Learning About Ethical Outdoor Leadership

Outdoor adventure programming has responded to changing societal and individ­ual needs by enlarging the goals and objec­tives of programs beyond the boundaries of the outdoor trip. Program missions, goals and objectives regularly include integrating people with and without disabilities, rein­forcing appropriate school and societal be­haviour in youth at risk, enhancing the self­ esteem of young people, teaching environ­mentally sound behaviour, and enhancing restorative healing for women survivors of abuse and people with terminal illness. These broader goals and objectives place different demands upon the outdoor leader and situate an outdoor trip within a larger context. This larger context connects out­door leadership with such concepts as power, social change, vision, ethics, and values. This research project used an ad­vanced university class on ethical outdoor leadership to explore the intersection of the scholarship about ethical leadership,the practices of outdoor leaders, and the context of the outdoors