Outdoor educators’ professional knowledge of conflict-filled interactions on trips with Norwegian friluftsliv classes.

Abstract

This article presents the findings from a qualitative study of how outdoor educators in Norwegian schools, namely friluftsliv teachers, experience conflict-filled interactions, and the outcome of such social conflicts on trips with school classes. Friluftsliv can be translated as ‘outdoor life’, and it is used in the Nordic countries for going on trips in nature and nature connected outdoor activities. The data analysis draws on the theoretical framework of science and knowledge that Alvesson and Sköldberg (2017) describe as a hermeneutic analysis of interview data. The method for data collection is semi-structured interviews with 18 friluftsliv teachers from upper secondary schools and folk high schools. The theoretical basis for the study is mainly taken from the theory of group processes, which depicts different phases in the development of a group. The theory says that conflicts can positively affect group development and lead to improved cohesion, and the findings of the study support this. The study identifies and names classic conflict types: jargon conflicts, exclusion as conflict, conflicts due to dissatisfaction among students, and open escalated conflicts. It also highlights and gives names to some student types, which the teachers express as challenging to handle. The study contributes to the professional knowledge friluftsliv teachers have about such conflicts, and also shows how friluftsliv teachers describe individual growth and social maturation among students as possible long-term positive outcomes of conflicts.