Paper short abstract:

This paper considers how children negotiate outdoor school space(s), including the significance of imagining, meaning-making and play in co-constructing ‘place’. Particular attention is given to the use of innovative methodologies within school ethnographies in exploring experiential pedagogies.

Paper long abstract:

In conceptualising schools as social and cultural loci, it is vital that we move beyond the classroom and the built environment in order to consider outdoor spaces, the peripheries of the playground - the inbetween spaces that belong to children. Moreover, we need to understand how these everyday spaces transform into extraordinary places in the eyes of the child, as well as why this is significant within a wider context of experiential outdoor learning experiences and related pedagogies. This is especially important in light of the decline in use of the outdoors between pre-school and primary school practice, particularly in the UK.

Seeking to understand the phenomenon of free-choice and play-based learning experiences from the child's viewpoint involves challenging methodological and theoretical issues, some of which are outlined in this paper. Our research utilises a number of qualitative methods designed to explore children's and adult's thinking and practices, including innovative mobile methods of collecting data. Mobile recording devices (audio recorders placed in small felt bags and headcams) were worn intermittently during outdoor activities by target children (aged 4-6) from two primary schools in the South West of England, over the course of two academic years. This rich data set is triangulated with observational data and interviews with target children, teachers and head teachers.

This paper critically examines the ways in which 'place' is constructed and negotiated through the imaginations and interactions of children, whilst offering reflections regarding the benefits and pitfalls of the chosen methodology.