UAE | Education
Careers off the beaten track
Growing interest in adventure tourism and leisure sports is creating a demand for professionals with hands-on experience backed by theoretical knowledge in the field
- By Subramanian Krishnamoorthy, Special to Campus Notes
- Published: 19:55 November 28, 2009
- Image Credit: Supplied
- Careers expert Subramanian Krishnamoorthy.
I am a high school student and very active in outdoor activities (trekking, camping etc). I’d like to work in the same field. Could you suggest programmes that involve outdoor activities, sports and fun? -Sharmita
Dear Sharmita,
Adventure recreation, adventure education, outdoor education... these degree programmes may not seem like serious professional fields. They may even be derided as jock majors or gut courses and academic fluff to be cut loose in a difficult budget climate. Not these days.
The growing interest in wilderness and outdoor activities has created demand for highly-competent outdoor professionals who combine the technical skills needed to lead a wilderness expedition, for instance, the soft social skills to manage a group and the scientific knowledge to be effective teachers. This demand has fuelled growth in outdoor education programmes.
One can become instructors in outdoor activities such as mountaineering, trekking, paragliding, sea-surfing etc. Many institutes offer basic, advanced and method-of-instruction courses.
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The outdoor professional is the ultimate programmer of a person’s leisure experience. They must understand human behaviour and development, psychology, sociology and kinesiology — the study of the anatomy, physiology and mechanics of body movement.
To teach effectively, they need a grasp of how the mind relates to the body and how learning styles differ. Besides, they need the physical skills for activities such as rock climbing or kayaking. They need scientific knowledge of meteorology, morphology, river formation, geology, astronomy and navigation. And they increasingly need to understand and use global positioning systems.
Graduates work as outdoor guides or in specialised outfitting centres; in companies that sell products and lead trips; at resorts, camps or outdoor centres that offer adventure programming; in the newly-emerging fields of corporate facilitation and wilderness therapy, or in a school.
Spiralling growth
The past few years have seen “incredible growth” in fields such as therapeutic wilderness camps, as well as traditional camps and adventure programme and youth programme jobs. There are approximately 7,500 ropes courses in the US that need facilitators, all of whom could be graduates of outdoor and adventure education programmes.
An increasing number of leadership schools combine team exercises with adventure sports for corporate clients, schools and colleges.
A major question?
The popularity of outdoor education courses raises some questions. One is whether an academic major in the field is necessary at all. Though an increasing number of students are pursuing degrees in these fields, many outdoor professionals get their experience and training on the job.
For example, the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), a US-based private non-profit institution that focuses on experiential education in a wilderness setting, does not require instructors to hold degrees in outdoor-related fields.
The best degree courses include hands-on experience. It is recommended to have at least 100 days of field time in addition to coursework.
The curricula
Outdoor education programmes suffer from an image problem. The traditional academic community holds such majors somewhat suspect in terms of academic rigour.
However, officials running these programmes insist that the curricula are academically rigorous. Strong programmes incorporate plenty of reading, researching and writing, while adhering to the standards of national associations such as the American Canoe Association or American Mountain Guides. These programmes aim to strike a balance between technical skills, leadership, theory and even medical training.
One of the reasons why critics continue to think the programmes lack rigour is because they’re fun.
- The writer is the director of Meccademia, a UAE-based educational institute catering to students in the 14-17 age group. For more information visit www.meccademia.com or email subramanian.krishnamoorthy@gmail.com
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