Types of Positions,Job Responsibilities,and Training Backgrounds of Outdoor/Adventure Leaders

Abstract

Academic degree programs in outdoor leadership continue to proliferate. There is little research, however, to indicate that employment in the field of adventure programming hinges on the possession of an academic degree in a related field. To investigate the role of academic degrees in outdoor/adventure leadership, a survey was designed to determine the types of positions, job responsibilities, and training backgrounds of outdoor/adventure leaders. This study surveyed 203 attendees of the 28th Annual Association for Experiential Education International Conference in Tucson, AZ on November 2–5, 2000. The results of the study revealed various types of positions and job responsibilities across age and gender. Personal experience was the most common type of training background identified by respondents, and 91% of the subjects had either earned or were pursuing an academic degree. The number and level of degrees earned increased over the last four decades with over one quarter of the degrees earned in the last three years.