Participation in outdoor activities must be a right, not a privilege
Gavin Hastings
IT'S at this time of year, as our children return to school from their summer holidays, that you realise just how lucky today's kids are; summer camps in virtually every sport you can mention, theme parks, days out rock-climbing, canoeing or mountain biking, Highland Games and amusement fairs.
You name it, it's there – but sadly not every kid gets the opportunity to take part. While there's been a huge growth in these activities over the last ten years, thanks to the excellent work done by hundreds of volunteers as well as local government and the professional sports bodies, some kids still live in communities where nothing like this happens. Not surprisingly, they get angry and it's not hard to see why other problems soon develop.
And of course, there are the Olympics. An amazing 16-day festival of sport which saw Team GB enthuse a new generation to emulate the feats of the returning heroes and heroines.
We must do more to give greater opportunities to every Scottish child, not just in sport but in a wide range of outdoor education opportunities. As a country, we have rediscovered that we should be driven by the thrill of success, not by the fear of failure.
So that's why I'm so keen to support one of the ideas that the Scottish Conservatives have come up with: ensuring that all children at some stage in their late primary or early secondary school career get a chance to take part in one full, residential week of outdoor education. Like their schools spokeswoman, Liz Smith MSP, who has been responsible for developing this new policy, I believe this kind of opportunity can be a life-changing experience.
It gives kids the chance to be taken right outside their comfort zone, to be presented with new challenges and to learn skills that they will be able to use for the rest of their lives. It also teaches them to appreciate environments and communities other than those with which they are most familiar, and it helps them build up confidence and self-esteem. And it addresses what some have termed the "cotton-wool culture".
In an age when we are all concerned about people's health and lifestyles and when there is concern that some local authorities are currently feeling the need to cut back on this kind of activity because of other financial pressures, I'm worried that many kids will continue to lose out unless the government takes action.
I am particularly concerned that something needs to be done for the deprived communities so that all children, whatever their backgrounds or abilities, get the same chance. This way, we get everyone off to a better start and we can go at least some way to helping everyone make the best of their own abilities – a plan well worth fighting for.
Scottish Outdoor Education Centres (SOEC) currently works with more than 20,000 young people at the four national centres and it estimates that a five-day visit to a residential outdoor learning centre would cost £160 per week per pupil.
On this basis, the cost of providing a five-day stay at a residential outdoor learning centre for one entire year group of Scottish school pupils in all publicly funded schools in Scotland would cost £8,519,520.
The scheme is a bold initiative that would allow every child in Scotland's state schools a taste of the wider outdoor opportunities available.
That would be good for them and, fingers crossed, might also play a small part in finding the next Olympic canoeist or mountain bike gold medallist.
This article was first published on the 30th of August 2008 in the Scotsman