Teacher's Guide

Frameworks for activities and budgets

As things stand today, state schools receive no extra operating grant for offering friluftsliv as a subject. Transport and overnight stays are typical things that…

Contents

In brief

As things stand today, state schools receive no extra operating grant for offering friluftsliv as a subject. Transport and overnight stays are typical things that cost a fair amount. Equipment and food are also expenditure items. Using the local area and public transport will lower the cost of a trip considerably.

The free-of-charge principle

The most important principle for running the subject is set out in the free-of-charge principle: ‘If the school organises trips as part of the teaching, they must be free for pupils and parents’ (Utdanningsdirektoratet, n.d.).

This means that the trips must be free of charge.

Central frameworks for the subject

On a trip in a school context there are a number of framing factors we have to deal with. Jakobsen and Pulli (2021) mention several elements we must take into account when going on a trip with the school:

Number of pupils and teachers

How many pupils? Group size sets the terms for the activity.

In schools it is not unusual to bring as many as 30 pupils on a trip. Research on groups and group size shows that groups of 4–6 people are optimal (Magnussen, 2018; Jakobsen and Pulli, 2021). That is mostly not achievable in an ordinary school day. Many pupils and few teachers call for activities where the teacher is able to maintain safety.

It is easier to bring more pupils on a walking trip than on a canoe or kayak trip. A number of activities, such as climbing, glacier hiking (brevandring) and kayaking, have standards stating how many participants there may be per instructor. The pupils’ and teachers’ prerequisites and competence also affect which activities are carried out.

The teacher’s competence

The most important thing is that the teacher or teachers have the competence and capacity to take the pupils on the trips on offer. Use your own strengths in your teaching. If you are an experienced canoeist, it can be enjoyable to take the pupils on a paddling trip. If you have done a lot of high-mountain walking with map and compass, you can take the pupils on such a trip. If, on the other hand, you have not done much climbing, you leave out taking the pupils on a climbing trip.

As a teacher you must be able to assess for yourself what you are capable of. In her doctoral thesis, Lena Dahl (2021) finds that teachers who teach friluftsliv without formal training are more likely to report accidents. Even so, it is the combined practical experience, education, in-house training and socialisation that determine the teacher’s competence (Nygren, 2008). You must be able to recognise situations that may be potentially dangerous, you must be able to anticipate which scenarios may occur on a trip, and you must be able to judge what is sensible to do when you are out in the field. It is of no help to be an expert at the Eskimo roll in a kayak if you are not paying attention and spotting problems that can arise if the wind starts to pick up.

The pupils’ prerequisites and skills

One of the most important factors for an activity is the pupils. What experience do the pupils have with friluftsliv, and what equipment do they have? What are the pupils motivated for? There are good opportunities for the pupils to take part in deciding the content of the trips and to set up a progression so that they experience mastery.

The pupils start from different starting points, and this must be taken into account when choosing the activity and the level of difficulty. A pupil who has never carried a rucksack should not be brought on a week-long camping trip without practising first. A hut-to-hut ski trip can be entirely unproblematic with a class, as long as the pupils have skiing experience. As the pupil group changes, the activities should also be adjusted with regard to who is going on the trip. If you are going on several trips, progression across the trips is sensible.

Resources and equipment

What equipment do the pupils have? It must be possible to obtain equipment for the trips at a reasonable cost. Schools often have some shared equipment, such as tents and cooking pots, that can be borrowed. It is important that this is checked over regularly and maintained for the longest possible service life. For personal equipment, such as skis and sleeping bags, lending schemes such as BUA and Frilager are good options for the pupils.

What safety equipment does the school have access to? Do you have a throw line for canoeing or a lavvo with a stove for overnight stays out in the snow? Planning a trip takes time. Both pupils and teacher must be prepared for the trip you are going on and informed about what the trip involves.

Budget

Budgets are central to running the subject. In many places schools do not get their own budgets for friluftsliv as a subject, even though it obviously costs the school more to have a pupil in friluftsliv than in, for example, advanced English. The two most obvious reasons are increased teacher density on a trip (it is common to have at least two teachers per class on overnight trips) and that the trips cost money. Listed below are some tips that can make running the trips cheaper.

Transport

Trips in the school’s local area are the cheapest. Then the pupils can walk, cycle or take public transport to the destination. Most schools have suitable outdoor areas within an hour of the school, and many of these places can be reached by public transport. An alternative to public transport is to hire a bus, but this costs a fair amount. In that case it is an advantage to be able to fill up the bus, and to organise it so that several classes can go out at the same time. Some schools also have a minibus, which means you avoid hiring one.

Overnight stays

The cheapest overnight stay is sleeping out. The pupils can build a lean-to shelter, sleep under the open sky, sleep in a hammock, a tent or a snow cave. Staying overnight in cabins costs money, and is not always something schools can afford. DNT (the Norwegian Trekking Association) offers discounted overnight stays for school classes, which makes staying overnight at their cabins cheaper on weekdays.

Food on a trip

For most counties (fylke) it applies that food can be covered by each individual pupil, since food is not an extra expense. The pupil would have had to eat even if they were not on the trip. It is up to each county to interpret the free-of-charge principle, so there may be different variations from county to county. The County Governor (Statsforvalteren) in your county can answer what applies.

One option is to buy food jointly and then share the costs between the pupils, or the pupils can buy food themselves individually or in groups.

Suggested budget for friluftsliv

A budget for one year of friluftsliv

Annual hours and the allocation of hours

How much friluftsliv the pupils are to have depends on the annual hours for the subject. They are 140 hours in both Friluftsliv 1 and Friluftsliv 2. That means the pupils are to have 140 clock hours of friluftsliv. The activities in the subject can, for example, be allocated across these hours.

Example of how to allocate hours

The subject is a 5-hour subject. That corresponds to five lessons (teaching periods) a week, or 140 hours a year.

Different calculations of hours: Double lesson at school = 1.5 hours (90 min.) Day trip = approx. 8 hours 2-day trip = 16 hours (the night is not counted in) 3-day trip = 24 hours (the night is not counted in) 4-day trip = 32 hours (the night is not counted in)

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Activity hours

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Gina Wigestrand, Snuitide (2022)