On the Construction, Deconstruction and Reconstruction of Experience in 'Critical' Outdoor Education‪.‬

Abstract Experience is at the historical heart of outdoor education, caring for the environment/nature is a new moral imperative for 'critical' outdoor education, yet the activity basis of the outdoor/nature experience/imperative and the discourse(s) in which they function are rarely examined. To rectify this oversight, different constructions of critical outdoor education are contrasted to highlight the potency of the ecopolitic and (socio-)environmental ethic embodied in each construction. The essay concludes reconstructive with an elaboration of some critical dimensions of outdoor education. The paper invites 'reflective' and 'critical' outdoor/experiential educators to scrutinize the meanings they give to 'experience', how they construct it pedagogically in and through selected activities in certain environments and how, in turn, there are individual, social and ecological consequences for the 'experiencer', (outdoor) education's role in constituting such subjectivities and, subsequently, how 'inner', 'social' and 'outer' natures are constructed, often in contradiction.