Activities in the Natural Environment in Physical Education: High School Teacher Assessment of the Main Factors Limiting their Implementation

The present study examines the extent to which activities in the natural environment have been developed over recent years as part of the programming of Physical Education in Aragon. The 131 teachers who have taken part in the study (in two parts: the 2007-2008 academic year in Zaragoza and in 2008-2009 for the rest of the Autonomous Region) have stated the activities they organize (most notably orienteering and hiking, with completion rates of 66.41% and 47.33% respectively) and the areas in which they use them (61.83% of teachers do them in physical education sessions). In addition, each of them has given their assessment of the four limiting factors identified by the research group: student safety (30.95% of teachers said abseiling and climbing are the activities most influenced by this factor), teacher liability (which has a minimal influence for 51.72% of respondents), specific teacher training in the field of activities in the natural environment (considered as a limiting factor only for abseiling and climbing) and the physical education timetable (with a maximum influence percentage of less than 6% for all activities, except mountain biking at 18.75%).