Risk and adventure education

This article considers several research questions concerning adventure education and risk. These are: 'What is the role and nature of risk in adventure education?' 'Is the outcome of adventure education to encourage participants to take a more adventurous approach to life in general, or is it limited to introducing them to socially acceptable forms of risk-taking?' 'Is the scope of adventure education to use risks being reduced?' 'If it is, is this because of a greater general risk aversion in society, or a greater aversion to the risks associated with particular activities?' 'If the scope of adventure education to use risks is being reduced what is being lost?' 'If the scope of adventure education to use risks is being reduced will it have to accept this?' These questions are not well developed in the theory of adventure education. The article does this and relates them to the development of theory in risk research.