Journeys outside the classroom

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There is growing support for education that is cross-curricular, locally-relevant and involves a high degree of student responsibility. This investigation examines the perspectives of students who have participated in an outdoor learning programme that is theoretically underpinned by the above themes. Outdoor Journeys involves learning about the socio-cultural and geo-physical story of students' local landscape. The programme is hallmarked by students planning and undertaking journeys in their neighbourboods. Students generate questions, do research in order to find answers, and then share their findings with their classmates. A case study employing focus group interviews was used to explore the views of 33 participants between the ages of 8–11 years, who came from three schools in the Edinburgh area. Findings indicate that Outdoor Journeys offered a means of learning across the curriculum in a manner that was inter-disciplinary, involved a high degree of student initiative, and was heavily rooted in local history and ecology. However, issues were raised that require further attention. There appeared to be insufficient emphasis on students sharing their findings with their classmates. There are also uncertainties about how the ‘place consciousness’ of the pedagogy relates to the dominant epistemology of the official curriculum areas that were explored.