As part of the More New Zealanders project in 2020, Outward Bound NZ partnered with Heretaunga College in Wellington to trial the Kora Programme aiming to deliver an Outward Bound experience accessible to more rangatahi.
Building on the success of this initial pilot, in 2021 we entered phase 2 and expanded operations to work with four schools in the Wellington region: Heretaunga and Taita Colleges in the Hutt Valley, and Porirua and Tawa Colleges in the Porirua/ Northern Wellington area.
OBNZ Kora offers a different experience to courses run in Anakiwa. The programme is non-residential and runs within students’ local communities. Kora educators work with students one day a week within school hours, with programmes currently running over a 5 or 10 week period. In 2021 we have been working with a range of of high school students.
OBNZ Kora utilises facilitated experiential learning to explore key concepts related to personal development and employment skills, social development and leadership skills, and community engagement and service. Through participation in the Kora programme students extend their understanding and knowledge of their local places and communities, experience a range of outdoor activities and challenges, and strengthen their connection to the natural world around them. Where possible, OBNZ Kora educators link to and support the learning of relevant school educational priorities and curriculum topics, for example values, wellbeing, and risk management.
Plans to expand OBNZ Kora are on the horizon and the wider team is currently working hard across fundraising, enrolments, health and safety, marketing, staff training and curriculum to consolidate a platform from which the programme can successfully expand to other parts of the country.
It is heartening to read some great feedback from students and teachers. Likewise, it’s encouraging to see secondary schools recognise the broader educational value that OBNZ Kora can offer to their students. The Kora delivery team has been privileged to work with a wide range of awesome young people in the Wellington region this year.
I would like to thank the teaching and support staff of the combined colleges - Tawa, Heretaunga, Porirua and Taita – and our community partners. The past 12 months have continued to be challenging in a COVID environment, but with their support we have been able to successfully pilot phase 2 of OBNZ Kora.
Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou, Rob Dunn OBNZ Kora Programme Manager
“My main highlight was meeting new people and doing so many fun activities. I really enjoyed going out of school and experiencing rock climbing and high ropes. We also did a lot of team building such as camouflage, blind leading and rope activities. It was cool connecting with people from my year group in a different way.
For me, Kora felt like a fun way to build confidence and make connections with people who I won’t normally be friends with at school. I would say I’m now more confident at speaking in front of the group, but this is an area in which I am still working on. We also learned about being in and outside of our comfort zones." - Ngahuia Waipara
“One of the main highlights was connecting to and making new friends. I liked connecting to new people who make me feel more confident. I even made a group chat for the Kora students. I liked being able to travel to new places with people I liked spending time with.
I would describe the program as adventurous, fulfilling, and exciting. It is a safe place to be yourself, trust each other. Everyone was just able to be themself. The course made me more open to approaching people and I gained a more positive attitude to doing new things. I think in the future I will be more willing to give new things a go." - Alicia Pretorius
“Kora has developed student willingness to take risks, experience a manageable level of failure and raise expectations. These attitudes are applicable in achieving a pathway to achievement”.
Ben Taylor, HoD HPE, Taita College
“The overnight tramp and other challenging but achievable activities have grown confidence and collaboration. Students who have experienced past failures are often risk averse: sometimes students have been reluctant to start a new/unknown activity. OBNZ Kora has offered the opportunity for students to motivate each other to give it a go”.
Steve Barnsley, Guidance Counsellor, TIC "Going Outdoors", Porirua College
Students score themselves between 1 and 8 (8 being very much like them.) As a cohort, the scores are compared and measured in terms of an “effect size”. This can be summarised as follows:
An effect size of: 0 Indicates no change 0-0.2 Indicates minor change 0.2-0.4 Indicates a change 0.4-0.6 Indicates a major change Above 0.6 Indicates a significant change A substantial meta-analysis of the average effect size of outdoor based developmental programmes was carried out by Hattie, Marsh, Neill and Richards (1997). This meta-analysis was based on samples from 96 studies and the average effect size at the end of these other programmes was found to be .34 (the high side of an average change).
The OBNZ Kora programme has provided us with access to students we would otherwise miss.
Primary schools have the time to include outdoor education into their timetables. The Colleges seem to drop out of the equation for us. Like you, we know that giving students first-hand experiences with access to mentors can be inspiring.
We see the role of OBNZ Kora as extremely important for our community where many students do not fit easily into the school environment.
It’s been wonderful this year interacting with the students. I think the key takeaway we provide for them is our passion for the environment and showing them how it fits into daily life.
Our reward for their input is the chance to chat with them and to hear from them how much they enjoyed the session. Sometimes if you're lucky you can see the first spark that lights the fire in them. I think the following quote from Confucius sums it up:
If you plan for a year sow a seed If you plan for a decade, plant a tree If you plan for a century, educate the people
Lynne McLellan (pictured) Committee Member Upper Hutt Forest & Bird
We’re delighted to support the Outward Bound NZ Kora programme allocated from the Sport New Zealand Tū Manawa Active Aotearoa fund. The reports the team have shared with us talk to the quality and positive impact of the programme to date, which is awesome to read.
Specifically, the Programme Evaluation Questionnaire (PEQ) results from across the respective schools show really positive outcomes for the students which is a testament to how the Outward Bound team are going about their mahi in this space – great job!
Jamie Milne Partnerships Manager - Nuku Ora
