TRAINING SHOULD BEGIN WITH A SOLID FOUNDATION OF BASIC TECHNICAL AND FACILITATION SKILLS.
Which Adventure Training is Right for Me?
Challenge Courses function as tools for outdoor education that requires groups to accomplish interconnected tasks, navigating the process of success or failure. It features various physical components such as suspended logs, tires, nets, platforms, swinging ropes and climbing walls.
Using Challenge Courses safely and effectively requires training by qualified challenge course professionals, like the trainings offered by High 5.
Through our recommended Adventure Training Plan, you learn and develop both technical skills and the critical foundations of program design, proper sequencing, and program philosophy. High 5 is also ACCT accredited and administers a high-quality certification program.
Recommended Adventure Training Plan
Novice
If you are looking to begin or enhance your skills as a challenge course practitioner, your first experience should be Adventure Basics Level 1 Training, our 5-day, 40-hour training that will start you on your path. This training focuses on the basic skills necessary to operate a low and high challenge course. Upon successful completion of Adventure Basics, participants are encouraged to begin facilitating on a challenge course within the limits of their training and competency level.
This training is also valuable to practitioners who have received prior training who would like to refresh their skills and take part in a focused immersion training.
Upon successful completion of: Adventure Basics Level 1 Training: you are eligible to take the Level 1 Practitioners Certification Test.
Advancing Your Skills
The next steps to advance your training should include an Annual Skills Refresher from a Qualified Challenge Course Professional that start with a Beyond Basics Level 2 Training or equivalent.
Additional programming includes taking a Managing an Adventure Program (Industry standards dictate that challenge course programs have someone on-site who has attended a manager-level training).
Upon successful completion of: Beyond Basics Level 2 Training: you are eligible to take the Level 2 Practitioners Certification Test.
Upon successful completion of MAP: you are eligible to take the Challenge Course Manager Certification Test
Adventure Certification Testing Program
In 2007 ACCT International (ACCT) adopted the first industry-wide Practitioner Certification Standards. In early 2008 ACCT accredited High 5’s certification testing program based on those standards. We continue to administer a high-quality certification program with an emphasis on quality education of facilitators as the primary outcome.
Staff Training for Adventure Programs
Training should begin with a solid foundation of basic technical and facilitation skills and be updated regularly to stay current with best practices in the field and with the needs of one’s program. High 5® offers a variety of trainings to support ongoing staff development plans and can customize any of them to best fit with the needs of your program and staff.
We Can Also Bring the Training to You
High 5® trainings are flexible and can be adapted to suit the needs of any school, group or organization that have – or want to develop – an adventure program. We can deliver many of our standard trainings or create a unique training to address your particular program.
Professional Trainings vs In-House Training
Trainings by Qualified Challenge Course Professionals are a vital piece of every organization’s training plan. In-house trainings that refresh and re-visit the various skill sets are also invaluable to maintaining good practices among staff. We recommend a combination of both. It is not a best practice for a program to conduct internal trainings only.
Often a staff person who attends a professional training provided by an external vendor may want to come back to train others on his/her staff. However, too often these efforts include only a fraction of the time and content of the original training. They also tend to focus on technical skills only with insufficient time spent on the broader but equally important topics such as program design, proper sequencing, program philosophy, etc. These “second” and “third” generation trainings can result in diminished quality over time.
We believe that developing and growing your skills and repertoire should be a dynamic and ongoing process. We encourage you to practice and update your skills regularly and re-visit trainings to keep your technical and facilitation skills current. Don’t forget our Annual Practitioners Symposium for a winter injection of new games, new friends and new things to think about.
Looking to turn your professional development into graduate credit?
Through our Strategic Provider partnership with Springfield College, eligible High 5 trainings can count toward the College’s MEd in Adventure Education—allowing you to earn up to 9 credits while building practical, field-tested skills in adventure-based learning and leadership.
