Wonder of outdoor activities must reach all young people

Long ago, when I was inspected by HMI (now Ofsted), a lead inspector told me that the common thread among all the young people she had talked to was their positive experience of residentials. I used to do at least half a dozen a year, sometimes more than 10.

The very first weekend away I ever did was as a volunteer with something called the Family Service Unit, a social services charity in inner-city Birmingham. I was allocated two scraggy little kids - Billy and Harry, strangely - to look after. I went to collect them from their impoverished home, sat with them in the minibus and kept an eye on them throughout, obviously getting more involved when they were swinging on ropes or messing around in a paddling pool. Neither had ever been out of the city before and their observations - of live animals, no houses, streams and hills, peace and quiet (despite their own noise) - were wondrous.

I have believed in the merits of away-from-home experiences, in all their many different forms, ever since. But they are seemingly in peril. Camilla Batmanghelidjh, of Kids Company, is leading a charge that is warning that funding cuts and a parallel decline in charitable giving for these purposes means that such opportunities can no longer be extended. She talks of this provision as respite care, as a temporary escape from some of the brutalities of their everyday existence, and as a real chance to instil new horizons and different meanings into young people's lives.

Many young people will have spent some days over the summer under canvas, in hostels and at outdoor activities centres through the support of committed parents or their membership of youth organisations, such as the Scouts or Guides or the cadets. The National Citizen Service (NCS) has one kind of residential experience built solidly into its programme too.

But the young people about whom Batmanghelidjh is concerned are not from those kinds of backgrounds or with that kind of engagement. Moreover, there are very different kinds of residential experiences. The summer camps routinely organised in the Scouts and Guides have their own tried and tested format, subject to gentle change over the years. Canoeing, rock climbing, abseiling and gorge walking has become the stock in trade of energetic outdoor activities programmes. NCS residentials have elements of this, but are geared, through a pre-structured process, more towards self-reflection, team building and forward planning for the next stages of its programme.

Mine were self-organised, rather chaotic and very unpredictable, as young people had to take a great deal of responsibility for what we would do, and what needed to be done, with a lot of negotiation and argument among themselves, as well as with me.

I probably had the whole spectrum of young people and did my best to accommodate their different needs, demands and expectations. Some really needed to get away from tough home backgrounds and social environments, some viewed it more as a bit of a holiday and others were more in tune with conventional youth work explanations, seeing it as a valuable learning experience and as a contribution to their personal development. The experiences unfolded differently for them and they engaged differentially in activities, chores, conversation, games and simply chilling out.

I don't know what the camps run by Kids Company cost, but the resources required do not have to be extortionate. Much depends on whether there is subsidised access to a minibus, whether or not the accommodation is premised on commercial rates, and what kind of food is going to be eaten. We should not forget that as funding declines, regulations and expectations increase, adding to the costs. It is so much easier to book into commercial venues and young people are no longer content with simple stews.

Residentials make a real difference. We should not be exacerbating the youth divide, but ensuring that all young people have access to such experiences. But we should also be looking closely at cutting our coat according to the cloth available. There is a strong case for a commission - like the National Youth Agency's initiative on youth work and schools - for some exploration of youth work and the outdoors, with the aspiration of making this a memorable and formative experience for everyone.

Howard Williamson is professor of European youth policy at the University of South Wales