New National Outdoor Adventure Education council formed to advise and guide quality of outdoor education activities

To ensure that youths have a safe environment to partake in educational outdoor activities, a National Outdoor Adventure Education (OAE) council has been formed to spearhead the development of the outdoor education sector. 

Announced by Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong at the inaugural Outdoor Education (OE) conference on Sep 21, the formation of the council is part of the OAE masterplan introduced in 2016.

The masterplan offers a holistic education process that helps youths develop intra- and inter-personal skills, knowledge, and attitudes. It also supports the learning of interdisciplinary academic subjects and exposes youths to topics such as the environment and sustainability.

The council comprises representatives from the Ministry of Education (MOE), Outward Bound Singapore (OBS), Outdoor Learning and Adventure Education Association (OLAE), Republic Polytechnic (RP), Sport Singapore (SportSG), and other technical experts. It will report to the Ministry for Culture, Community and Youth.

In its first three-year term, the council will oversee the development of national OAE standards, structured professional development roadmaps for OAE practitioners, as well as strengthen risk management systems and practices for OAE programmes. 

This includes overseeing and guiding the specifications of OAE facilities and equipment, as well as developing strategies aimed toward professionalising and recognising OAE practitioners.

The 18-member advisory council will be co-chaired by David Chua, Chief Executive of National Youth Council and Dr Tan Lai Yong, Adjunct Associate Professor at National University of Singapore’s College of Alice & Peter Tan.

It also consists of OBS’ executive director Nicholas Conceicao and director of operations Mr Ng Thian Choon, as well as MOE’s director of Physical, Sports & Outdoor Education Krishnan Aravinthan and deputy director Lim How Chuen Clement.

They are also supported by three representatives that provide expertise in safety systems, two in academic and professional development, as well as five others from the private sector and two from government bodies.

In addition to promoting the adoption of new outdoor education standards, the council will also monitor incident and adoption rates of national standards, active participation numbers, currency of standards and the number of certified OAE providers.