Currently, OE does not have a formal place within the Victorian Curriculum F-10. OE is well established as a subject in Victorian schools (Lugg & Martin, 2001; Parker, 2023). Accordingly, the lack of a formal inclusion of OE in the Victorian Curriculum presents a unique challenge for you as an OE teacher. Specifically, as a teacher of OE, you are required to work as what  Mockler (2018) describes as a ‘curriculum maker’. Through this, you become an author of your own curriculum. This task is further muddied by the need in many (but not all) schools to also align your curriculum to other learning areas in the Victorian Curriculum F-10. Although this challenge is forced upon OE teachers, it presents an exciting opportunity. This and the subsequent chapters will focus on how you can ‘make’ integrated units that align to the well-established norms of OE as an ‘enacted’ (Marsh & Willis, 1999) OE curriculum (we discuss this below in 2.2.3) whilst demonstrating enough curriculum links from other learning areas to satisfy school reporting requirements and the like. In chapter seven, we also discuss the need to advocate for inclusion in the formal F-10 curriculum as outdoor educators to the government.

At this junction, we would like to note that, as authors, we strongly oppose the current omission of OE from the Victorian Curriculum F-10. This omission devalues the work of outdoor educators and limits educational opportunities for students in Victorian schools whilst adding to the already intensified workloads of teachers. Accordingly, we offer advice in this and the following chapters in the hope that one day, we can rewrite them to focus on adopting a formal OE curriculum once it is established. However, in acknowledging this position, we also understand that navigating this less-than-ideal situation as OE teachers poses a significant challenge. In this chapter and the subsequent chapters, we present advice on navigating this current curriculum situation as a middle-year OE teacher. Specifically, using an integrated approach to curriculum that encompasses both curricula as written by the relevant peak bodies (see 2.2.3) and curriculum from other learning areas in the published Victorian Curriculum F-10.

2.2 Outdoor Education as Integrated Curriculum in the Middle Years

2.2.1 Integrated Curriculum in the Middle Years

An integrated curriculum is a familiar idea in the middle years of schooling.  Yet, despite several successful case studies (Paige et al., 2019) being implemented in the middle years as a mechanism of curriculum reform. Empirically, its use remains limited in schools. Despite this, integration offers a significant opportunity for middle-year curriculum reform in schools and a way for teachers to develop OE units in the middle years. Although many definitions of the middle years of schooling exist, this text refers to middle years as years 5-10. Further, although curriculum integration can be used to restructure the middle years more broadly, it can also be used to structure curriculum in individual classes.

Teachers can use several models of curriculum integration to structure their middle-year curriculum. These include:

• • Multidisciplinary, wherein the curriculum is structured using a common theme (i.e. ‘The only thing that is certain in our world is that change is inevitable) that feeds into several discipline-based subjects (e.g., Science, Health and Physical Education, etc.) (Groundwater-Smith et al., 2007). Such approaches require re-organising the curriculum in secondary schools to align topics with shared interests (Groundwater-Smith et al., 2007).

• • Interdisciplinary, wherein individual learning areas co-contribute to integration, sometimes done as an adjunct to the regular curriculum (Groundwater-Smith et al., 2007), for example, through a student-driven project that crosses disciplinary boundaries. Such an approach requires significant cooperation between teachers.

• • Transdisciplinary (Groundwater-Smith et al., 2007; Paige et al., 2019), also referred to as an integrative approach (Dowden, 2007, 2014), wherein multiple learning areas are planned concurrently along with general capabilities. A transdisciplinary curriculum works from more significant meta-based themes that better prepare students for a changing world. Such themes are drawn from either the general capabilities curriculum (Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority, 2021b) or through other frameworks, such as the eco-justice principles proposed by Paige et al. (2019) (or the OEVC project we discuss below). Such models prioritise student interest and cognitive development over content knowledge by allowing them space to make connections between discipline areas (Ambrosy, 2021, pp. 41-42).

It can be useful to think, in the various models, about how a student might experience OE curriculum. Table 2.1 provides an example of what the three different models might look like in practice.  In all three articulations below, students are in year 7 and are studying a curriculum with multiple identified outdoor education learning outcomes that is also aligned to the Humanities and Science learning areas in the Victorian Curriculum F-10 learning areas. Students also undertake an outdoor experience at Phillip Island.

2.2.2 The Role of Place in Middle Years Outdoor Education Curriculum

Over many years of teaching pre-service teachers about the current conundrum of developing a curriculum for middle years students without a formal curriculum, we have both given the same enduring advice on multiple occasions—teach a place. The notion of place and, in turn, place-responsive practice for outdoor educators is well established. For those not familiar with this idea or who want to explore it more, we suggest reading A Pedagogy of Place by Brian Wattchow and Mike Brown (2011). We borrow their words below to briefly introduce the idea of places as important to praxis for OE teachers.

People and places always exist in mutual bonds of interdependence. Both people and places have a physical reality, but it is the identities of both people and places that are continually emerging as an unfolding, interdependent phenomenon – always evolving, always becoming. As the future of places is inherently linked with how humans experience them, there is tremendous potential for OE to make a significant contribution to the wellbeing of both people and places. (Wattchow & Brown, 2011, p. 42)

This phrase was undoubtedly penned while considering OE more broadly than just middle-year programs aligned to the Victorian Curriculum F-10. However, it is still relevant in our context. Specifically, to think about a starting point for making a thematic OE curriculum. Through our curriculum as outdoor educators, it is necessary that you visit places. In doing so, we suggest that you consider the activities that you might undertake with your students and the learning about and through the places central to our praxis. We revisit this idea and offer a model for developing lessons that enable this approach in Chapter 3. For now, ask yourself, what are the educational potentials of the places I intend to visit with my current/future classes? How can a curriculum be place-responsive?

2.2.3 The OEVC and Integrated Curriculum

The OE in the Victorian Curriculum (OEVC) project is a joint initiative of Outdoors Victoria, the Australian Council for Health Physical Education and Recreation (ACHPER) Victoria, the Residential Outdoors Schools Association (ROSA) network, and Victorian universities. The project aims to advocate for formally including an optional OE curriculum within the health and physical education learning area within the Victorian Curriculum F-10.

The OEVC project team have developed a draft of an optional OE curriculum. A copy of this can be found in Appendix 1.1 OEVC Curriculum. Although not formally recognised within the Victorian Curriculum F-10 yet, the OEVC curriculum can be used in two capacities. Regardless of the approach adopted, the OEVC curriculum can provide a useful starting point for developing units of the OE curriculum for the middle years.  The possible approaches are:

1. 1. Some schools may adopt it as a curriculum for years 7-10 OE. This is because the minimum standards for registration as a school with the Victorian Registrations and Qualifications Authority (VRQA) allow schools to develop a curriculum framework provided that it aligns to the key learning areas (e.g., English, mathematics, etc.) within the Victorian Curriculum F-10 (Victorian Registrations and Qualifications Authority, n.d.). In other words, as long as the learning areas of the Victorian Curriculum F-10 is substantially taught, they can offer the OEVC curriculum alongside it. This can be interpreted as providing other timetabled class time that covers the key learning areas. Thus, the OEVC curriculum can be adopted in full. Although possible, this approach is likely limited to independent schools at the current time.
   2. The OEVC curriculum can be used as a basis for developing integrated units of OE, or integrated into the teaching of other subjects (HPE, etc.). These units will align with the OEVC curriculum and other learning areas and capabilities in the Victorian Curriculum F-10. This approach is more likely in Government schools that need to align with centralised directives from the state around curriculum development. Specifically, there is a need for government schools to report against the Victorian Curriculum F-10 (Department of Education, n.d.). This approach is not unheard of in Government schools. For example, schools that have been approved by the department to run the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program (PYP) are still required to report against the Victorian Curriculum F-10.

2.2.4 Making Outdoor Education Curriculum

As we have outlined above, there is a need as a teacher of OE to work as a curriculum maker. Through this process, you are likely required to use a combination of the informal curricula, such as the OEVC curriculum and the current Victorian Curriculum F-10. Curriculum-making work, depending on your current or future teaching context, happens at various levels of schooling. These include:

• • Whole-school planning: This typically includes developing scope and sequence documents that guide the development of curriculum at various year levels and map what is to be taught and when.
  • Unit planning: These normally dictate what is taught and in a particular learning sequence, including a series of assessment tasks. Unit planners will typically replace lesson planning once you are established as a teacher.
  • Lesson/outdoor experience planning: These planners are focused on individual lessons or experiences. They may be used in schools where OE is limited to individual experiences.

Chapter 2 Summary

There is no current OE curriculum within the Victorian Curriculum F-10. Despite this, OE remains well-established in schools. As a teacher of OE, you will be required to work as a curriculum maker. In doing so, what you may be required to do will vary across different school governance structures (government vs. non-government schools) and depending on the type and scope of your school’s OE program. The OEVC curriculum should be used as a starting point for developing curriculum; it can be used as a stand-alone curriculum in non-government schools or as the basis for developing a thematic integrated curriculum in government schools.