A surprising discovery: five pedagogical skills outdoor and experiential educators might offer more mainstream educators in this time of change

ABSTRACT

This article draws from the experience of outdoor and experiential educators working in the context of a radical, long-term formal public education research project. One of the accidental findings from the research is that experienced outdoor educators may have particular pedagogical skills, likely honed by the contexts in which they work, that can be of use to mainstream educators trying to expand their pedagogical repertoire, teach outdoors or be more environmentally focused in their practices. The article begins by contextualising the Maple Ridge Environmental School Project, describing the researchers and methods and explaining how the research team came to their insights. A discussion follows of five pedagogical skills identified by the researchers that outdoor and experiential educators may possess which might be offered more clearly to classroom teachers and formal teacher training processes and/or be more clearly enunciated for those involved in formal and informal outdoor and experiential training contexts.

KEYWORDS:

• Outdoor
• environmental
• ecological
• sustainability
• pedagogical
• skills
• teacher-training
• formal and informal education

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the careful work of the reviewers. For more information on this research contact Sean Blenkinsop at [email protected].

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. See http://es.sd42.ca/ (site last accessed 15 March 2016).

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Notes on contributors

Sean Blenkinsop

Sean Blenkinsop is an Associate Professor of Education at Simon Fraser University. He is currently the principle investigator at several outdoor public ‘schools’.

John Telford

John Telford is a Lecturer and Programme Director in Outdoor Education at the University of Edinburgh. His research interests include: experiential education, the relationships between teacher, learner, and place, and the application of Bourdieu’s theory of social practice to outdoor education.

Marcus Morse

Marcus Morse is a Senior Lecturer and Academic Program Director in Outdoor and Environmental Education at La Trobe University, Bendigo. With expertise in phenomenological research his current research interests include: art and outdoor education, sustainability education, and educator entrepreneurship.