The preparation priorities and challenges faced by teachers in Australian secondary schools before outdoor education programs

Outdoor education promotes various socio-emotional, physical, and educational benefits. Preparation for these experiences must account for the curriculum, participants, environment, and logistics. The scale of such undertakings is reportedly prohibitive, yet there is minimal empirical evidence on teachers’ preparation practices. In this study, we aimed to describe the preparatory priorities and challenges experienced by Australian outdoor education teachers using a mixed-methods survey. There were 20 respondents representing 42 different multiday experiences. Median preparation time for programs was 46.5 h, with most respondents reporting a preference for more preparation time. Teachers expressed a desire for significantly more time to assess students’ fitness levels and physically prepare them for the programs. Barriers to ideal preparation were time, resources and engagement. The results suggest that curriculum planners and teachers should collaborate to allow students more targeted preparation time, and future research should examine the influence of increased physical preparation time on program experience.