The Constitution of Outdoor Education Groups: An Analysis of the Literature (Report‪)‬

Introduction As the opening quote illustrates, groups come in many different forms, but not all are equally desirable. In this article I examine some of the assumptions made about groups in the outdoor education literature, the forms of groups that are being privileged and the effect these assumptions have on outdoor education practices. I use an example of the processes a group goes through to establish the pace at which they will walk on a tramping trip to illustrate some of the points raised in the literature. This story is drawn from an amalgam of experiences I have had, and others have shared with me, of walking with groups. The story appears in italics throughout the paper as I am using it as a touch stone to ground the theory rather than empirical evidence on which to build theory.