Articles
Thinking Out Loud

The outdoor education and development sector moves fast. Standards evolve, research builds, and the expectations on practitioners and providers continue to rise.

These articles are our contribution to that conversation — written from the field, grounded in practice, and intended to be useful whether you work in schools, organisations, or the outdoors professionally.

Each piece is an abridged version of a longer article or presentation — the full versions are available on request.

We publish on the things that matter to us: professional standards, programme design, safeguarding, leadership, and growth. If something prompts a question or a conversation, we'd genuinely like to hear from you.

Articles Thinking Out Loud

Design & Building

Designing Backwards, Moving Forwards

7 min read

Most training fails not because of poor delivery — but because it was designed from the wrong end. A practical guide to designing programmes that begin with outcomes, build intentionally across knowledge, skills, and values, and actually transfer into practice.

The Myth of Plan A

6 min read

In experiential programming, Plan B isn't a backup — it's a professional obligation. A look at why contingency planning matters, what a strong alternative programme must preserve, and how adaptive thinking separates good providers from great ones.

Safety & Risk Management

Carry On As Planned

6 min read

Learning & Development

Creating Flow

4 min read

There's a reason young people will spend five hours on a game without noticing the time pass — and struggle to focus for five minutes on a worksheet. It isn't laziness. It's that one creates the conditions for Flow, and the other doesn't

The Praise That Actually Builds People Up

5 min read

Tell someone they're wonderful and watch what happens. Most will deflect it — because what they're registering isn't the compliment, it's the judgement. A look at why the type of praise matters as much as the intention behind it

Robots or Beavers?

5 min read

When a student completes a task well, it's worth asking: do they understand why it mattered — or are they doing what they think you want to see? The difference between performance and genuine learning, and how to create conditions for the latter.

The Hand On The Tiller

6 min read

Organisational Growth

Changing Cultures

5 min read

Culture is shared, ingrained, and often invisible — which is exactly what makes it so difficult to shift. This article explores why change efforts stall, and why the most effective transformations start not with what's new, but with what stays the same.

We Kept Fixing The Wrong Things

5 min read

For weeks, water pooled in the same corner of our kitchen counter. We tried everything — except actually stopping to look. A story about a puddle, three steps for root-cause thinking, and what it taught me about every problem I've ever tried to solve.

Selling With The Vision In Mind

6 min read

Some time ago, a colleague introduced me as Mike "Burning Bridges" Thomas. I'd earned the name. This is a piece about what happens when the vision an organisation sells stops matching the experience it delivers — and why the gap between the two is where trust erodes.

Fifteen Seconds

6 min read

A woman steps into moving traffic to save fifteen seconds, and everyone else waits so she can. It's a small thing — and the same instinct behind the problems our sector won't solve together. On silos, shared standards, and why we save our collaboration for emergencies.

Professional Practice

Guidelines, Standards & Laws

3 min read

Three words used interchangeably in outdoor education — with very different meanings. Understanding the distinction between a recommendation, a minimum requirement, and a legal obligation is where professional judgement begins.

Currency

6 min read

Currency isn't just money. It never was. A look at both definitions — and why the same rules that govern monetary currency apply directly to professional relevance, knowledge, and the adaptive skill to deploy what you know in a changing world.

It Used To Be Just The Pub

6 min read

On algorithms, echo chambers, and what happens when the whole world can hear you. There's a man in every pub with opinions on everything — but now he has a phone, and the physics of what he says have changed entirely.

Good Habits Don't Take Days Off

6 min read

The kit doesn't change. The person does. This article explores what experience, confidence, and the willingness to deviate from your norm actually do to the tools and techniques you already have — and why developing the person matters more than acquiring the method.

Safeguarding Starts with Strong Systems

5 min read

A clear background check is not the same as a safe hire. This article examines the gaps that exist in standard vetting processes — and what stronger, more honest safeguarding systems actually look like.

New Monday, Old You

7 min read

What happens to the learning when the experience ends? Two stories from opposite ends of the transfer problem — one honest conversation that changed a family, and a transformation that couldn't survive the return home.

What Makes a Professional Qualification Professional?

5 min read

A certificate proves someone passed an assessment. It doesn't automatically prove they're safe, competent, or current. Five questions that separate qualifications worth pursuing from those that simply exist.

Let Them Be Kids

6 min read

The Half You Think You Know

6 min read

Articles
Thinking Out Loud