Outdoor Leadership

Take your passion for the outdoors and turn it into a rewarding and fulfilling career. Whether you want to work as an outdoor leader, adventure sport coach or in outdoor education, acquire the skills and knowledge to give you the tools to kick start your career.

You will learn from academics with a great passion for the outdoors. They will not only inspire and upskill you but also guide you to become the best leader possible. Along the way, you will gain transferable skills such as confidence and communication, mastering the art of safely experiencing and teaching adventurous land and water-based activities.

Enhance your theoretical knowledge with engaging practical sessions, including activities such as kayaking and mountaineering. Set in the inspiring landscapes of the Lake District and beyond, these hands-on experiences provide valuable skills and lasting insights that will enrich your academic and personal development.

Harness the power of Cumbria’s robust industry connections to cultivate a network of like-minded individuals and employers. This network opens doors to valuable work experience and enticing career prospects, propelling you into an exciting journey of adventure and opportunity.

Course Overview
You’ll develop outdoor and leadership skills, as well as knowledge and experience working with people in challenging environments. You will have access to all our great facilities, gaining all the skills you need to work in the outdoor sector. There will be plenty of opportunities to get outside and enjoy exciting field trips in a range of locations which may include the Scottish Highlands, North Wales and the Spanish Pyrenees.

Our outdoor leadership degree is taught at our Ambleside campus which is based in the UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Lake District National Park. You’ll live and study surrounded by breath-taking mountains and beautiful lakes – an unrivalled location for pursuing your degree in outdoor education.

This course is designed to integrate theory and practice seamlessly, using a variety of adventurous outdoor activities to enhance your learning. You'll gain valuable experience and skills that support your progression towards National Governing Body Awards (NGBAs)—widely recognised qualifications in outdoor leadership and instruction.

On this course you will...

• Benefit from the outdoor experience that's at the heart of this course with theory backed up by practice.

• Improve your competencies in mountaineering, climbing, sailing, caving and paddling.

• Explore the Cumbrian outdoors while developing academic, critical-thinking and valuable life skills.

• Learn to successfully lead people with the most up-to-date and best practice coaching.

• Gain valuable commercial and entrepreneurial skills – enhancing your employability.

What you will learn

You’ll have an outdoor classroom quite literally on your doorstep – with more than 150 lofty peaks, 16 lakes and an abundance of rivers. So, there are ample opportunities to learn all the academic knowledge and practical skills you need to kick-start your career as an outdoor leader.

We don’t just teach you the theory, you’ll get on with it in practice so you become a proactive and confident problem-solver able to make sound professional judgements and decisions.

So, if you have the desire to operate effectively and lead in challenging environments, then our uniquely-located course will provide everything you need to succeed. Experience-gaining and skill development sit at the centre of all our modules.

Year one

You'll explore the relationships between environmental, cultural and personal space in various outdoor settings. Plus, you'll develop your core skills in climbing, mountaineering and paddling.

• Outdoor Adventure Skills and Learning (Water)

• Outdoor Adventure Skills and Learning (Land)

• Living and Working in Groups Outdoors

• Outdoor Professional Development

• Physiology and Psychology for the Outdoor Leader

• Outdoor Leadership Theory and Practice 1

Year two

• Outdoor Leadership Theory and Practice 2

• Psychological Applications in Outdoor Contexts

• Coaching Individuals and Groups

• Evaluating Outdoor Leadership

• Research Design

• Traditional and Innovative Approaches to Outdoor Education (Optional)

• Sustainable Outdoor Event Management (Optional)

• Health, Wellbeing and Environmental Health (Optional)

Year three

• Dissertation

• Coaching and Facilitation in Outdoor Environments

• Outdoor Leadership Theory and Practice 3

• Commerce and Employment in the Outdoor Sector (Optional)

• Outdoor and Environmental Education (Optional)

• Therapeutic Opportunities (Optional)

Assessment methods are designed to provide both a creative and balanced strategy but also a range of engaging and challenging opportunities which include essays, reports, practical tasks, posters projects, portfolios and oral presentations to name a few.

The assignment methods are related specifically to the stated module aims and learning outcomes, and the staff team work hard in the planning phase of programme delivery to ensure all assignments are equitably spread, through the use of the department assessment calendar across all levels. Furthermore, there is an over-arching ethos within the department that assignments are designed to encapsulate the idiom of ‘assessment for learning’ rather than of learning.

A variety of modules are linked directly to employability, and particularly the actual behaviours and capabilities required of a professional outdoor leader. This is exemplified in the Level 6 module, entitled Participant Coaching, whereby students are assessed in coaching their peers, with the specific intention of improving their outdoor performance.

Formative assessment is available in most modules, where students receive specific feedback on their progress this far, without the attempt being graded.