Get degree ideas using our A level explorer tool

Outdoor and Experiential Learning (Top-up)

Entry requirements


Sorry, no information to show

About this course


Course option

1year

Full-time | 2024

Subjects

Physical geography

Education studies

Recreation and leisure studies

You have a passion for the outdoors and a desire to share it with others. Studying our outdoor and experiential learning top-up course will enable you to consolidate your knowledge and experience in outdoor education whilst enjoying great facilities at our Lake District campus.

This course is designed for you if you have a foundation degree or Higher National Diploma (HND) in outdoor education, or similar. And it's perfect if you haven’t got a firm career path in mind.

**Course Overview**
If you’re an adventure-lover seeking a career in the outdoors, and have completed a related foundation degree or HND, then what better place to study outdoor and experiential learning than within 912 square miles of the iconic Lake District National Park – a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

From your unrivalled base in Ambleside, you’ll have more than 150 lofty peaks, 16 lakes and an abundance of rivers – quite literally a classroom on your doorstep.

And you’ll use it often, because we don’t separate practical experience from academic knowledge – it is integral to it – so you’ll always back up your theoretical knowledge with real-life scenarios.

**On this course you will...**
- Be able to work with a range of groups in order to further develop your facilitation skills.

- Be able to undertake a personal research project on a subject of your choice which will help you in your future career aspirations.

- Have access to a range of outdoor equipment that you can utilise in your free time to further develop your technical skills.

- Be part of a larger community of students and share some modules which will help with your networking and opportunity to make the most of your time in Cumbria.

**What you will learn**

If you have a foundation degree or HND in outdoor adventure or a related subject, you may be wondering how you can put your knowledge towards starting a career. That’s where our top-up course in Outdoor and Experiential Learning comes in. We’ll help you focus towards using your skills to get a job, underpinning theoretical concepts with a practical element to show you how Outdoor and Experiential Learning can be applied in a vocational setting. You’ll gain creative skills, confidence and the interpersonal skills needed to be a highly desired employee.

**Year One**

All of our modules are designed to give you the knowledge and skills you need to work in the outdoors as an educator.

Additionally, many of the attributes gained through our programme are also essential to a wide variety of career pathways, broadening your horizons and enhancing your employability.

You will examine the traditions, training and expectations of the UK's iconic outdoor education practices, from adventure activities to environmental sciences and have the opportunity to study international perspectives from a variety of regions of the world.

The dissertation process gives you the flexibility to choose and research an area you are interested in and you will be allocated a supervisor who has an in-depth understanding of your chosen topic.

- Outdoor Experiential Education: Theory and Practice

- Outdoor Education Contexts

- Bridging the Gap: Research Skills

- Dissertation

**Optional Modules**
- International Applications of Outdoor Education

- Leadership in Complex Skill Environments

- Therapeutic Experiences in the Outdoors

- Participant Coaching in Outdoor Activities

Tuition fees

Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:

England
£9,250
per year
EU
£9,250
per year
International
£13,250
per year
Northern Ireland
£9,250
per year
Scotland
£9,250
per year
Wales
£9,250
per year

The Uni


Course location:

Ambleside

Department:

Science and Environment

Read full university profile

What students say


We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.

62%
Physical geography
75%
Education studies
37%
Recreation and leisure studies

How do students rate their degree experience?

The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Physical geographical sciences

Teaching and learning

76%
Staff make the subject interesting
69%
Staff are good at explaining things
69%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
74%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

62%
Library resources
92%
IT resources
69%
Course specific equipment and facilities
31%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

100%
UK students
0%
International students
60%
Male students
40%
Female students
76%
2:1 or above
14%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

C
C
C

Education

Teaching and learning

83%
Staff make the subject interesting
92%
Staff are good at explaining things
58%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
67%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

73%
Library resources
75%
IT resources
50%
Course specific equipment and facilities
67%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

100%
UK students
0%
International students
18%
Male students
82%
Female students
42%
2:1 or above
12%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

C
A
B

Tourism, transport and travel

Teaching and learning

87%
Staff make the subject interesting
58%
Staff are good at explaining things
78%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
50%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

70%
Library resources
78%
IT resources
72%
Course specific equipment and facilities
15%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

99%
UK students
1%
International students
69%
Male students
31%
Female students
62%
2:1 or above
17%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

C
C
D

After graduation


The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Physical geographical sciences

What are graduates doing after six months?

This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.

£16,320
low
Average annual salary
100%
med
Employed or in further education
30%
low
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

36%
Sports and fitness occupations
14%
Sales assistants and retail cashiers
6%
Sales, marketing and related associate professionals

Education

What are graduates doing after six months?

This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.

£21,000
high
Average annual salary
96%
med
Employed or in further education
63%
med
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

38%
Teaching and educational professionals
27%
Childcare and related personal services
9%
Secretarial and related occupations

When you look at employment stats, bear in mind that a lot of students are already working in education when they take this type of course and are studying to help their career development. This means they already have jobs when they start their course, and a lot of graduates continue to study, whilst working, when they complete their courses. If your course is focused on nursery or early years education, a lot of these graduates go into nursery work or classroom or education assistant jobs; these jobs are not currently classed as 'graduate level' in the stats (although they may well be in the future as classifications catch up with changes in the way we work), and many graduates who enter these roles say that a degree was necessary.

Tourism, transport and travel

What are graduates doing after six months?

This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.

96%
med
Employed or in further education

Top job areas of graduates

16%
Sales, marketing and related associate professionals
14%
Other elementary services occupations
12%
Sports and fitness occupations

This course sits in a wide group of smaller subjects that don't necessarily have that much in common - so bear this in mind when you look at any employment data. Most graduates took a hospitality, events management or tourism-related course, but there are a group of sports and leisure graduates in here as well who do different things. Events management was the most common job for graduates from this group of subjects, and so it’s no surprise that graduates from specialist events management courses did better last year than many of the other graduates under this subject umbrella - but all did about as well as graduates on average or a little better. If you want to find out more about specific job paths for your chosen subject area, it's a good idea to go on open days and talk to tutors about what previous graduates went on to do, or to have a look at university department websites.

What about your long term prospects?

Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.

Physical geographical sciences

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£15k

£15k

£19k

£19k

£21k

£21k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

Education

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£23k

£23k

£25k

£25k

£28k

£28k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

Tourism, transport and travel

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£20k

£20k

£22k

£22k

£20k

£20k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

Share this page

This is what the university has told Ucas about the criteria they expect applicants to satisfy; some may be compulsory, others may be preferable.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

This is the percentage of applicants to this course who received an offer last year, through Ucas.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

Course location and department:

This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):

We've received this information from the Department for Education, via Ucas. This is how the university as a whole has been rated for its quality of teaching: gold silver or bronze. Note, not all universities have taken part in the TEF.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).

This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.

You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

Post-six month graduation stats:

This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.

It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

Graduate field commentary:

The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?

Have a question about this info? Learn more here