Orienteering at school for ages 13-15, Chapter 5: ORIENTEERING IS EASY!

ORIENTEERING IS EASY!

Orienteering at school is easy to implement if you are well prepared. From our experience, there are many reasons why orienteering should be taught at schools. The lack of availability of teaching materials and lack of preparation time are the key impediments to teaching orienteering in schools.

Access to learning materials, primarily maps, compasses, orienteering markers and punching systems are very different in schools today. The Swedish National Agency for Education through its revision of the curriculum, required municipalities and schools to implement teaching in an adequate and relevant manner to judge the student’s level on a based grading system.

                                                                                    During ages 7-12 years, students achieve a certain knowledge of orienteering in “known environment”. During the Ages 13-15 years students achieve equivalent knowledge of orienteering in “unknown environment”. The “known environment” means the campus/grounds and its immediate vicinity. The unknown environment refers nearby forest areas of outdoor character.
Based on experience from the project ”Skol-Sprinten”, ”World Orienteering Day” and in close cooperation with the PE teachers at primary  and secondary school we have an idea of how to make orienteering easier at school. With these guidelines, we want to create better conditions for the education of orienteering at school.
We also believe in a map that corresponds to reality, finalised exercises in a pedagogical approach and orienteering equipment that helps teachers to create fun lessons in orienteering. This ”Teacher’s guide” will hopefully inspire all of you!

Stockholm January 24th 2017

Göran Andersson

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