Teacher's Guide

Suggestions and rationale for choosing trips

(Utdanningsdirektoratet, 2020, Fagenes relevans og sentrale verdier)

Contents

The aim of the subject

“give pupils experiences linked to trips and activities in different natural environments at different times of year. Cooperation, effort and community are central to the subject, together with pushing one’s own limits and experiencing mastery through experiences in nature.”

(emphasis added)

(Utdanningsdirektoratet, 2020, Fagenes relevans og sentrale verdier)

The framing factors

govern the choice of trips, form of overnight stay and activity. This means that schools have different types of trips, varying degrees of difficulty, length and choice of activities. And that is how it should be.

The core elements of the subject sum up what is central to it: friluftsliv trips, basic skills and experiences of nature.

In addition, the cross-curricular topics “public health and life skills”, “democracy and citizenship” and “sustainable development” represent important values for the teaching.

Sleeping outdoors or in a hytte

Sleeping outdoors gives pupils more time in nature and thereby more experience of, among other things, building a camp and keeping warm in the evening and at night. Pupils miss out on this if they sleep in a hytte. At the same time, sleeping indoors is simpler logistically; pupils need less equipment and are more likely to stay warm. As an introduction to a first trip, it may be more comfortable for pupils to sleep indoors. Pouring rain on the third day of a tenting trip can be very demanding, but if you sleep indoors there is a greater chance of warming up and drying clothes.

A middle option can be to have a basecamp, that is, a fixed tent camp. Then it is possible to have a dedicated drying tent, and the camp can be relatively close to a road, so that pupils do not have to carry their equipment so far. In such a camp, however, it is very important to make a latrine if there is no toilet nearby.

The curriculum does not specify which type of overnight stay pupils should have, so both sleeping outdoors and indoors is possible. For the sake of learning, there are nevertheless strong arguments that at least some of the trips should involve sleeping outdoors.

The competence aims

  • understand the importance of and use appropriate clothing in different types of friluftsliv
  • use, maintain and look after equipment and tools in an appropriate way

become even more important when pupils sleep outdoors. Here there is great scope for a steep learning curve for many.

Winter trip or summer trip

The curriculum states that pupils shall

  • explore and carry out activities and trips in the local area at different times of year
  • plan, carry out and reflect on trips with several overnight stays in different natural environments and at different times of year

(Utdanningsdirektoratet, 2020, emphasis added)

It is not specified which times of year one should go on a trip; that is up to the individual teacher. Weather and conditions underfoot can make a winter trip demanding to carry out. The same can be the case with a group of pupils where few or none have skied before. Perhaps it is possible to do a day trip in the snow instead? In some places it can be a long way to travel to find snow. Then an alternative could be ice skating, for example. Nor does the curriculum say anything about means of travel, so both snowshoes and dog sled are within bounds. Again, pupils’ learning is important. If it would be a good experience for pupils to go on a winter trip, and it can be carried out, then the matter is simple. That said, a trip in October/November with wind and snow can be at least as tough as a ski trip.

If pupils are to sleep outdoors, it is important that they first get to experience tent life in a milder climate, so that they can carry their experiences forward into the winter. If pupils sleep indoors, they can withstand tougher conditions during the day because they can then “recharge” better in the evenings and at night. It is also possible to carry out a trip on snow in March and April, when the weather is often somewhat more stable than in January.

The winter trip can quickly become a highlight for pupils if they master the conditions.

The mountains or the local area

The curriculum specifies that pupils shall carry out trips in the local area and in different natural environments. Here too, freedom of interpretation is given to the teacher. Nevertheless, sustainable development is a cross-curricular topic in the new curriculum, and trips in the local area are more sustainable than trips that involve longer transport legs to the trip’s starting point. One can carry out trips solely in an urban setting and urban woodland, by beach and water, near or in a town if one wishes. With the idea of the environment as teacher, it becomes up to each individual to find the setting they believe is best suited to giving pupils both experiences of friluftsliv and experiences of nature. It is not as easy to feel the forces of nature in the middle of a town, and the starry sky is something quite different without light pollution.

Pupils will also benefit from trips close to town, but it is important to plan for what pupils are to learn.

For example, it can be fine for the first night in a tent not to be such a long way to walk and to be close to a road, in case someone is a little short of equipment. Trips in areas close to town can usually be carried out almost regardless of the weather. In the high mountains the situation is different, because the weather and wind are tougher and the terrain more unforgiving. It is precisely feeling the forces of nature that holds a great deal of good learning.

Fixed tent camp or moving on

A trip that involves moving on is more demanding than staying in the same camp or the same hytte every day. Here too it is up to the teacher to choose one of the two or a combination of both. It is possible to achieve progression both with a fixed camp site and with moving on. The length of the trip can be regulated, and so can the form of overnight stay. Sleeping under a tarp or open sky is more demanding than a hytte or tent. A full load with tent and food is more demanding than a trip from hytte to hytte where you can also pick up food from the hyttene. Pupils’ knowledge of the competence aims concerning planning, food and clothing therefore becomes central. Over the course of a year, pupils can get to try most variations, and it is easy to adapt within the group too. Some can sleep indoors and some can sleep outdoors; some pupils can sleep in the same camp while others move camp (but then not going very far from the other group). The possibilities are greater than the limitations, and that is also the aim of the curriculum: greater room for action for teachers. This is also an enjoyable discussion to have with pupils. What do they envisage?

Several or few overnight stays

The learning effect of being on a trip for several days is clear. It is useful to feel how the body reacts to being outdoors several days in a row. Sleep, food, clothing and energy reserves become important factors for how pupils cope, and this becomes clearer the more days the trip lasts. Knowledge of food and clothing is also mentioned in the competence aims for Friluftsliv 1. Pupils shall be able to

  • assess and prepare food that is appropriate on friluftsliv trips.
  • Understand the importance of and use appropriate clothing in different types of friluftsliv

Pupils shall be challenged, but also experience mastery. This must underpin the choice of trip length. Pupils should also take part in deciding the content of the trips, and perhaps their views on the length of the trip can be taken into consideration. The activity hours table sets out various suggestions for the number of trips and their length.

New or traditional activities

Since its beginnings, friluftsliv has been changing. Common to the various activities is the experience of mastery and intrinsic value. Traditional friluftsliv with gathering and hunting can mean just as much to the person on the trip as a dog-sled trip or a summit ski tour (topptur) in light powder means to another. In the curriculum, pupils shall

  • reflect on what significance friluftsliv can have for the individual (FLL1).
  • Reflect on how new outdoor activities help to change traditional friluftsliv (FLL2).

It says nothing about which activities pupils should go through, and it is therefore possible here too to choose either/or / both/and.

Traditions and friluftsliv in the school’s local area are a natural thing to show pupils in order to make local traditions visible.

On Jæren, surfing has almost become a popular pastime, while on Svalbard travelling by snowmobile is an everyday matter. In these same places, the coastal culture and fishing (Jæren/Ryfylke) and the hunting and trapping tradition (Svalbard) respectively are still part of people’s memories and traditions. It can therefore be useful to have a foot in both camps, and take the best from each activity. Perhaps it is also possible to combine different traditions? A long trip along the slepene (the old travel paths) on Hardangervidda also leaves room for a detour up a mountain summit. In the core element “experience of nature”, it says that the subject shall inspire an active outdoor lifestyle and create engagement to look after nature. The activities that are chosen should have that as their aim.

Suggested activities

Activities Friluftsliv 1 and 2

Suggested overnight trips

Suggested day/lesson plans in physical education and activity studies

Suggestions and rationale for choosing trips

Next steps

Learn more

Text

Gina Wigestrand, Snuitide (2021)