Training through ENDEAVOUR

Abstract

Academic education nearly always takes place within walls. Non‐academic education is not confined by bricks and mortar, nor, its supporters would say, by anything else. Extramural education, training in life skills, development training — call it what you will — addresses itself to the whole person. While conventional education refines and stretches the mind, extramural education reaches out to the spirit. And since spirit influences mind, the argument runs, non‐academic education can subtly alter professional capacity and social behaviour. The notion has been with us for some time. Outdoor or adventure education, which is the principal arm of personal development training, first gained a foothold in the 1940s and has since become well established in use. Like acupuncture or faith healing, it is seen to work, though no one seems to know exactly how. The results are indeed almost impossible to quantify, since they are invisible, untestable, non‐specific and long‐term. The use of the word ‘training’ in this connection smacks slightly of wishful thinking.

Citation

CRANFIELD, I. (1982), "Training through ENDEAVOUR", Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 14 No. 10, pp. 340-343. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb003911