Untitled

184 education, recreation
social science disciplines that contribute to a
broader understanding of tourism and its impacts;
�3) they emphasise a balanced perspective concerning
tourism development, environmental protection
and quality of the visitor experience; �4) they
recognise the need for the development of
language capabilities as well as dimensions of
cultural diversity; and �5) they place a strong
emphasis on the development of close working
relationships with tourism organisations in both the
public and private sectors.
Because of the high risk of incoherency and
inefficiency, a comprehensive tourism education
policy framework must also include a formal means
of policy and programme evaluation. Such evaluation
is normally based on a number of performance
indicators. Examples are measures of student satisfaction
with the overall programme and its detailed
content; industry satisfaction with graduates and
their ability to perform effectively; industry retention
�theextent towhichstudents educated withintourism
programes actually pursue careers within the industry
for different periods of time); graduate
placement, or the degree to which graduates from
tourism education programmes are successful in
finding employment; cost-effectiveness, in reference
to the relative cost of educating students in tourism
programmes as compared with other areas; programmecompetitiveness,orhowwellgraduatesfrom
programmes for a particular destination perform
compared with those from other destination programs
as measured by standardised test scores and
other measures of student knowledge and performance;
salary levels as compared with other destination
and other industry sectors; job and career
satisfaction indicator over an extended period of
time;industryperformancemeasuredbytheabilityof
the destination to compete effectively in national and
international tourism markets; and finally, destination
well-being, or how destination residents look to
tourism to enhance their economic, social and
environmental position. Altogether, because hospitality/tourism
education is the major factor in
enhancing the well-being of destination residents
over the long term, those responsible for tourism
education policy must constantly keep in mind that
the fundamental purpose of these programmes is to
support the development of the destination, and
ultimately the well-being of its residents.
See also: articulation, programme; education
workplace; educational effectiveness; education
method; professionalism
education, recreation
J.R. BRENT RITCHIE, CANADA
Recreation education can be viewed from two
primary perspectives: education for recreation
�that is, educating the consumers, or those who
participate in recreational activities) and education
of recreation professionals �or producers). In recent
years there has been a move towards increasing
education levels for all members of the society, so
that people of all ages will understand the
importance of leisure in their lives. Advocates of
recreation education promote a lifelong process
where leisure values are formally taught from the
earliest years of primary school as part of the
standard curriculum, and informally far into
adulthood.
In addition to increasing understanding of the
role of leisure in people's lives, recreation education
aims to increase participation in a more diverse
variety of activities. Education for recreation takes
on a number of forms. Standard curriculum
courses or classes are common in primary and
secondary schools as well as in colleges and
universities. Other methods include leisure counselling
services, workshops and camps. Programmes
which focus on recreation activities tend
to follow a certain process. First, participants are
introduced to unfamiliar recreation activities.
Second, they acquire a knowledge of what an
activity involves, or how to do it. Third, they
develop at least a minimum skill level, and fourth,
they have opportunities to participate in the
activities they have studied.
A lack of education for recreation in many cases
hinders participation in certain activities. Education
is viewed as a means of increasing enjoyment
by improving participants' proficiency in a wide
variety of activities. This is usually viewed as one
way of improving a person's quality of life. In terms
of education for recreation professionals, several
types of recreation training exist. Outdoor,
therapeutic and commercial recreation are the