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COEO
The Council of Outdoor Educators of Ontario (COEO) is a non-profit,
volunteer-based organization that promotes safe and high quality
outdoor education experiences for people of all ages. It also acts as a
professional body for outdoor educators in the province of Ontario.
These aims are achieved through publishing Pathways: The Ontario Journal of Outdoor
Education as well as an electronic newsletter, running an annual
conference and regional workshops, maintaining this web site, and
working with kindred organizations as well as government agencies
GOALS
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- To establish and maintain
professional practices in the field of outdoor education.
- To promote qualified leadership in
outdoor education.
- To provide opportunities for
professional growth.
- To promote the multiple values of
outdoor education, both within and beyond our profession.
- To promote an active environmental
ethic as a core value of education.
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| ADVOCACY |
In order to ensure the proper place of
outdoor education in society’s preparation for our future, COEO
believes that it must take a more active role in promoting the multiple
values of this approach to learning.
To this end, the
organization has recently taken the following steps:
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- Launching of a new web site and appointing a
COEO Board member who will serve as web master
- Publication of an electronic
newsletter approximately 12 times a year
- Revival of region-based workshops
and events throughout the school year
- Greater presence in public media
- Advocacy with the provincial
government and other concerned parties on behalf of endangered outdoor
programs in Ontario
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COEO urges
the government to include outdoor education in province-wide
curricula and to provide funding for this initiative. The organization
encourages individual school boards to establish internal networks of
educators interested in outdoor education, and further recommends that
individual boards be given discretion as to what local facilities and
programs would best meet provincial guidelines. It is felt that such
initiatives will also positively impact outdoor education programs at
the community college and university level.
For statements by the following leading Canadians as regards the value of outdoor and experiential education, click here. (Robert Bateman, Thomas Homer-Dixon, Margaret Somerville, David Suzuiki).
For COEO's submission to the Ontario Working Committee on Environmental Education, click here.
For the text of COEO's presentation to the Ottawa-Carleton District
School Board concerning its need to keep the MacSkimming and Bill Mason
Outdoor Centres open, click here.
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| COLLABORATION |
It is crucial that COEO work together with
other organizations towards common goals.
Recent examples include:
- Planning
a joint September 2005 Conference with EECOM (The Canadian Network for
Environmental Education) and OSEE (The Ontario Society for
Environmental Education)
- Sharing
articles and perspectives in the COEO and OSEE journals
- Renewed
participation on the Ontario Teachers Curriculum Forum
- Working
with Environmental Education Ontario (EEON) to help promote their new
document Greening the Way Ontario Learns: A Public Strategic Plan for
Sustainability Education
- In
the coming months, COEO will look at viable ways to collaborate with
others in order to summarize research that points to tangible and
important outcomes for outdoor education.
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COEO
COEO believes that the direct, hands-on
experiences of outdoor education provide many powerful and lasting
benefits:
1. Education for
Environment
Outdoor education directly exposes participants to our
natural environment in ways that engender personal connections,
knowledge, skills and a lifelong environmental ethic. Outdoor education
powers the realization that this ethic is applicable to the very life
support systems of this planet, be they found in urban, rural or remote
settings.
2. Education for
Curriculum
The experiential nature of outdoor education relates
curricula to real life situations and the complexities of our natural
surroundings. In so doing, it provides a unique means of developing
critical thinking skills and stimulating desirable attributes such as
innovation and imagination. Outdoor education also broadens and deepens
the knowledge base of all subject areas, and it can do so in integrated
ways.
3. Education for
Character
The contexts, experiences and interactions of outdoor education provide
opportunities for both personal and interpersonal growth. This includes
the development of individual traits such as confidence, empathy,
and a sense of responsibility, as well as the development of group
skills such as effective communication and working together towards
a common goal.
4. Education for
Wellbeing
Outdoor education promotes the lifelong
physical, emotional and spiritual wellbeing of participants. It provides
safe skill development in outdoor activities that are personally fulfilling
and environmentally sustainable. This includes pursuits such as hiking,
camping, orienteering, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, birding,
art, photography, nature interpretation, tai-chi, and solo experiences.
Written in 2004 by COEO President Grant Linney, with input from many COEO colleagues.
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