RISK BETWEEN FEAR AND POSSIBILITY. PARENTAL IMPLICIT KNOWLEDGE AND OUTDOOR EDUCATION FOR ALL: A STUDY IN MARGINALIZED CONTEXTS.

As part of a broader study on Outdoor Education for All in marginalised and disadvantaged contexts, which aims to understand whether this approach is feasible in contexts characterised by socio-cultural deprivation and with children with intellectual disabilities, further research is being conducted to understand the role of parental implicit biases in the perception of risk and the creation of educational opportunities. The general research explores how Outdoor Education for All can build an inclusive approach capable of supporting autonomy, self-determination and agency in areas characterised by educational poverty, social vulnerability and a lack of environmental affordances. Within this framework, the focus presented here explores a critical issue that emerged in the first phase of the research: the limited participation of young people with disabilities in outdoor experiences seems to be influenced not only by structural barriers in the area, but also by a set of implicit representations concerning fear, caution and risk avoidance present in families. The question for this phase of the research is to understand how family implicit beliefs about fear and risk influence the participation of young people with intellectual disabilities in outdoor activities. It is hypothesised that a family perception of risk oriented towards threat, predominantly oriented towards fear and overprotection [1] [2], is associated with a lower propensity to allow outdoor experiences, thus reducing opportunities for “beneficial risk” and experiences that have proven positive effects on physical development, self-determination and autonomous mobility in young people with intellectual disabilities. In line with these premises, this paper presents the results of the second phase of qualitative research conducted at the Casa Raoul semiresidential community, where young people with intellectual disabilities live who experience conditions of social risk, territorial vulnerability and limited opportunities for contact with the natural environment. Semi-structured interviews with parents, analysed phenomenologically through thematic analysis using MAXQDA software, revealed implicit knowledge related to risk. The data collected show that the view of the external environment is often marked by fear, precariousness, unpredictability and a tendency towards overprotection linked to the “zero risk culture” [4] and Risk Deficit Disorder [5]. These representations limit the possibility of accessing the profound and transformative bodily experiences that Outdoor Education makes possible, depriving young people with intellectual disabilities of exposure to the aforementioned beneficial risk [6] and to the sensory, motor and emotional dimensions that form the basis of experiential learning. Risk can in fact be a constituent component of growth, and its removal can hinder the construction of identity and self-determination processes. The second phase of the research therefore involves reworking the results through focus groups with parents, with the aim of promoting critical awareness and a change of perspective with regard to risk, distinguishing between real danger and educational opportunity. This process is part of the broader aim of the study: to understand and transform the cultural, symbolic, pedagogical and territorial conditions that hinder participation in outdoor activities, in order to develop a model capable of supporting the inclusion of boys and girls with intellectual disabilities in contexts of marginalisation and deviance.