‘Being well’: the master key to unlocking competencies? How outdoor and adventure activities contribute to the development of children within a competency-based curriculum

ABSTRACT

The Draft Primary Curriculum Framework (NCCA 2020) and the Primary Curriculum Framework in Ireland (NCCA, 2023) identified 'Wellbeing' as a broad curricular area. This study explores the inclusion of outdoor and adventure activities (OAA) in a redeveloped curriculum to support one of the seven key competencies, 'Being Well' (NCCA 2023). Four semi-structured interviews were conducted with expert participants to elicit their views on OAA within a redeveloped curriculum. The findings show that OAA has the potential to foster wellbeing and other competencies, but it is currently neglected due to demands on teachers and a lack of support. These findings suggest that if OAA is to realise its potential, teachers require strong leadership and consistent support to become competent and confident in teaching OAA, underpinned by an understanding of its potential. Further research is needed to track OAA's implementation in schools and its contribution to children's competencies.

KEYWORDS:

• Wellbeing
• outdoor education
• adventure education
• outdoor and adventure activities
• primary school
• key competency
• curriculum redevelopment

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank the participants for agreeing to take part in this study without them this study would not have been possible. Informed consent was sought and obtained from each participant. Ethical approval for this study was applied for with and granted by The Institute of Education’s Faculty Research Ethics Panel.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).