Places to Rethink Connectedness: Excluded Students and Outdoor Educational Settings

Marginalised and excluded students need to be able to access redemptive spaces and places, and find moments and possibilities, to rethink identity and connectedness; spaces where they are able to pause and begin to see themselves, the world and their place in it, anew. In order to be transformative, these spaces need to be away from the pressures, anxieties and norms, of the formal classroom, where these students have been stigmatised and labelled as unsatisfactory learners, as distractions and bad influences. Our research explores the possibilities of one such space and moment, where experienced mentors work in outdoor educational settings, with small groups of students from a Pupil Referral Unit in a deprived urban area. Whilst there is much research into outdoor education, in particular as relates to the benefits for well-being, these sites remain under-researched for older children and certainly for older students who have been excluded from school.

Place is always situated and entangled with the wider geometries of space and defined through intersections that occur within the wider setting. Place is constructed through the networks of stories that individuals bring with them on arrival. Thus, we differentiate place from space in that place is created in space and in the moment. The students in our research take part in practical activities outdoors, digging, planting and weeding, sharing chores, building fires and preparing food together, creating a sense of place. Working alongside each other, slowly and for extended periods of time, without the constraints that come from conventional teacher student spaces and relationships, mentor and mentee can gradually engage in dialogue. Critical eco-pedagogies, stemming from Freirean critical pedagogies, assert that transformation and raising critical consciousness start with curiosity, questioning and critiquing the world through dialogue. In this way, we can escape the limit-situation of seeing the world as unalterable, unlocking a new reading of the world as unfinished and thus open to change. Students begin to see their histories, educational trajectories and contexts as open to change, as well as being part of wider struggles, making connections between the private and the public. Moreover, Friere argues that learning takes place in moments of unsettling and discomfort. For vulnerable learners, with complex and challenging lives, as for many of those excluded from school, discomfort is often all too present and thus, we argue that a space which offers greater reassurance and support is integral to support their learning. Finding places with a balance between comfort and discomfort is paramount. Place matters.

We combined semi-structured interviews with mentors and visual methods of data collection to access student voice. Specifically, inspired by photovoice research for creating critical dialogue about important issues, we used photographs taken by the pupils themselves of their outdoor environment, to underpin subsequent photo-elicitation interviews. We draw on grounded-theory techniques – including free-writing, inductive coding, clustering and diagramming - to analyse all interviews. In researching excluded students experiences and opinions, as is the case when working with any more vulnerable group, ethical considerations were all the more crucial. Working alongside knowledgeable, experienced mentors with established, supportive, professional relationships underpinned our ethical research.

Findings indicate that an outdoor environment, away from the performative pressures of the classroom and the stresses of their day-to-day lives, provides a supportive safe space for reflection.
Through spending time in these places, students do engage in dialogue, raise questions and begin to see some things differently. This, we argue, enables the beginning of a reengagement both socially and educationally. This research offers insights into the role of places, in outdoor spaces in nature, in creating possibilities for reconstituting identity, learner identity and nature connectedness.

We argue, echoing Freirean critical eco-pedagogy, that addressing climate and social injustice are inherently intertwined. Neoliberalism, as hyper-capitalism, foregrounds the valorisation of market forces, competition, profit, consumerism and the individual, whilst pushing aside concerns around community, society and social justice. Efforts to mitigate the climate emergency are hampered by neoliberal agendas and it is the neoliberal education system that has devalued, side-lined and excluded the students in our research. Place matters in considering how marginalised students navigate educational settings. Ideas of place inform understandings of exclusion from school and here we argue that place can also inform understandings of possibilities for re-engagement and addressing educational inequalities and exclusions.

Exploring places outdoors, and their use with excluded students, offers insights for critical eco-pedagogy in practice, for tackling social and climate justice together.