Effect Of Outdoor Experiential Education On Life Effectiveness Skills And Teamwork Among Selected Kenya Army And Administration Police In Kenya

ABSTRACT 

The purpose of this study was to find out whether Outdoor Experiential Education (OEE) has any beneficial effects on the overall life effectiveness and team skills of Kenya Army and Administration Police based on an 11 days outdoor programme. Life effectiveness skills are a measure of how proficient a person perceives himself or herself to be in areas necessary for success in life. OEE programmes utilize the outdoors and/or activities to accomplish goals that are recreational, educational, health enrichment and enhancement of life effectiveness skills. These programmes encourage active manipulation of the surroundings and the utilization of pro-active survival skills. In the growing field OEE, there exists a need to link valuable programme characteristics to specific outcomes. The study, therefore aimed at finding out whether outdoor education plays any significant role in enhancing one’s life skills and teamwork. The study looked at the effects of outdoor experiential education on individual’s traits like social competence, achievement motivation, intellectual flexibility, task leadership, emotional control, time management, self-confidence, active initiative and teamwork. The study had an in-depth look at the effects of the training based on life effectiveness questionnaire and self-designed questionnaire on teamwork. This was a quasi-experimental research design which focused on determining the effects of outdoor experiential education. A total sample size of 150 respondents comprising males and females from Kenya Army and Administration Police were involved. Both pre-test and post-test were used to determine the effect of the programme. T-test was used to determine the effect of training before and after the programme. A test-retest was used to determine validity and reliability of the questionnaire within Kenya. An analysis of the quantitative data showed that LEQ and team-work scores did increase after the course for both AP and KA. The data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics and t-test and were presented in tables for easier interpretation. After analyzing the data using t test, the following p-value were obtained: KA- Time management (0.017), social competence (0.007), achievement motivation (0.24), intellectual flexibility (0.035), task leadership (0.007), emotional control (0.012) active initiative (0.005) and self confidence (0.031). For the AP, the p-values scores were as follows: Time management (0.047), social competence (0.032), achievement motivation (0.044), intellectual flexibility (0.040), task leadership (0.068), emotional control (0.070) active initiative (0.045) and self-confidence (0.032). Consequently, there was an improvement on teamwork skills after attending the OEE. The mean score for KA on teamwork improved from 4.19 to 4.78 and generated a p-value of 0.003 whereas the AP mean scores improved from 4.33 to 4.63 and generated a p-value of 0.002. From the research findings, it was recommended to have many personnel attend OEE from KA and AP. Also, it was recommended KESAL to modify some of the training activities, especially those that target Task Leadership and Emotional Control.