The primacy of place in education in outdoor settings

Abstract

In this chapter, we will show when and how place needs to be and can be reasserted as a key unifying concern for outdoor pedagogy. We argue for place-responsiveness as viable purposeful direction for outdoor education that allows us to address linked relational concerns: the development of the person, the development of skills and practice abilities, and the development of more sustainable relations with and in place. We trace when and how place is gaining more of a platform as a key aspect of international educational policy developments. The turn towards place in academic writing is noted and explored. Employing a relational ontology, we argue for place-responsiveness in outdoor education. To realise placeresponsiveness will require a widening of the frame of reference and a dynamic approach since the elements involved in place-as-event mean that place-based entities and people are relationally co-emerging. We offer a typology for planning with place in mind and a manifesto for placeresponsive outdoor teaching.