This study describes and analyses the development and implementation of a secondary school outdoor education program, investigates the effects of the program on the achievement of curriculum intentions, and identifies factors which promoted or constrained the achievement of stated program intentions. Data were collected through participant observation, interviewing and the administration of questionnaires. In addition, data from ratings scales, diaries, reports and documents were collected and analysed. Triangulation of research methods was employed on a continuing basis in an attempt to reach conceptual closure on matters being investigated. The educational and social context in which the program was developed and implemented is outlined. Basic demographic data are analysed to identify the characteristics of the key participants and to determine the extent to which the students were comparable with other populations of the same age. Variables considered likely to have an influence on program outcomes are examined and individual pen portraits are presented. The classroom lessons and the field trips of the program are described in detail to provide an essential context for the subsequent analysis. The outdoor education program was found to improve outdoor skills, but little change was found in selected personal qualities and capacities, the ability to relate to others, or in the levels of environmental concern of the twenty student-participants.