Sue Waite

Losing our way? The downward path for outdoor learning for children aged 2–11 years

This paper draws on three related empirical studies in the South West of England: a survey of outdoor experiential learning opportunities, examining attitudes, practice and aspirations of practitioners and children in educational and care settings for children between 2–11 years within a rural county; a follow-up series of five case studies; and an ongoing ESRC funded study of outdoor learning practice across the transition between Foundation Stage and Year 1 in two city-based schools. It charts the journey of outdoor learning from early years to primary practice in England and indicates the ‘navigational tools’ used by practitioners and the possibly rocky terrain that still lies ahead. The source and nature of values in outdoor learning, the decline in outdoor learning opportunities, the emphasis placed by staff on obligations and expectations of national guidance vis à vis their own personal beliefs and other barriers to outdoor learning are considered. It also reflects upon the changing landscape of the primary curriculum in England in the wake of recent reviews and a subsequent change in government that has decided to leave the National Curriculum and testing regime as it is. The author argues that multiple benefits for children of outdoor learning should encourage policy-makers and practitioners to reverse the decline in provision and ensure that children maintain opportunities to learn outside the classroom throughout their primary schooling.

Real world research: a resource for users of social research methods in applied settings (3rd ed.)

by Colin Robson, Chichester, John Wiley & Sons Ltd., 2011, 586 pp., £29.99 (paperback), ISBN 987-1-4051-82409 How does the application of research in settings affect appropriate methods? This is th...

‘Memories are made of this’: some reflections on outdoor learning and recall

Potential benefits for learning that the outdoors may hold have been brought into increased focus in the UK by the recent introduction of a manifesto for learning outside the classroom (DfES, Learning outside the classroom: manifesto; Nottingham, Department for Education and Skills, 2006). This article draws on two recent studies of outdoor learning practices—a survey of 334 practitioners with children aged between 2 and 11, and a case study in a primary school in the West of England. The survey asked practitioners about their memories of outdoor experiences, and in the case study, the children talk of what they remember of their learning outdoors. With reference to relevant literature, the article reflects on how the quality of outdoor experience may sustain and support engagement and memory.

Developing undergraduate research skills in a faculty of education: motivation through collaboration

This paper explores motivational factors underpinning undergraduates’ learning of research skills through individual research projects with collaborative tutorials. Research has long pointed to group support, positive affect and scaffolding as important for motivating and facilitating learning. Furthermore, UK government priorities have placed an increasing emphasis on the need to develop the key skills of inquiry and working with others. However, this is set in a context of assessment and practice in higher education that encourages individualist and instrumental perspectives on gaining competencies and knowledge. Traditionally undergraduate research skills have been taught through lectures and small‐scale projects chosen by the students with individual tutorial support in a faculty of education. Here our action research introduced collaborative tutorials as another element of teaching. We examine the process of collaboration to explore factors that support motivation to learn through two principal theoretical frameworks.

The special nature of the outdoors: Its contribution to the education of children aged 3–11

There are many forms of outdoor learning. In the UK outdoor adventures, residential centres, field studies, Forest School and play in the outdoors are all available to some extent for the three to eleven age group. Each type has distinct aims and purposes but there are however some commonalities which may point to what the special nature of the outdoors has to offer. In this paper we use a typology of values in nature to investigate some possible dimensions within this. The interplay between these characteristics and the pedagogies employed in two forms of outdoor provision is explored. We will firstly clarify our definitions of the concepts of the outdoors, outdoor learning, and pedagogy. We review literature relating to outdoor education and pedagogy. A critical discussion is informed by our recent research in Forest School and a residential outdoor education centre and will help to determine whether outdoor learning may make a unique contribution to the education of children and the methods employed by practitioners. This will help to identify areas for potential research into outdoor learning in the early years which has been thus far overlooked.

‘Knowing your place in the world’: how place and culture support and obstruct educational aims

There is increasing international interest in learning outside the classroom; place-based education is one manifestation of this. In this article, some conceptualisations of place are considered and attention drawn to alignments with habitus at micro, meso and macro levels. I develop a concept of cultural density as an explanatory tool to theorise how place and culture intersect to support some educational aims and interfere with others within a cross-sectional research study of a place-based curriculum centred on three schools located in the Southwest of England. Cultural density refers to the nature, thickness and dominance of habitus and norms of practice in places. Reflecting on the interface between how young people come to ‘know their place in the world’ and learning opportunities, careful alignment of purpose, pedagogy and place considering past, present and future is argued as a means of maximising the opportunities afforded by learning outside the classroom.

Freedom, flow and fairness: exploring how children develop socially at school through outdoor play

In this article, we report on a study that sought to discover micro-level social interactions in fluid outdoor learning spaces. Our methodology was centred around the children; our methods moved with them and captured their social interactions through mobile audio-recording. We argue that our methodological approach supported access to negotiations beyond adult gaze whilst acknowledging some associated ethical and practical dilemmas. Outdoor contexts were characterised by lower levels of adult presence and control and were associated with freedom to engage in sustained inter-child play and interaction. We theorise how opportunities to practice pro-social behaviour contribute to children’s social cohesion in the classroom and what adults can learn from such instances in order to support children’s social development and learning. Children’s conversations are analysed through conceptual lenses of cultures of play, schooling and society.

Comparing apples and pears?: a conceptual framework for understanding forms of outdoor learning through comparison of English Forest Schools and Danish udeskole

Using a conceptual model focused on purposes, aims, content, pedagogy, outcomes, and barriers, we review and interpret literature on two forms of outdoor learning: Forest Schools in England and udeskole in Denmark. We examine pedagogical principles within a comparative analytical framework and consider how adopted pedagogies reflect and refract the culture in which they are embedded. Despite different national educational and cultural contexts, English Forest Schools and Danish udeskole share several commonalities within a naturalistic/progressive pedagogical tradition; differences appear in the degree of integration within national educational systems. Global calls for increased connection to nature and recent alignment of results-driven school systems in both countries influence their foundational principles, perhaps leading to greater convergence in the future. We argue that close attention to pedagogical principles are necessary to ensure better alignment of purpose and practice to elicit specific outcomes and enable comparison between different types.

International perspectives on outdoor and experiential learning

Writing in a previous issue of Education 3–13 (35, no. 2, 2007), Denis Hayes problematised an over-formalised school curriculum that shapes learning into ‘predetermined packets’ governed by learnin...

Collaboration as a catalyst for critical thinking in undergraduate research

Critical thinking and working together are key skills for lifelong learning, but current assessment practices do not necessarily support their acquisition, given the instrumental attitudes to learning of many higher education students. A small‐scale action research project was undertaken within the context of tutoring on a research module of an undergraduate early childhood studies course. This research module offered a fruitful context for an examination of the potential for collaboration to act as a catalyst for the development of critical thinking. The data are explored principally through the theoretical framework of critical thinking dispositions devised by Norris and Ennis (1989).