Empowerment and transformative competencies through socio-emotional learning in the outdoors – the Edinburgh Model

Outdoor Adventure Education programmes have been argued to have the potential to nurture empowerment and transformative competencies that enable individuals and societies to navigate the global challenges of the 21st century towards shared prosperity, peace, and ecological sustainability by means of transformative learning experiences in the outdoors. To date, there is little specific guidance on how to achieve this on a practical facilitation level. This paper presents a model on how to maximise empowerment and transformative competencies in wilderness experience programmes. The model consists of the three main phases Preparation, Exploration, and (Re)Integration that are each composed of distinct factors of impact. The phases are woven together by three underlying principles of Empowerment, a Nurturing ground for growth, and specific Facilitation strategies such as situational micro-learning and safe space. Research and literature evidence the effectiveness of the model in promoting core components of transformative competencies in different target groups. Current data provide guidance for the adaptation of the model to new socio-cultural contexts. The model provides clear, evidence-based guidance for practitioners and program designers to facilitate transformative wilderness experiences to promote empowerment and transformative competencies in a range of populations.This paper presents the Edinburgh Model that forms the basis for the European knowledge exchange and impact project 'From Outdoors to Labour Market' (FOLM), funded by the EEA & Norway Grants for Youth Employmen