Nurturing female outdoor educators: A call for increased diversity in outdoor education in precarious times

Abstract

In these contemporary times education practices have become more encompassing of globalised standards of best teaching practice. Thus providing new ideas of teaching that call for a variety of teachers with diverse backgrounds and perspectives. If the outdoor education profession is to keep up with these changes in the field of education then it must first address issues like the dropout rate of females from the profession. Grounded in cultural nature theories of human development, this chapter examines a study on the effect of an experiential program on the development of pedagogy in female outdoor education pre-service teachers learning to teach. This chapter elucidates the plight of capable female outdoor education teachers as they face their fears and negative attitudes from the dominant discourses of the profession. The notion of feeling fear when teaching an activity that has risk involved was gleaned from the study, female pre-service outdoor education teachers (POETs) experienced fear when teaching activities that contained elements of risk in the outdoors. Thus providing an example of a situation where female POETs seriously considered dropping out of the teacher preparation program. The final part of this chapter discusses fear and explores an argument in support of the need to champion highly capable female outdoor educators to support them in the profession.