‘From lone-sailor to fleet’: Supporting educators through Wild Pedagogies

Introduction

At the time of writing this paper the UK is engaged in a systemic response to the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. Our schools, businesses, institutions and places of work have closed, with much of the population in ‘lockdown’ – working from home or furloughed from employment. While the implications of such a radical departure from the normal routines of life are forcing us to look again at how we have come to organise society, many thoughts and conversations are turning to the outdoors and our connection to the natural world. Newspapers are running articles extolling the virtues of slowing down, noticing the dawn chorus and taking time to witness the seasons (e.g. Moss, 2020; Stoppard, 2020). Gaby Hinsliff noted in one such article that ‘our relationship with the natural world is changing as this crisis strips away the layers between humans and the surroundings we used to be too busy to take in’ (Hinsliff, 2020). Meanwhile, serious policy discussions are being had about how outdoor education might be one approach to bring children back into schools safely (e.g. Brooks, 2020; CLOtC, 2020; UNICEF, 2020). For those working in the outdoor and environmental education worlds, this is an important shift in the public narrative.

Of course, the evidence for the benefits of outdoor learning is not just in the pages of the press, but in the many recent studies conducted into dual strands of intersecting outcomes of nature connection: improved mental health and wellbeing (Pritchard et al., 2019; Wolsko and Lindberg, 2013), and the development of pro-environmental behaviours (Defra, 2018; Lumber et al., 2017). While a steady decline of connection to nature has been observed for some time across all age groups (Richardson et al., 2019; Soga and Gaston, 2016), the current crisis has thrown into stark contrast the importance of natural connection and relationship within the outdoors. For some the Covid19 pandemic has provided benefits – indeed a chance to slow down and appreciate outdoor spaces; yet for many others this has been a time of captivity and restriction. Some have been quick to highlight the limits to rights of access on land which is privately owned, the injustices demonstrated by vastly different abilities to access green spaces, and the issues this causes for many looking to mitigate the health and wellbeing implications of the pandemic (Gray and Kellas, 2020; Monbiot, 2020; Shrubsole, 2020).

For an environmental education movement trying to find its feet at a time of looming climate crisis, these conversations provide an opportunity to reimagine initial teacher training (ITT) and continuing professional development (CPD) approaches appropriate to the current time (Collins et al., 2020). Evidence suggests that we desperately need to move beyond the well-rehearsed focus on knowledge acquisition toward relational approaches which build connection (Heimlich et al., 2013; Lumber et al., 2017). Increasingly it is argued that nature connection needs to encompass emotions, deeper understandings and moments of reflection (Carmi et al., 2015; Conradson, 2005). While the upheaval felt by a world in flux might give educators reason to challenge their personal practice, equipping the system and those who work within it with the skills and confidence to undertake such a rethink is another step that must also be taken. Mannion et al. (2013) suggest that time in nature with learners demands from educators a deeper set of interactions based on the particularities of the locale, which they term ‘place-responsive pedagogies’. The authors suggest that such an approach might involve ‘interactions in outdoor natural places that are flexible, contingent, open-ended, yet purposeful tasks through being for the aim of understanding and improving human–environment relations’ (Mannion et al., 2013: 803).

While some teacher educators will be drawn to consider issues such as access and implications for the delivery of curricula in out-of-classroom settings (Castle et al., 2010; Fuller et al., 2003), others will ask how we might begin to develop the necessary competencies of teaching staff (Beames et al., 2012; Mannion et al., 2013). In particular, the ways in which educators step outside the classroom and the school grounds, into the surrounding community and beyond, is governed by the ways in which they see themselves, their roles and their own connection to the outdoors; and this in turn is systematically shaped by policy – setting the cultural agenda for education. We can look to the experiences of the policy shifts enacted by the Scottish Government when they unveiled the Curriculum for Excellence; weaving together citizenship, sustainable development and outdoor learning, to

Connect children and young people with the natural world, with our built heritage and our culture and society … [and to] … encourage staff and students to see each other in a different light, building positive relationships and improving self-awareness and understanding of others (Scottish Government, 2014).

This paper details a gathering of educational practitioners under the theme of ‘wild pedagogies’, and provides discussion on its value and purpose, alongside opportunities held in such events for CPD and teacher training. The gathering was inspired by the historical nature connection movement including Earth Education and Deep Ecology (Devall and Sessions, 1985; Van Matre, 1990), but particularly more recent relational conceptions of outdoor education, including Wild Pedagogies (Jickling et al., 2018). As such, the paper critically engages with emergent themes and commonalities found between these forms of gathering and previous explorations of Wild Pedagogies. The convenors of the gathering (the authors of this paper) invited a group of educators to reflect on the purpose and potential of wilderness and pedagogies, and the possible directions for wilding education policy – particularly the role of teacher development and training, in a setting which supports open-ended interactions and purposeful tasks. What follows is an overview of the organisation, delivery and reflections on this programme; a discussion of the value and outcomes of the gathering; and a critical engagement with the opportunities present for educators. We have organised our discussion into four principles which find commonality with the six wild pedagogies touchstones found in Jickling et al. (2018). These principles seek a nuanced and practical grounding and are offered as a catalyst for thinking at a time of great crisis, where the opportunity for deep reflection about what comes next for education has never been more pressing.

An emerging wild policy and teacher training context

Given the extent of the global environmental and climate crisis, many educators are now looking to new ways of equipping themselves for educating younger generations growing up in an increasingly turbulent and uncertain future. Recent global educational initiatives are seeking to help meet this ITT and CPD need. For example, in the face of under-developed curricula engagement with the climate crisis, the UN Climate Change Teachers programme has developed a CPD course (UN, 2020). In the UK alone, this CPD opportunity has reached over 30,000 educators and includes establishing a national benchmark for primary and secondary teachers (UN, 2020). Similarly, a lack of explicit sustainability curricula links with marine issues has seen an upsurge of interest in Ocean Literacy education in Europe resulting in pan-continental training programmes (Fauville, 2019; Parr, 2018). Engagements with sustainability education on various scales are occurring despite relatively little incentive or resourcing from governmental bodies, and educators themselves are realising the need to build capacity, understanding and resources to better equip themselves to prepare their students for a sustainable future (Huggins and Evans, 2017). Although in the UK we are yet to see policy guidance for educators emerging from the 2019 declaration of a climate and ecological emergency, it is clear that ITT and CPD opportunities will continue to play a crucial role in enhancing and informing educational practices as society orientates itself to face the challenges ahead.

Within the current frameworks underpinning ITT and CPD in the UK, there is reason to be hopeful that such relational and place-responsive approaches might find purchase. The UK standards for teachers’ professional development focus on improving pupil outcomes (DfE, 2016). They aim to achieve this through both direct and indirect approaches to improving teacher practice. In particular, indirect professional development provides an opportunity to consider the development of educator competencies and expertise in new settings – with opportunities to improve both educational practice and student outcomes.

The difficulty here however is the seeming emphasis on outcomes. Instrumental learning is the mainstay of UK educational policy, and little room is made for developing the competencies for ‘complexity, the unknown and spontaneity’ (Jickling et al., 2018: 84) within such a prescribed framework. How then should we proceed, in order to rewild education at a time of such crisis? Achieving a blended approach to CPD which strikes a complementary balance between instrumental and emancipatory pathways seems one plausible approach. Such a blended approach lends itself to the paradigm teachers are currently having to work within, while developing opportunities for exploratory and emergent learning outcomes too (Wals, 2010). Indeed, the enmeshed position of teachers taking part in outdoor activity with groups places them in the most opportune situation to develop these two strands of professional development. Mannion et al. (2013: 805) comment on this by suggesting that ‘place-responsive curricula as lived are brought about by a co-authoring or intermingling of the human and non-human via teachers’ (and pupils’) responsiveness to a changing and contingent environment’. Such intermingling is arguably inevitable for outdoor education; thus, it is the development of competencies and experience in facilitating this which wild pedagogies CPD might focus on. Here, then, the wild place of gathering provides something that other instrumentally focused provisions do not: they give educators an opportunity to develop aspects of their practice which resist plans and outcomes. In so doing, open space is created for ‘the possibility for the unexpected connection to be made, the unplanned event to occur, and the simple explanation to become more complex’ (Jickling et al., 2018: 84).

Further, such wild pedagogies CPD approaches develop experiences which give space for relational encounters with other ecologies and the emergent aspects of place – for ‘locating the wild’ as the Crex Crex collective put it. If then, as this paper is implying, such a wild and responsive approach to learning in outdoor places can be positioned as a complementary rather than competing approach to teacher CPD, what have we learnt from our own attempts at developing such training and working with educators which might signpost educational policy development?

Jickling et al. (2018) provide six touchstones for developing wild pedagogies in practice, while Mannion et al. (2013) have made assertions regarding teacher education and professional development for preparing teachers to become place-responsive. Bringing these previous observations together with the reflective discussions that have emerged from our own wild pedagogies work, a particular need surfaces – that of community and mutual support. As one educator we have worked with puts it, how do we find ‘connection and fellowship held in a landscape of acceptance and nourishment which allows us to let go, embrace change, and draw collective strength?’

A Devon Wild Pedagogies gathering

A year after the publication of Wild Pedagogies – charting the travels and musings of the ‘Crex Crex collective’ as they ventured by sail through the islands of the Inner Hebrides on the west coast of Scotland (Jickling et al., 2018) – a small group of educators in the south-west of the UK began to consider what such a gathering would look like if undertaken in the rolling pastures and uplands of Devon.

Previous symposiums and gatherings shared important common ground in that they took place on foot or boat, far away from cities and towns. ¹ Yet, somehow, with its deep cultural and natural histories, a past mottled with industry, and its changeable weather, significant similarities could be found on the escarpments of Devon. Farmland in the UK (such as Oxen Park shown in Figure 1) is often rich in wildlife, and bursting with interest and intrigue. Thick, uncut hedgerows, woodland borders, uncut meadows, ponds, orchards and mixed field-scale market gardening approaches all do their bit to diversify life and add tapestry to the landscape.

OPEN IN VIEWER

Figure 1.

Oxen Park is a mixed working farm which welcomes groups of all ages on residential visits.

Such is the setting which was chosen for the three-day Devon Wild Pedagogies gathering in late spring 2019. Oxen Park Farm is home to the environmental education and land-based learning organisation ‘On The Hill’. It is well set up for welcoming groups to the land, with a field kitchen, polytunnel and camping space. The farm itself is mixed arable and pasture and provides a range of service-learning opportunities for visiting groups. The nature of experiential learning and being in a community with responsibility toward the running of the farm (from cooking meals, to planting crops and looking after the animals) was a facet of Wild Pedagogies that as facilitators we were interested in participants exploring, in line with place-responsive pedagogical approaches outlined by Mannion et al. (2013). In essence, we asked ourselves, what would it be like to connect deeply with place, and history, while participating in a working farmed environment? Resisting the typical notions of wild as distinct and inaccessible, participants would be encouraged to focus on how natural connection with its co-benefits of wellbeing and behavioural manifestations, could be developed in a farmed environment. This provided a recognisable, yet wholly distinct approach to the original wild pedagogies gathering as experienced by the Crex Crex Collective. Our intention was not to create a group or community beyond the gathering – but to enable the space for that to emerge if it was desirable. Our focus was wholly on the bringing together of people for the exploration of themes related to Wild Pedagogies.

The invitation was sent to 15 educators (from within schools, as well as higher education and independent practitioners) who had previously expressed interest in exploring these themes. We specifically wanted to consider how this type of gathering might work for CPD purposes, and if this could be something which was beneficial to a wider audience of educators. We entered into the gathering in the spirit of experiment and openness. The invitation stated:

The purpose of the weekend will be to come together as a small group of practitioners and researchers, to connect, celebrate our work, share space and time, and explore questions such as – ‘How do we deepen our relationship with place, land and culture in our education work, while contributing to the renewal of sustainable citizenship and a societal shift in light of the environmental/social justice crises we now face?’

Reflections

The Devon Wild Pedagogies gathering offered a space for open-ended practice, free from predetermined outcomes, as well as of peace and relaxation – recharge and rest. We closed the three day gathering with a walk up the chert escarpment to the north of the farm, taking in the view of the valley as the morning sun warmed the land. Three reflective questions were posed, seeking exploration rather than answers, as we wandered in slow and intentional paired discourse across the farm, through orchard, pasture and woodland:

What has been the most valuable aspect of our time together?

The responses to the questions were recorded by each pair before changing partners. ² Considering key findings from each question in turn:

Participants commented that there was a clear importance attached to the pace of the gathering – and balance between organisation and openness. ‘[There was] a slowness of being for authenticity to emerge and give voice to what is important out of the mundane … reconnection to unnurtured beliefs and aspirations through a shared simplicity of self’. Another pair commented that the gathering presented an opportunity for ‘authentic connection held in a regenerative place’ where the land, the work and conversation consisted of ‘embodied reminders of reciprocal aspects of being and becoming that need to be balanced – mind, heart, body and earth’.

Some considered that there was a ‘permission for space and time to slow and simplify, feeling welcomed, as we are’ without pressure for performance, or to produce an outcome. Speaking more bluntly, one conversation elicited reflections on the community facets which produced a comfort of ‘being in a held space that feels like love – and being able to engage with the land and others as a participant’.

By coalescing as practitioners who often work at the margins and push norms of acceptance in their own practice and places of work, a form of renewal was experienced by some:

[We found] connection and fellowship held in a landscape of acceptance and nourishment [which allowed us to let go, embrace change, and draw collective strength … This has provided a nurturing space to continue sailing; not with the prevailing wind but still with a sense of being in the midst of a fleet, rather than as a lone sailor.

A final moment of reflection saw consensus emerge for the group ‘to be part of a collective journey toward growing an ever wider movement towards hubs of good landed practice. Coming home to the land and self…’

While the gathering itself did not explicitly attempt to explore wider dimensions of educator training, the reflections shared here hold significance for educational development processes and practices. It is pertinent for us to now turn to these broader issues of concern and apply the experiences and reflections emerging from the Devon Wild Pedagogies gathering to key principles for wilding educator development on a larger scale.

Principles for wilding educator development

The principles which follow are offered in order to guide CPD opportunities for educators who are attempting to find a balance in their practice, between instrumental curriculum delivery and emergent and emancipatory aspects of being and learning outdoors. Wilding educator development is essential if we are to find meaningful ways of infusing education with place-based and relational approaches to working within communities and more-than-human nature. Undertaking such a radical shift toward attentive and wild approaches to education sits far outside the mainstream experience. The contention behind the principles that follow is that the cultural conditions for educational practice can be set (and challenged) in multiple ways: through national and school-based policy, as well as individual teachers who enact on a daily basis the educational approaches which make up the systemic approach. While the hope is that by signposting these principles, it might be better understood how such changes could occur on a national or school scale, the conviction is that individual educators with enough support can begin to set cultural precedents in their own contexts. We hope that the principles that follow offer both structure and inspiration for wilding educator development at a variety of scales.

Closing

One year later, reflecting on the Devon Wild Pedagogies gathering at Oxen Park at a time of true upheaval, it is hard not to revisit the manifested importance of such occasions in connecting educators with the essence of their practice. Yet, the social and cultural context we now find ourselves in provides opportunities to consider what a wilding of education might look like in practice – and to be bold in our aspirations for relational education. Reflected in much of the participant feedback, the gathering was an opportunity for educators to ‘nurture’ themselves and each other, ‘draw collective strength’ and be included in a group which was able to openly share and commune. The gathering was intentionally set on relational foundations, and followed the cues and touchstones of Wild Pedagogies in its planning (Jickling et al., 2018). It also beckoned its participants to become open to one another, to new forms of practice and to the surrounding environment in line with considerations of place-responsive pedagogies (Mannion et al., 2013). Connection to the natural world was intentionally heightened through service learning as was companionship and closeness to community, with outcomes for personal practice, natural connection and wellbeing noted by participants.

The gathering in Devon has become a temporally distinct waymark for many of its participants and their professional development journeys, exploring a revitalised and rewilded education (although many of us have remained in touch, and when the current lockdown restrictions allow we intend to meet again). To make it more so would require a larger commitment from the policy and governance structures of which we are a part. As Scotland has succeeded in doing, making the policy decision to deliver curricula (partly) through outdoor learning is indeed achievable. The ITT and CPD needed to achieve this can follow the blended approach modelled here, which enables place-responsive and wild approaches to education to take place. This needn’t presume a radically different direction in terms of policy development as student outcomes can be improved through both direct and indirect CPD, and through both instrumental and emancipatory approaches (Ardoin et al., 2018). Achieving such a balance is not without its challenges as there are clear points of tension, conflict and contradiction between the different paradigms of wild education and mainstream schooling. It is clear that the emergence of such blended approaches will require facilitatory support and training, much of which will need to focus on development of skills and approaches for educators unfamiliar with outdoor learning. However, allied to this, educators will also need support for deploying these skills in new environments, for becoming responsive to place and culture – and not least, for challenging the institutional and community structures of which they are a part. For these less objective aspects of outdoor learning, wild and place-responsive pedagogies have much to offer.

Attempting new CPD practices that deeply question prevailing norms, seems an ever increasingly important ‘learning space’ to support if we hope to sustain educators in processes of change ‘with an imagination adequate to the possibilities and the strangeness and the dangers on this earth in this moment’ (Solnit, 2010: 5). While the Wild Pedagogies gathering offered a degree of respite from the patterns and routines which shape mainstream education, it was by no means simply a retreat (by which we mean a deliberate distancing and removal of ourselves from the prevailing conditions). Moreover, it provided the means to connect with meaning and purpose, and to recharge those who felt isolated and alone while trying to innovate new ways of practising their profession. Looking back at this through the lens of the current crisis it seems all the more important to offer spaces of openness, dialogue, emergence and opportunity. If we are to respond to the popular calls for more outdoor education practice in the UK, and the growing body of research demonstrating multiple benefits of nature connection we need to rethink how we offer spaces of connection and sharing for practitioners at the forefront of delivering such educational opportunities. Such a response can happen at a variety of scales – from systemic policy at a national and institutional level, to the focus and resourcing of individual educators. Moving collectively toward a wilder vision for education requires the building of competencies through CPD and training, but perhaps more important are the networks and structures of mutual support; so that educators might begin to feel, as one Wild Pedagogue put it, ‘as part of a fleet, rather than a lone sailor’.