Embracing Local Community Through Post-activity Outdoor Education

Abstract

Local communities hold significant potential for rich ecological, cultural, social, and personal learning experiences. Those opportunities, however, are not always realised by some forms of dominant adventure activity focused outdoor education which privilege distant places or continue colonising practices. This chapter advocates for a post-activity outdoor education (PAOE) where the focus shifts from the activities themselves to what is beyond the activities, that is people and places that constitute local communities. The chapter is situated in the (post)colonial context of Aotearoa New Zealand, which recognises the importance of indigenous perspectives and relationships, alongside efforts to engage in processes of decolonisation, that are central to engaging local community.