Outdoor and Adventure Education

Outdoor and Adventure Education is a discipline that uses the natural environment as a classroom, exploring how activities such as rock climbing, kayaking, mountain walking, sailing, and rope courses can be used to promote learning, personal development, and wellbeing. It is grounded in theories of experiential learning and adventure therapy, asking how challenge, risk, and the experience of the natural world can support development in children, young people, and adults. It is both an educational philosophy and a set of practical skills, and studying it at university means engaging seriously with both dimensions.

At the University of Chichester, this three-year full-time BSc (Hons) is a highly practical programme that develops your competence across a range of outdoor and adventure activities alongside the theoretical and educational frameworks needed to teach and lead in these contexts. You will gain practical skills in activity leadership and facilitation alongside a grounding in educational theory, psychology, risk management, group dynamics, and the environmental and ethical considerations that responsible outdoor education demands. The South of England location provides access to a range of outdoor environments for practical work, from the South Downs to coastal waters.

Graduates of Outdoor and Adventure Education programmes work as outdoor education practitioners in schools, residential outdoor education centres, wilderness therapy organisations, youth work, community sport, and leisure management. Many pursue industry qualifications alongside or following their degree, building the technical awards and leadership qualifications that employers in the sector require. Others move into physical education teaching, youth work, therapeutic practice, or the growing area of nature-based wellbeing interventions.

The combination of practical skills, theoretical grounding, and personal development focus makes this degree relevant across a wide range of contexts.