Pedagogy

Sport climbing is a dynamic learning platform where education and adventure go hand-in-hand. When faced with unexpected challenges, climbers are also presented with an opportunity to hone themselves by solving problems, to grow by overcoming risks through understanding. 

The Phoenix Climbing programme aims to integrate these core tenants of sport climbing with UWCSEA values enshrined in the Phoenix Spirit. Our Coaches do our best to support our learners, regardless of their age and experience level, and empower them with valuable life skills and a love for adventure.

Our pedagogy therefore seeks to embrace every climber's instinct to seek out and redefine their comfort zones, empowering every learner with the essential technical skills to do so safely, while facilitating their growth with targeted learning experiences. Behind our programme lies the following beliefs:

🌟 Direct Experiential Learning: We design our classes to place participants in the centre of their learning journeys. Through hands-on climbing experiences, they are supported to acquire the full experience of challenges, develop solutions, practice critical thinking, and adapt to environmental elements in real-time. 

Technical competence is taught and consistently supported - from climbing skills to personal safety actions, every climber in our programme acquires the essential skills that enable them to continue pursuing the sport far beyond their school years.

🧗‍♀️ Progressive Goal-Guided Curriculum: While freedom of movement and freedom to explore is a core tenant of our sport, we are mindful that too much unfettered freedom can also be confusing and counterproductive to learning. Our curriculum therefore utilises definitive goals as strategic waypoints towards open-ended outcomes, and vice-versa. Learners are encouraged to learn through exploration, investigation and creative application.

This blended approach is further moderated by a curated challenge environment with progressive challenge options. The resulting experience emphasises to our learners a clear need for understanding personal levels, setting achievable goals, and persevering against difficulties in order to reach them.

🤝 Collaborative Approach: Climbing may impose personal demands on their participants and offer much room for personal interpretation, but the sport has never required leaners to go about it alone. In fact, our sport thrives on teamwork and a strong sense community.

Our classes are therefore designed to not only require participants to work together in order to stay safe, but also encourage them to collaborate in order to attain successful outcomes. We hope that this approach will foster friendships and extend these precious connections far beyond the walls.

🙌 Fun and Inclusive: Through the frequent use of games, challenges and social events, we keep climbing fun and enjoyable. Competitive challenges are often framed by collective goals instead of antagonistic outcomes. Some games may produce winners, but we actively avoid pitting teams against each other, where one learner's actions will negatively impact another's chances of success.

This approach is unique to our sport and consistent with top-level international competitions. Climbers compete to complete challenges and earn the most points to the best of their abilities, but their actions will never directly impact another competitor's actions and outcomes. We seek to preserve and inculcate this spirit - a strong focus on personal capabilities and enjoying the process of performing at our best.

We constantly aim to show all our learners that sport climbing is a transformative journey that facilitates and rewards learning through collaborative adventurous exploration. Our rock climbing pedagogy isn't just about getting our learners to the top of each wall; it is about cultivating skills and a perspective that last a lifetime.