HLPE3532 - Outdoor Education

Outdoor Education Lecture Outline

Course Introduction & Admin

Rationale & Philosophy

Programming

Planning & Organisation

Safety & Legal Considerations

Outdoor Education
Lecture 4 Summary

Planning & Organisation

Safety & Legal Considerations

School Camping
- Organisational Resources

School Camping - Organisational Checklist

Camps and Excursions: guidelines for schools & preschools:

<http://www.decs.sa.gov.au/docs/documents/1/CampsandExcursionsGuide.doc>

School Camping Organisation

- Groupwork

9 groups of 2 or 3;

each group to be allocated organisational aspect(s)

each group to provided with the summary pages of the two

DECS website docs;

each group to go to the library to use the DECS website

docs to add to their organisational aspect(s)

each group to present their findings to the class

The Legal & Safety Issues

The Legal & Safety Issues

The Legal & Safety Issues

1.

DUTY OF CARE

ARISES WHEN:
action commences;
in loco parentis = standard of care is that of a
reasonable parent.
STANDARD:
what the reasonable person of ordinary prudence
would do in the circumstances. *
LEVEL:
in loco parentis;
training;
age of child;
type of activity;
ability of child.
* However, where a person is engaged in a specialist field, such as
the teacher of Outdoor Education, they are expected to carry out
their professional task with greater skill and consequent
knowledge of risks than that of an ordinary parent.

The Legal & Safety Issues

2. NEGLIGENCE
# The plaintiff must prove:
the defendant owed a duty of care;
a breach of the duty of care has occurred;
the plaintiff suffered loss or injury which
can be assessed in monetary terms.
# You cannot be found negligent simply because
something happens to go wrong due to:
an unforeseen complication;
an error of judgement.
# You are guilty of negligence when action falls short
of the standard of a reasonable (skilful) person
(with qualifications).

The Legal & Safety Issues

3. FORESEEABILITY
If I act in a certain way or
fail to act in a certain way
is there a risk of injury?
In an action of negligence, the court will, in assessing a
breach of duty of care, question:
reasonableness i.e.
- were the teachers actions, in all the circumstances,
those of a reasonable teacher of outdoor education?
foreseeability i.e.
- was the injury to the student a foreseeable one taking
into account all of the circumstances (e.g. age and
experience of students, physical location etc.)?
- what measures were taken by the teacher to avoid the
foreseeable risk of harm or injury?

The Legal & Safety Issues

4. LEGAL IMPLICATIONS
Medical consent forms - read; act if necessary;
Develop an emergency plan;
Explain to students as soon as possible;
Practice with students as soon as possible;
Avoid foreseeable harm;
Enforce safety rules (a teachers control and
behaviour management is an expected duty of care);
Adequate supervision - varies according to conditions,
special students (eg students with medical
conditions), and activities (eg canoeing, hiking etc);
Teach and practice safety and rescue techniques
relevant to ability etc.

The Legal & Safety Issues

The Legal & Safety Issues