Review begins after caving death

WHANGA¯ REI: Education Outdoors New Zealand says it has begun working with Whanga¯rei Boys’ High School to review its outdoor education curriculum.

Year 11 pupil Karnin Petera died while on an outdoor education trip to Abbey Caves two weeks ago.

Education Outdoors chief executive Fiona McDonald said staff started on the school’s internal review this week.

‘‘The review will be coconstructed with the school, so we’re supporting them to meet the best possible outcome,’’ she said.

‘‘It’s too early to say exactly what will be in that review.’’

The final report will be used to help inform a wider review of the national Education Outside The Classroom (EOTC) guidelines.

They were last looked at by the Ministry of Education in 2018.

Ms McDonald said over the past week, there had been a slight increase in queries from other schools about their outdoor education curriculums.

Now was a good time for schools to pause and check they were using best practice, she said.

Under current guidelines, teachers were not required to hold any qualifications for EOTC unless the activity was rafting.

‘‘Qualifications make up just one part of the competency picture,’’ she said.

‘‘Competency [also] includes experience and local knowledge, the ability to work with others and communicate well.’’

The vast majority of outdoor education events did not require additional training to what teachers already had, she said.

‘‘If you think of taking students down to the local park or the biology trip to the sand dune, it’s all about student management skills and communication.’’

But Ms McDonald said most teachers working in senior outdoor education ‘‘would have a qualification’’.

Schools were also able to use outside help.

‘‘Where teachers don’t have those technical competencies to run activities, like rock climbing for example, schools will use external providers or contractors to support their staff so they have the required competency across the whole supervision team,’’ she said. — RNZ