‘Why are we here?’ Taking ‘place’ into account in UK outdoor environmental education

Abstract

‘Place’ is an under-researched and poorly documented element of UK outdoor environmental education. In the international literature, North American and Australian researchers and practitioners show considerable attention to ‘place’. Yet UK outdoor environmental educators and researchers seem to have neglected this area despite calls for increased attention to this element of education in the outdoors. This paper starts from an example of environmental education practice and develops various questions around the role of ‘place’. Investigating the epistemology and ontology of place-based education, the paper draws on the considerable and diverse non-educational literature on ‘place’. Action research is put forward as a suitable fit in the search for an appropriate research methodology for place-based education, and a further set of pressing questions are raised.