a minimum of 11 years after the Centre closed.
Semi-structured questionnaires (n = 110) and interviews (n = 14) were used to
generate data regarding participants’ experiences. These were analysed using a
hermeneutic approach. Supplementary data were generated from archival documents
and interviews (n = 29) with various stakeholders in Ardentinny Outdoor Education
Centre, ranging from local authority education officers to Centre managers and
instructional staff. These supplementary data contribute towards a nuanced
interpretive account of participants’ experiences that has both breadth and depth.
The data suggest that participants’ experiences at Ardentinny Outdoor Education
Centre represented highly significant events in their school career. Principal findings
relate to themes of achievement, independence and responsibility, and the
development of more adult relationships. Seventy-two percent of questionnaire
respondents claimed that their experience at Ardentinny Outdoor Education Centre
continued to influence their adult lives. This influence was manifested in a variety of
ways ranging from a love of the outdoor environment, to choices regarding use of
leisure time, to employment choices.
Bourdieu’s (1977, 1990b) theory of social practice, particularly the concepts of field
and habitus, provides a framework to interpret participants’ expressions of the nature
of their experiences and the impact those experiences did or did not have on their
lives. From this perspective Ardentinny Outdoor Education Centre presented
participants with a safe and authentic experience that differed sufficiently from their
previous life experiences to allow for the opportunity to develop new understandings
of self and the social world. These new understandings were expressed in different
ways and at different times over participants’ subsequent life course.
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dc.identifier.uri
http://hdl.handle.net/1842/5683
dc.language.iso
en
dc.publisher
The University of Edinburgh
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dc.relation.hasversion
Telford, J. (2007). Ardentinny research project website. Retrieved March 11, 2009, from http://web.mac.com/jonnytel/iWeb/Ardentinny%20project/Welcome.html.
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dc.subject
outdoor education
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dc.subject
residential
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dc.subject
long term
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dc.subject
meanings
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dc.subject
values
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dc.subject
Bourdieu
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dc.title
Meanings, values, and life course: a study of participants’ experiences at a Scottish outdoor education centre
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dc.type
Thesis or Dissertation
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dc.type.qualificationlevel
Doctoral
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dc.type.qualificationname
PhD Doctor of Philosophy
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