Well-Being and Outdoor Pedagogies in Primary Schooling: The Nexus of Well-Being and Safety (Refereed Papers) (Report‪)‬

Introduction This paper draws upon preliminary findings of the Well-being and Outdoor Pedagogies project (1) which examines various notions of well-being and is concerned to develop the concept of outdoor pedagogies. The ethnographic fieldwork for this project was conducted in the spring of 2008 at a small charity-run residential outdoor centre in the English countryside. The fieldwork involved the centre staff, the visiting teachers from Oliver Primary School and their pupils, aged 8 and 9. Using participant observation during the residential stay at the centre, events were recorded as they were taking place, in order to acquire a deep understanding of the people in that social situation (Maykut & Morehouse, 1994). Each primary school teacher was observed while facilitating a session, taking into account the impact that his/her approach had on the children involved in the outdoor activity which included 'team building' activities and nature exploration. In-depth interviews were then carried out with the teachers, Ms Grey, Ms Kent and Mr Harris, the head teacher, as well as with six pupils and their mothers who volunteered to be interviewed. The one to one interviews with the teachers took place at the outdoor centre during the school's visit and lasted about an hour. A strong rapport had already been built with the teachers from research undertaken at the centre the preceding year. The initial research for this well-being project explored children's and their significant others' perceptions and experiences of risk and safety. This paper considers understandings of risk and draws attention to the nexus of well-being and safety in outdoor learning. We examine here how the parents and teachers define well-being, and how being in the outdoors is seen by them to affect pupils' well-being. An interpretative approach was adopted in order to understand and make sense of the perceptions of the teachers and parents of the children (pupils) who went to the centre, in relation to pupils' well-being, and how they linked well-being to being in the outdoors. This paper is a work in progress.