Nothing Compares?: Reflections on Cross-cultural Work in the Field of Outdoor Learning

Author(s):

Sue Waite(presenting / submitting)Mads Bølling Peter Bentsen

Conference:

ECER 2015

Network:

30. Environmental and Sustainability Education Research (ESER)

Format:

Paper

Session Information

30 SES 05 B, ESE Promoting Student's Abilities

Paper Session

Time:

2015-09-09

11:00-12:30

Room:

105.Oktatóterem [C]

Chair:

Marco Rieckmann

Contribution

Literature about outdoor learning often describes practices and outcomes without considering the philosophical and pedagogical basis for their implementation (Scott, Reid and Jones 2003; Leather, 2013). There is also a tendency for context to be ignored in arguing the benefits of outdoor learning (Brookes, 2002). However, increasingly the significance of place and rich cultural heritage is being acknowledged (Stewart 2011; Waite 2013). This calls for greater theorisation of how cultural norms become enacted in practice.

This paper draws on two theoretical frameworks (Bereday 1964; Waite, Davis and Brown 2006) that we have found helpful to exemplify how we have tried to address the challenges of working across national policies and practices illustrated with a comparison of udeskole in Denmark and forest schools in England.

Method

Due to a relative paucity of empirical evidence and the small scale nature of much of the research on udeskole and Forest Schools, we chose to conduct literature reviews to draw together existing knowledge and analyse the pedagogical principles that underpin both forms of outdoor learning in order to compare them. In order to structure the comparisons, we applied a framework developed in an empirical study with Forest Schools (Waite, Davis and Brown, 2006). Our analysis followed a process recommended by Bereday (1964) for comparative work in education: description, interpretation, juxtaposition, and comparison.

Expected Outcomes

We found that although the two forms share certain characteristics, the way they are enacted appears to differ due to cultural factors such as the educational systems, cultural attitudes towards performance and professionalism of teachers. Both are growing within a common globalised values and ideas (i.e. the naturalistic / reform pedagogical root and cultural attitudes towards nature), but systemic differences between our two countries in terms of professional autonomy, educational marketization, and risk assessment create distinct pathways of implementation. Greater autonomy for teachers appears to facilitate use of a wider range of pedagogical approaches and their flexibility to do so. Using parallel literature reviews and a framework for comparing pedagogical principles, commonalties and differences in these two forms of outdoor learning became apparent. The findings from this comparison are the subject of an article currently under review by Environmental Education Research. Despite the valuable insights that this comparison of texts about practice offer, we suggest that the macro needs also to be examined in the micro in order to take better account of the situated nature of outdoor learning. Our intention through this paper is to problematise the limitations of what text about practice can tell us. We will argue that outdoor learning, perhaps to an even greater extent than classroom based learning (Kelly, 2014), is subject to complicated and complex cultural influences associated with place (Waite 2013) that research grounded in practice may better illuminate.

References

Bereday, G.Z.F. (1964) Comparative method in education. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Brookes, A. (2002) Gilbert White never came this far south: Naturalist Knowledge and the Limits of Universalist Environmental Education. Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, 7(2), Spring 2002, 73-87. Kelly, P. (2014) "Intercultural comparative research: rethinking insider and outsider perspectives", Oxford Review of Education, 40 (2): 1-20. Leather, M. (2013) "Lost in Translation: a Critique of ‘Forest Schools’ in the UK" Paper presented at 6th International Outdoor Education Research Conference, University of Otago, Dunedin, 26th-29th November 2013. Scott, W., A. Reid and N. Jones (2003) Growing Schools: The Innovation projects (2002-2003) external evaluation. Bath; Council for Environmental Education and University of Bath. Stewart, A. (2011) Becoming-Speckled Warbler: Re/creating Australian Natural History Pedagogy. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, vol. 27(1), 2011, 68-80. 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.

Author Information

Sue Waite (presenting / submitting)

Plymouth University, United Kingdom

Mads Bølling

University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Peter Bentsen

Steno Diabetes Center, Denmark

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