Robbie Nicol

Outdoor education: Research topic or universal value? Part Two

Abstract This paper follows the theme of part one in that it sets out to discover if the history of outdoor education provides its modern exponents with a legacy of prescribed conservatism or alternatively a form of education which embraces, or is capable of embracing, diversity of theory and practice. Focusing on local authority residential outdoor education centres it begins with the 1970s through the 1980s and ends with the 1990s. Secondary sources are used and include government and civil service education circulars as well as the body of literature that relates to outdoor education. The paper analyses how discussions of philosophical underpinnings and aims, together with the public perception of safety and risk came to influence the practice of outdoor education. This leads to a discussion of terminology and the role of outdoor education as a curricular subject. The influence of market forces on the provision of outdoor education and the increasing call for cost effectiveness is analysed in relation to the increasingly diverse range of activities coming under the umbrella term of outdoor education. The evidence shows that throughout this period significant changes regarding the nature of outdoor education are observable. However, within this flux one point is clear. The body of outdoor education literature attaches more importance to outcomes relating to personal and social education than environmental education and this point will be the bridge between part two and part three.

Entering the Fray: The role of outdoor education in providing nature-based experiences that matter

Abstract This article draws on different bodies of knowledge in order to review the potential role of outdoor education in providing nature-based experiences that might contribute to sustainable living A pragmatic perspective is adopted to critique what outdoor education is,and then what it might be. Phenomenology is used to challenge the belief that there is a causal relationship between activities and learning outcomes but foremost to consider what it is to be in nature in the first place. Aspects of both realism and social constructionism are presented as essential to environmental philosophy and the concomitant, but contested, relationship between people and planet. Through these multiple realities the moral significance of nature emerges not only as a theoretical consideration but as a practical one too. In this way I challenge dualisms that provide stumbling blocks to practice and celebrate instead pluralistic thinking where starting points are based on real-life work settings where theory and practice can emerge together through place-specific solutions.

The Cultural Politics of Hunting: Sporting Estates and Recreational Land Use in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland

Sporting estates are a form of private hunting reserve covering extensive areas of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland and have been the focus of debate regarding their legitimacy from moral, political, economic and social perspectives ever since their establishment in the nineteenth century. In recent years, a growing debate about sustainable land use, access to the countryside, ‘blood sports’ and land reform has led to sporting estates being subjected to a continuing critique from environmentalists, land reformers, crofting tenants, community interests and politicians. The sporting estate is thought to be unique in modern industrial democracies and, as the legal, political and social framework which governs much of the hunting economy, perhaps has its closest parallels with the private game reserves of some African states. Certainly, in comparison to other European countries, where they do not exist, sporting estates are a distinctively Scottish phenomenon. Owners and managers of sporting estates are increasingly finding themselves drawn into a debate about the role and validity of such estates. The re-establishment of a Scottish Parliament in 1999 led to the emergence of new public policy agendas on rural development and land reform, topics which were neglected at the UK level owing to a shortage of parliamentary time and the vested interests of the many landowning members of the House of Lords. This article offers an analysis of the role of sporting estates in recreational land use. Is hunting a form of recreation and, if so, what is the relationship between hunting and sporting estates? For the purposes of this analysis, the article concentrates on evidence derived from deerstalking, which represents the most widespread and historically dominant form of hunting, the one with the closest association with the sporting estate phenomenon, and the one which has been subjected to most (albeit still limited) research and analysis. Importantly, the article does not concern itself with the question of the legitimacy or otherwise of hunting as an activity. Its purpose is to examine the influence which the sporting estate as 51css04.qxd 22/03/2002 12:25 Page 53

Returning to the richness of experience: Is Autoethnography a Useful Approach for Outdoor Educators in Promoting Pro-Environmental Behaviour?

The use of autoethnography in social science research is becoming increasingly popular. The potential this research approach might offer to the theory and practice of outdoor education has yet to be fully examined. In this paper, autoethnography is used to explore some personal accounts of my own outdoor experiences from which I derive distinctive meanings. Data emerge from an extended solo journey by canoe and sea kayak, and a dialectical index is presented to distinguish between two ways of characterising outdoor experiences (adventurous and contemplative). These experiences are then used to contextualise myself, and some ideas, within a wider social world. The paper indicates how environmental philosophy and scientific evidence provide a moral imperative that might act as a guide for outdoor practice. It is argued that such practice must be ontologically grounded in order to explore the possibilities of outdoor experiences in providing moral impulses. The opportunity to think beyond the self also indicates how an autoethnographic lens can provide an approach to teaching and learning to stimulate reflective practice. The findings are presented as exploratory because they invite educators to consider how outdoor experiences might stimulate pro-environmental behaviour both in themselves and in their learners.

Space, place and sustainability and the role of outdoor education

The call for this special issue asked whether outdoor education had any specific or special role to play in fostering environmental sustainability. The question was predicated on a small but steady stream of peer-reviewed articles in the outdoor education research literature claiming that there were such roles that were under-realised as yet or in need of deeper investigation (see, e.g., Higgins, 1996; Higgins & Kirk, 2006; Hill, 2012; Irwin, 2008; Lugg, 2007; Nicol, 2002). Indeed, the title of the special issue—‘Space, Place and Sustainability and the Role of Outdoor Education’—attempted to recognise that outdoor education is at the very least a choice about the places and spaces of education (no matter how diverse are those choices), and that this was also a contemporary feature of the sustainability and environmental education research literature (see, e.g., Jones, Selby, & Sterling, 2010; Mannion, Fenwick, & Lynch, 2013). Four papers constitute this issue. Clarke and Mcphie offer a full ontological reexamination of ‘the crisis of perception’ to which sustainability is said to respond, and argue that an animistic sensibility might usefully inform outdoor (and indoor) educational endeavour. Hill and Brown provide an illustrated analysis of how intentionally deployed place-responsive pedagogies might be transformative of learners’ conceptions of sustainability. Gurholt examines her reading of 200 Norwegian youths’ views of friluftsliv (literally: free-air life) education and considers their relationships with the outdoors. Finally, Cook and Cutting present an evaluation of students’ experiences following visits to low-impact communities as a pedagogical strategy. These four papers are suggestive of outdoor education beginning to work positively with the pressing needs of sustainability, in both research and practice. Whilst it is an error to regard a special issue as a snapshot of the state of play, the process of producing the form presents the editors with a potentially revealing story about a field, at least to the extent that it is represented by the authors and audience of the journal in question. In so doing, we read into these four papers a sense that the outdoor education community was pushing at several boundaries for research and practice, two of which we thought seemed generative for future reflection and examination. This editorial therefore considers the extent to which outdoor education evokes sustainability largely in terms of the material world and also in political terms. In the first of these it seemed to us that several of the papers were ‘playing to’ but explicitly moving beyond the relationship between outdoor education for sustainability (OEfS) and natural or semi-natural environments (or the attention given to the learner–nature or learner–environment relationships). The significance of this effort lies in whether the resulting conception of sustainability is primarily material (e.g. the sustainability of finite resources or ecosystem services) rather than, say, social, economic, justice oriented or political. The second, and related, issue that the papers at least imply to be worthy of greater attention concerns what kind of transformation is intended by OEfS. Such transformative purposes might anticipate changes for the learner, or places, or social conditions, including educational conditions, or all of these; thus prompting us to ask: What is the politics of outdoor education when it attends to sustainability? Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning, 2014 Vol. 14, No. 3, 191–197, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14729679.2014.960684

Compliance through care and commitment: why young people do as adults ask

ABSTRACT Although the behaviour of young people is often a focus for concern, most young people do as they are asked. This paper presents findings from a qualitative study across four educational settings that set out to explore reasons for this compliance. Forty-four young people (aged 12–21) participated in interactive focus groups and 21 practitioners were interviewed. A critical exploration of the authority relationships between the young people and the participating adults was undertaken. The research was designed to explore the relevance of the typology of authority relationships proposed by Dennis Wrong for educational settings. The findings confirmed the applicability of his work; however, the paper argues that an additional basis for authority relationships characterised by ‘care and commitment’ should be included. The results suggest the potential for long-term caring relationships, authenticity and professional competence as key factors in enhancing compliance in educational settings.