Implication for Adventure Education Programme providers

In this section I will sum up the findings generated from this research and their implication for the design AE programmes for Chinese people in the future. This section will include the parents‟ views on the positive outcomes of participating in adventure education programmes. This feedback may be used to improve the programme design and delivery of future AE programmes to Chinese people.

9.3.1 Chinese prefer a formal training style

Parents do not have much experience in outdoor adventure activities but believe the military style of training provided by the Scouts and educational experiences organised by the church group will provide good learning opportunities. They also think that these activities could develop their children‟s resilience towards adversity and build their self-confidence, the most important elements to put in place for their futures. China‟s modern history is an agonising journey; parents tend to think that the younger generation has been brought up in a smooth and over-protected way. Adventure education programmes stimulate the participants to realize that they are blessed and need to be more alert to future challenges. This is especially true for people who live in a country that they are not fully familiar with.

Findings from this research, however, reinforce previous findings in the literature that Chinese parents still consider academic development as the utmost important formal training for their children. If the time for adventure education programmes clashes with their academic commitments, they will certainly make academic studies a higher priority.

9.3.2 Adventure Education encourage dutifulness

Another attraction for the parents to choose Scouts is the sense of duty emphasised in their programmes. Traditional Chinese people think that education is to get oneself ready to take up duties to serve society. Scouts build a strong image of being prepared to help others and be dutiful to the family and then to society. Many parents expressed their appreciation of this behavioural change observed after their children joined adventure programmes. The core value

of traditional Chinese educational philosophy is to perform good deeds for others and this is considered as the utmost important ideology for Chinese parents to pass on to their children.

9.3.3 Adventure education programme reinforce power distance

Parents also appreciate the hierarchy of Scouts and consider it a way to reinforce the power distance and social hierarchy of the Chinese community. Parents generally believe the hierarchical structure of Scouts reinforces respectfulness and develops their children‟s sense of obedience, which coincides with traditional Chinese culture but is not emphasised in the Western educational and social system. Enoch‟s programme uses a different approach; it is a programme tailor-made for overseas Chinese and aims to build understanding, communication and resolve problems between the two generations. Its programme encourages more communication between the two generations; the feedback from both parents and participants is very positive.

9.3.4 Adventure Education programmes enhance personal growth

Parents understand that risk is sometimes unavoidable and this research finds that parents are more accepting of risk-taking than traditional literature has revealed. Parents are target-oriented. Safety is certainly one of their major concerns, but if they can be convinced that there will be valuable learning outcomes, they are still willing to take some risk. Their most common concern was about whether the programme could generate positive educational outcomes. What could be learnt through this experience? Is it worth taking the “risk”? They tend to think that risk-taking activities managed in a controlled environment are good for the children; it will strengthen their resilience and build their self-confidence. Parents accept that in adventure education programmes, some distress may cause “emotional disequilibrium” (Nadler & Luckner, 1992) to participants, but seeing the positive results in the long term, they are very supportive of the arrangement.

9.3.5 Motivation for outdoor recreation participation

Chinese people are underrepresented in outdoor recreation activities (Walker and Wang, Uchida, 2000,). The research literature suggests that unlike the majority of Canadians who see outdoor recreation activities as an integral part of their culture, Chinese people‟s recreation preferences

are passive, indoor activities. Results from this research, however, indicate another perspective and point to a promising direction to motivate Chinese people to participate in outdoor recreation. The findings of this research suggest that children‟s participation in outdoor adventure programmes had a positive impact on adults‟ participation in outdoor recreation activities.

The parents‟ social circles also expanded through participation in adventure education programmes with their children. They have a chance to enjoy the outdoors as volunteers with other parents in these groups. This is a learning opportunity that they did not have before. Owing to the cultural ideology of “face” and the importance of maintaining the stereotypical image of a parent as discussed in Chapter 2, Section 2.9.1, it is very difficult for parents to “step-down” and learn the skills together with their children. However, it can be managed if they participate as volunteers and possibly act as advisors and at the same time learn new skills. They can then enjoy the outdoors with other families and begin to organise their own activities. They may also invite other Chinese families who are not participants in adventure programmes to join their camping and outdoor activities. Like most of the Chinese immigrants in other countries, they always feel fascinated about the outdoor scenery of the country but in fact, their participation in the outdoors remains passive and largely as spectators.

Traditional Chinese culture limited full acculturation into Canadian culture, particularly regarding participation in and enjoyment of outdoor recreation. Chinese people view outdoor recreation activities as harsh and involving a lot of risk which is not what traditional Chinese culture values. However, through the model suggested in Figure 2, Chinese people may be attracted into the outdoors after they have received formal training in adventure education programmes. Unlike Western society where people more confidently learn outdoor skills by directly experiencing the outdoors, Chinese people are more likely to enter by joining a formal training path. These training programmes require specific learning objectives that participants are very likely to be able to apply in daily life. They are consistent with traditional Chinese approaches to learning, which emphasise formal learning. Adventure education programme providers design programmes systematically and professionally and these arouse the interest of parents, who may be attracted into programmes as volunteers and make friends with people of similar backgrounds. This new social group may motivate them to participate in more outdoor

adventure activities, either with this newly formed group or through organising their own family outdoor activities. Those who do not join the parents‟ volunteer group may nevertheless be impressed by their children‟s involvement and therefore wish to undertake some outdoor activities with their own friends and relatives.