Dealing with a quandary: Funding outdoor education in Aotearoa New Zealand

Abstract

School websites are one of a number of ways that schools communicate their vision, values, programmes, successes, and about their community in the public domain. An initial stimulus for this article was a study conducted by one of the authors investigating the presence and profile of outdoor education on secondary school websites in Aotearoa New Zealand. The cost associated with some senior outdoor education offerings compared with other resourceintensive subject options was a finding that provoked our collective attention. This is particularly so when Ministry of Education policy prohibits schools from compelling parents to pay fees for outdoor education courses that are part of the curriculum of a school. This article catalogues the questions and quandaries that surfaced from our consideration of outdoor education funding issues, particularly in senior outdoor education in some schools. We speculate about the importance of outdoor educators considering their ‘bottom-lines’ and what learning opportunities are possible if outdoor education experiences are seen to be a ‘right’ of all students.