Ina Stan

An ethnography of the outdoor classroom – how teachers manage risk in the outdoors

This article explores the approaches to risk that some teachers adopt when they are involved in facilitating outdoor activities. The research was carried out at a residential outdoor centre as part of a PhD study and a follow-up pilot project. The participants were primary school pupils, their teachers and the centre staff. For the purpose of this article, the term ‘teacher’ is used to refer to both visiting teachers accompanying the school groups and the centre staff. This research was eclectic. It took an ethnographic approach using participant observation and semi-structured interviews to collect a variety of data. Ethnography was considered as the most appropriate for this research because it puts an emphasis on understanding the perceptions and cultures of the people and organisations studied. The findings of the research have shown that, on occasion, teachers take a controlling approach when facilitating outdoor activities in order to manage the perceived risk of being in the outdoors. This tended to result in the disempowerment of the children and put the teachers in a position of power, which had serious implications for the pupils’ learning experience. By giving the children specific instructions, and mainly focusing on maintaining discipline during the activities, teachers do not allow their pupils to workout how to deal with risk. The article argues that this had a negative impact on the educational process by taking away opportunities for learning from the children.

Recontextualizing the role of the facilitator in group interaction in the outdoor classroom

The traditional role of the facilitator in outdoor education is frequently seen as outside the group of participants, either in a position of power over the participants or detached and passive. Following an ethnographic study at a residential outdoor centre, an in-depth analysis of the facilitation process was carried out, which revealed that the facilitator is always part of the group, and that the type of influence that the facilitators have on the outdoor learning process depends on the way that they approach their role within the group. For the purpose of this paper, the term ‘facilitator’ is used to refer to both centre staff as well as visiting teachers accompanying the school groups. This paper addresses critical questions regarding the effectiveness of the outdoor learning process when a position of power is adopted. The paper will also show the impact that recognizing the facilitator as a member of the group has on the learning experience in the outdoor classroom.

Well-being and outdoor pedagogies in primary schooling: The nexus of well-being and safety

Society today is inundated by a multitude of messages regarding the risks and dangers that affect youngsters, with media constantly talking about ‘cotton wool’ kids (see Furedi, 1997, 2001, 2006) and an ‘obesity epidemic’ (see Wright and Harwood, 2009). A social panic has been created by the media, which ignores the positive outcomes of risk-taking, sensationalises risks, and focuses on the dangers of the world. In popular discourse contradictions are in evidence, on the one hand adults are concerned about the safety of young children; on the other hand many argue that society wraps children in ‘cotton wool’ such that they are denied opportunities to play outdoors for fear of accidents. Research has shown that negotiating risks and relating them to individual capacities is essential for the development of young children and their ability to learn from their mistakes and become aware of their personal health and safety (Fenech, Sumsion, & Goodfellow, 2006). This paper is based on a pilot study that explores young children and their significant others’ perceptions and experiences of risk and safety, looking particularly at the ways in which experiences of outdoor learning may affect the well-being of children. Using an ethnographic approach the research examines how parents and teachers define well-being, and how being in the outdoors is seen to affect pupils’ well-being. This paper, a work in progress, asks if and how outdoor activities, through outdoor learning, contribute to the physical and emotional well-being of young children, briefly touching on theories of power and control.

Control as an Educational Tool and Its Impact on the Outdoor Educational Process

Mainstream education studies have shown that teachers have a strong desire to control their work situation and maintain classroom autonomy. Issues of control and power are also prevalent in outdoor education, where the facilitator is put in a position of power, controlling the participants’ learning experience. What follows is an examination of how order and instructions are used, on occasion, by facilitators in an outdoor setting to take control over the activity and achieve their own disciplinary goals. This paper was based on a PhD study conducted at a residential outdoor centre, involving primary school children, teachers and the centre staff. An ethnographic approach was adopted, using participant observation and semi-structured interviews to collect varied data. The findings revealed that the controlling approaches adopted by some facilitators interfered with the pupils’ outdoor learning experience. This level of control appeared to have a great impact on the educational process to the extent that the desired learning outcomes were not attained. This has serious implications on the impact that teachers’ and outdoor facilitators’ approaches have on the pupils’ outdoor learning experience, and more awareness is needed with regard to this impact.