National Governing Body Awards:a strategy for success

Outdoor education undergraduates are more likely to gain employment in the industry if they possess a wide profile of National Governing Body (NGB) awards. Such awards demonstrate to potential employers agreed standards of safety, technical competence and teaching ability. The present case study examined the kinds of strategies adopted by students in their quest to gain relevant awards. It showed that successful students place great store in structured goal setting behaviour. They set various levels of goals and are prepared to review goals in light of changing circumstances. They take full advantage of practice with peers to improve technical, organisational and teaching skills, and use placement/work opportunities to further their qualifications. The study suggests the University could do more to assist students by way of adopting a mentoring system, and providing key information and organising relevant courses. An action research project designed to examine further the relationship between some of these features and NGB award/employment success was suggested