Concerns of how ‘place’ may affect young people’s academic, employment and general lifelong outcomes focus primarily on neighbourhood characteristics such as crime, violence, poverty and distance or isolation. In Wales, through curricular initiatives like the Cwricwlwm Cymreig, representations of place give particular emphasis to the historical and cultural dimensions of the areas where pupils live and learn, with the purpose of such an approach including a need to help pupils ‘identify their own sense of Welshness and to feel a heightened sense of belonging to their community and country’ (Welsh Government, 2003). While these are important factors, little consideration is given to helping teachers to understand and incorporate the ways in which young people describe their perception of place into their pedagogical practice.

The purpose of this study is to capture the language young people in Wales use to describe the areas in which they live and to better understand how they come to understand and represent their neighbourhoods and areas where they live. This is accomplished through a mixed methods approach incorporating statistical, thematic and discourse analysis using data collected as part of the WISERDEducation project, a three-year longitudinal study of primary and secondary pupils in Wales. Over 800 Year 8 and Year 10 pupils were asked provide three words that best described the areas in which they live. Analysis of the data provide clarity and insight into young people in Wales’ perception of place, and offer new perspectives on both the landscape of Wales and the everyday lived experiences of the those who live there.

The evidence suggests the majority of pupils possess a positive orientation to their neighbourhoods and the people in them. However, there is a disparity between their representations of place and the policy-driven rhetoric of the Cwricwlwm Cymreig. When organised by location, the responses provided descriptive profiles of these places, the people living there and the relationships they share. These elements can serve as crucial elements in developing critical, placed-based education that enhances pupils’ learning through incorporating local physical, social and cultural elements into pedagogies of place that attempt to acknowledge the multi-faceted reality of pupils’ lives in-situ. The paper concludes with a rationale for educators and pupils in Wales to develop and enact such contextualised pedagogies of place that promote dialectic discussions of what the Welsh Government describes as ‘the distinctive quality of living and learning in Wales’ (Welsh Government, 2003).

Kissling, M. (2012). A living curriculum of place(s). Journal of Curriculum Theorizing. Vol 28 (3). Pp. 101-127 Gruenewald, D. (2003). The best of both worlds: A critical pedagogy of place. Educational Welsh Government. (2003). Developing the Curriculum Cymreig. Retrieved from http:// www.wasacre.org.uk/publications/wag/E-developingthecurriculumcymreig.pdf