Learning In The Natural Environment: Curriculum Development Through Addressing School Priorities

Author(s):

Rowena Passy(presenting / submitting)Sue Waite

Conference:

ECER 2014

Network:

03. Curriculum Innovation

Format:

Paper

Session Information

03 SES 04 A, Curriculum, Innovation and Assessment

Paper Session

Time:

2014-09-03

09:00-10:30

Room:

B110 Sala de Aulas

Chair:

Wilmad Kuiper

Contribution

There is an increasing body of international research that demonstrates the benefits of learning outside the classroom in the natural environment (LINE) that include greater motivation for learning, increased knowledge and understanding, and improved health and wellbeing (Dillon and Dickie, 2012; Foster and Linney, 2007; Mygind, 2009; Passy et al, 2010; Waite, 2011). Recently there has been a wave of popular and natural environment sector support for increased engagement with the outdoors (e.g. Moss, 2012) that has coincided with concerns for school children’s mental and physical health (NICE, 2013; PHE, 2013); problems that are likely become more acute in areas of deprivation where access to green environments tends to be less frequent (Natural England, 2013). In response to these concerns, the English government has pledged to ‘remove barriers to outdoor learning and increase schools’ abilities to teach outdoors when they wish to do so’ (HM Government, 2011, p.4), and have commissioned a three-year project to engage greater numbers of schools in areas of high multiple deprivation in LINE.

The Natural Connections Demonstration Project is located in the south west of England and funded by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Natural England and English Heritage. The aim of the project is to enhance the use of local natural environments in 200 primary, secondary and special schools in areas on high multiple deprivation to support learning across the curriculum. Now in its second year of delivery, the project is being implemented in five ‘hubs’ of 40 schools, each of which is led by a hub leader and five ‘beacon’ schools that have existing models of high-quality LINE practice. The model is premised on peer supported evolution of practice to build sustainability beyond the life of the demonstration project. An important aspect of the project will be its replicability and amplification both in England and more widely.

Two key elements of the project are

the identification of priorities for schools in catchment areas with multiple challenges in the home and community life of their students. These challenges may include problems associated with immigration, asylum-seeking, unemployment and disability.
the design and development of LINE activity that will help schools to address those priorities.

The context for this research is that of a country that arguably emerging from a prolonged recession although less deep than in other European countries, and we will be interested in the ways that possible higher levels of poverty have impacted on these schools’ aims and work.

In theorising the processes at work, we employ Bourdieusian conceptualisations of habitus and the theoretical construct of cultural density (Waite, 2013). Using this framework, we investigate schools’ institutional habitus, which can briefly be described as ‘the way we do things here’. Shusterman (1999, p.5) argues that “habitus acts through its bodily incorporation of social relationships and meanings (i.e. those involving reference to others) but without needing to articulate them in terms of explicit rules or reasons”; it is manifested in unthinking forms of behaviour and action that are taken for granted both in the conduct of relationships and in the approach to teaching and learning. Cultural density refers to the strength and composition of dispositions to practice and norms of behaviour embedded within places that mediate the possibilities for action of individuals in them (Waite, 2013, p.2).

Combining the notion of habitus with cultural density will enable us to explore and explain how schools and places can support and/or obstruct educational and societal aspirations.

Method

A key element of the project dataset is our innovative priorities assessment tool (PAT) (Waite et al, forthcoming), an approach that utilises quantitative and qualitative methods to monitor schools’ specific priorities, ways in which they have used LINE to address these priorities, and how successful they believe these LINE activities have been. Findings from this method will be combined with quantitative and qualitative data from other sources, including surveys, case studies and interviews, to examine the way in which schools’ LINE activities have been focused around their aspirational and grounded priorities and how these have been framed around local challenges. Following collation and synthesis of the different datasources, we will reduce the data (Miles and Huberman, 1994) to provide specific examples from a small number of schools. This sample will provide illustrations of the types of school priorities demonstrated throughout the project, will provide examples of innovative curricular and pedagogical practices in addressing their priorities through LINE, and will provide evidence of some of the challenges and/or successes experienced in experimenting with new approaches to teaching and learning. We frame the analysis by the Bourdieusian concept of habitus and Waite’s notion of cultural density as described above. In the paper we examine how school leaders and teachers are using a variety of creative ways to establish LINE activities as part of everyday activity rather than – as has often been the case – an enjoyable ‘add-on’ to curricular activities. We then examine the reported impacts of LINE activity, that include greater student motivation and engagement with learning, improved teacher/student relations and improved pupil communication skills, to consider the following questions: • how can learning in natural environments through schools make a positive contribution to addressing wider social issues? • What pedagogical and environmental factors are significant in this? • How can successful practice become embedded and sustained in schools?

Expected Outcomes

The project’s focus on schools in areas of high multiple deprivation means that the findings will have direct application for schools that either engage or wish to engage in outdoor learning activities throughout Europe and more widely, as issues relating to poverty, immigration, unemployment and disability are common to all nations. The paper’s examination of how schools located in such areas use LINE in addressing their priorities will have relevance for international researchers and practitioners by providing examples of innovative practice that can be adapted to suit particular national and local circumstances. Similarly, by examining the ways and the extent to which schools have employed LINE activities to address their priorities, we will provide theoretical and practical insight into how/if institutional culture can be shifted to value new pedagogies and places associated with curricular LINE activities. Changing school culture can be a difficult process (Collarbone, 2009) and insight into how this may be achieved through examples of innovative pedagogy and curriculum development and at the grassroots level is of relevance to all involved in the education sector. Finally, an important aspect of the Natural Connections Demonstration Project is its replicability and amplification both in the UK and more widely, and our learning from this project will inform international educators who wish to introduce and/or expand LINE in schools.

References

Collarbone, P. (2009) Creating tomorrow: planning, developing and sustaining change in education and other public sector services, London and New York: Continuum. Dillon, J. and Dickie, I. 2012. Learning in the Natural Environment: Review of social and economic benefits and barriers, Natural England Commissioned Reports, Number 092. Foster, A. & Linney, G. (2007). Reconnecting Children through Outdoor Education. COEO Research Document: Executive Summary, Council of Outdoor Educators of Ontario. HM Government (2011) The Natural Choice: securing the value of nature. Available at: http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm80/8082/8082.asp. Miles, A.M. and Huberman, M. (1994) Qualitative Data Analysis (Second Edition), London: Sage. Moss, S. (2012) Natural Childhood. Available at: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/document-1355766991839/. Mygind, E. (2009). A comparison of children’s statements about social relations and teaching in the classroom and in the outdoor environment. Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning, 9(2), pp.151-169. Natural England (2013) Monitor of Engagement with the Natural Environment: the national survey on people and the natural environment. Annual report from the 2012-13 survey. Available at: http://publications.naturalengland.org.uk/publication/5331309618528256?category=47018. National Institute Health and Care Excellence (NICE) (2013) Managing overweight and obesity among children and young people: lifestyle weight management services. Available at: Overweightandobesechildren@nice.org.uk. Passy, R., Reed, F. & Morris, M. 2010. Impact of school gardening on learning: Final Report to the Royal Horticultural Society. Available at: http://apps.rhs.org.uk/schoolgardening/uploads/documents/Impact_of_school_gardening_on_learning_821.pdf. Public Health England (PHE) (2013) How healthy behaviour supports children’s wellbeing. Available at: http://www.noo.org.uk/data_sources. Shusterman, R. (ed.) (1999). Bourdieu: A critical reader, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd Waite, S. (2013). ‘Knowing your place in the world’: how place and culture support and obstruct educational aims, Cambridge Journal of Education, 43 (4), 413-434. Waite, S. (ed.) (2011) Learning outside the classroom: from birth to eleven, London: Sage. Waite, S., Passy , R. & Gilchrist, M. (forthcoming) Getting it off PAT: researching the use of urban nature in schools. European Outdoor Education Conference proceedings, Stockholm, June 2013

Author Information

Rowena Passy (presenting / submitting)

Plymouth University, United Kingdom

Sue Waite