Recently I attended the Sail Training International annual conference in Bordeaux, France. Sail Training International is a world‑wide outdoor education group with a focus on personal development through sailing, for which I volunteer some of my time.

Key tasks for me this year at the conference:

• Support and supervise the International Youth Council (made up of youth aged 17–26 from over 30 different countries) as they established their goals and strategic direction for 2018 in support of Sail Training International’s aims and objectives.
• Coordinate and manage the international research symposium.
  This year’s presenters included:
  • A researcher from Latvia discussing non‑formal and informal strategies for education (notes to be shared here soon).
  • An Australian presenter exploring the value to the community of students undertaking adventurous learning.
  • A UK researcher discussing adventurous learning as a cultural community.
    Previous years have included speakers from the UK, Germany, Bermuda, the US, Poland, Spain, and Portugal on topics relating to education and personal development.
• Launch a $35K International Research Fund supporting research into outdoor and adventurous learning.
• Engage in the overall strategic planning for Sail Training International’s future direction.

From this year’s conference I have begun gathering resources on:

• A bank of research on evidence‑based practice for in‑and‑out‑of‑classroom learning to support student outcomes.
• An international link between UNESCO’s announcement on Ocean Research, the environmental/sustainability programs tall ships participate in, and scientific ocean/marine data gathering accessible to students worldwide.
  (PS: I am awaiting confirmation of my membership to the United Nations Association – Australia Branch, which will further support this objective.)
• Mapping various syllabuses to the outcomes generated by participation in this type of activity.
• Developing a teacher PL program utilising adventurous learning to build cross‑curricular content understanding and delivery, as well as a wide range of personal and resilience skills in students.

This is volunteer work conducted in my own time over the course of the year, but I will be bringing the lessons learned and resources into the classroom to benefit our students.