Professional Accreditation What sort of person is an APIOL?
All sorts of people are outdoor practitioners, eg teachers, youth workers, instructors in centres, leaders in voluntary organisations, environmental studies specialists, recreation specialists and those who do drama, art and other activities in the outdoors; in fact, anyone who uses in their work 3 key principles that are the foundations of being an Outdoor Practitioner as defined for APIOL:
- Outdoor Practitioners believe that there is something special about the outdoors as a medium for learning and fun. It's to do with both the natural and built environment, it stresses sustainability and wonder, and it must be experiential
- Outdoor Practitioners believe in the value of exploring and interacting with natural and man-made environments which contain risks which the leader and participants need to manage without being able to refer decision-making to a higher authority. Outdoor Practitioners are committed to extending their skills and experience in 'open' country (both on land and sea), ideally in their work with groups, but also in their own adventurous lives
- Outdoor Practitioners can therefore show a range of experience in the outdoors and in open country, both with groups and for your own development: a variety of challenge, of groups and of environments
What is the 'APIOL Mindset'?
APIOL assumes practitioners are technically competent in the activities they do with people. It's about more than that. Outdoor practitioners want participants to have fun, and to grow as a result, so APIOL asks you to consider the quality of the experience people have when they are with you, as well as the safety. Preparing your APIOL application forces you to think about "What have I learned over the years?" "Why do I do what I do?" "How could I be even better at it?"
APIOL asks you to think about, and be able to explain to others:
- how and why you do things the way you do when you work with groups
- how you challenge assumptions and look for better ways of doing things
- how you aim to fix/improve the causes of situations and behaviour, not just the symptoms (eg risk management procedures that are based on first principles, rather than on rules)
- how you reflect on your own behaviour and the effect of your style on others
- how your practice has changed over the years, and how you are developing at the moment (outdoor practice, not just technical skills)
- how your role interacts with others', why things are run the way they are in your workplace
- how you make a contribution to improving good practice in your workplace
- how your practice is influenced by what is going on in the outdoor field, and the issues you/the field are facing