An outdoor education body of knowledge

In his call for papers for this special themed edition of the Australian Journal of Outdoor Education, Glyn Thomas (2005a) suggested that outdoor education suffered from a 'kind of identity crisis'. Both authors of this paper are teachers of a range of subjects in the secondary school system in Victoria, Australia, including the senior Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) subject Outdoor and Environmental Studies (OES). For both of us the ruminations and deliberations of academics is of interest, but usually not particularly r elevant. However, Thomas' call, comes at a significant time for us, as we struggle to maintain the OES subject in the face of budget constraints, increasing school administration pressures, and parental and student misperceptions.