SAME EXPEDITION, DIFFERENT JOURNEYS

In the classroom, you know that what will be a suitable challenge for one child will be too much of a stretch for another, and a walk in the park for a third from which they have little to learn.

It’s the same with DofE. You can create an expedition programme that will present the right level of challenge for most teams, so that with proper training they should find DofE fairly straightforward. They’ll get lost a few times (if they don’t, the routes aren’t challenging enough). They’ll get fractious with one another about who does the washing up. They’ll get tired legs and wet feet. But they’ll have their adventure without too much difficulty and without risk of having to be deferred, whilst still having to make enough of an effort that completing their expedition section is a real achievement, not just a certificate of attendance.

But for a team of, say, close friends who are in Scouts or cadets together, are all fit and sporty, used to camping and have arrived already equipped with many of the skills others are here to learn, if they just do the same as everyone else, it’ not much of a challenge. The best learning always involves a bit of a struggle, carefully calibrated to be a stretch but within reach. The obvious thing to do? Give them a longer route. Also, unless there’s something particularly worth seeing, the wrong thing to do. Nobody wants to be given more of a thing to do just because they are good at it!

Instead, you might identify that team as needing a Team Goal that can be a more substantial part of their expedition, taking considerable time so that they need to maintain a good pace during their hours of expeditioning. Or you might encourage them to really up their game when it comes to food, or give them some particularly challenging first aid scenarios to deal with, escalating as their programme goes on. Of course, some groups will welcome an additional physical challenge - taking in a hill that others are skirting round, or something that hones other skills, or a diversion through a woodland with a myriad of paths that requires careful compass work and pacing.

Other groups (or individuals within a group with a broad spread of experience and confidence) may already be out of their comfort zone with one or all aspects of the expedition experience - being away from home, being in the outdoors, sharing a tent with others, being in a group with peers who may not be their close friends, walking a long distance, being away from reassuring technology.

As a teacher leading a trip that draws on a whole year group, you may well not teach or have pastoral contact outside of DofE with a good proportion of your participants. That puts you in a similar position to our staff - having to quickly pick up on the group dynamics within each team, and to “see” the participants as much as possible so that they feel safe and connected.

Awareness of neurodiverse participants is important, but interestingly, while some neurodivergent children will find the outdoors a problematic environment, it’s more common in our experience for it be less anxiogenic than everyday school. One might think, from the emphasis placed in school on how important structure and routines are for autistic children, that the more free-flowing nature of an expedition would induce a lot of anxiety. But often the need for structure comes from the anxiety induced by other aspects of school, such as the sensory intensity and blizzard of expectations.

A phone call home in advance will often draw out some reassurance that this is right up the neurodivergent young person’s street, or some detail about how they might respond in an unfamiliar environment overnight that the parent didn’t want to write at length on the consent form (possibly from bitter experience of wasting their ink on a previous occasion).

More often, it’s the group dynamics that are the issue. Take particular care not to leave it to the day of team formations for a neurodivergent participant to find a group. They may have a good group of friends - but with overlapping friendship groups and a limit on team size, they might find themself in a group with people they don’t know, which is hard for anybody and might be all the more difficult. So help them start their journey on the right footing by encouraging a group to be established before there’s a room of people milling around forming teams. The same applies, of course, to someone where it’s the probability rather than the consequences of not being with friends that is your concern.

Other issues best addressed before the expedition starts are extra support for children who might not be getting that support from home. Even if your participants are generally expected to be self-sufficient in kit, make sure you have PTA funding or similar to purchase enough sets that you can loan kit out discreetly to those who need it. Also make a particular effort to check in with such a student about what they need to bring/remember.

Sometimes it’s not one individual struggling with tehir group, but the combination of personalities all struggling with one another. A great activity for accelerating your understanding of a group is a souped-up version of the “human knot”. The team stand in a circle. Each shake hands with someone across the circle, and then shake hands with someone else with the other hand, maintaining contact with both people. This forms them into a knot which they then have to untangle without breaking contact, patiently communicating with each other to solve the problem. Notice anyone who is reluctant to have physical contact and give them an out - for example, directing the activity while “not in the knot.”

Most groups can do this first stage well, although you might already pick up on who the dominant characters are. But the real value comes when you do further rounds with added complications: someone facing out; someone with a back-to-front hoody covering his eyes; using a foot as a hand. Have one or two rounds adding complications, and then ask the group to make it really difficult for themselves. The team that chooses  lots of complications and persists with good humour will have an excellent approach to the demands of expeditioning. A team that opts for the minimum level of challenge, question the point of the exercise, give up easily or argue may need extra support.

Whether it’s an individual or a group, once you identify a need you can then put extra support in place - supplementary training, a closer eye on group dynamics, helping them talk through disagreements, making sure they don’t have the most challenging route. Don’t spoil their expedition by forcing them to fit with your plan. Very often, with support, it’s the individuals and team who have the longest journey that make the best progress, finish with flying colours and are the most proud of their achievement at the end of the programme.