Learning a landscape enskilment pedagogy and a sense of place
- Authors: Wattchow, Brian , Prins, Alex
- Date: 2019
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: The Routledge companion to landscape studies Chapter 8 p. 102-111
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- Description: Our goal in this chapter is to pose, and respond to, a deceptively simple question: How do learners learn a landscape? But of course it is, naturally, a deep and profound question that speaks to how humans relate to the landscapes in which they live. Crucially, the question also anticipates how teachers and learners relate to one another. In our role as outdoor educators of pre-service teachers we often find ourselves working in a range of localities using particu-lar activities such as bushwalking, sea kayaking, snorkelling and surfing. It is all too easy to treat the landscapes within which these activities occur as value-neutral venues, as simply a means to achieve personal, social and environmental educational outcomes (Wattchow and Brown 2011). These activities and the landscapes in which they are practised become ahis-torical, rather than activities and locations with long and fascinating cultural histories (Miles and Wattchow 2015). There can be a tendency to abstract learning outcomes and inoculate learners against the influence of the particularities and peculiarities of local places and the activities being undertaken. While this may be done with good intentions, like teaching for generalisable knowledge that can be applied anywhere, our concern is that the essence of doing, knowing and learning gets lost when it becomes disconnected from the land upon which it occurs
Physical literacy scoping project : children and families 2022-2023 final report
- Authors: Fenton, Sam , Porter, Joanne , Fletcher, Anna , Dabkowski, Elissa , Prins, Alex
- Date: 2023
- Type: Text , Technical report , Report
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- Description: The Physical Literacy Scoping Project: Children and Families was an initiative of the Latrobe Health Assembly (LHA) Physical Literacy Working Group (PLWG). The research project was funded by the Latrobe Health Assembly and completed by the Community Evaluation Research Group (CERG) in partnership with Institute of Education, Arts and Community (IEAC) at Federation University. The scope of the project included: Enabling community agencies; engaging stakeholders from health promotion, physical activity, education, sport, recreation, and recreation planning; Identifying and prioritising projects; identifying existing support, funding and initiatives and identifying needs for training, education, and ongoing support.
The pedagogic moment : enskilment as another way of being in outdoor education
- Authors: Prins, Alex , Wattchow, Brian
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning Vol. 20, no. 1 (2020), p. 81-91
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- Description: This theoretical paper aims to contribute to the debate about a perceived activity-environment tension in outdoor education. Tim Ingold’s extensive writings on enskilment are used to explore what it means to be skilful in outdoor activities and how this can contribute to dwelling in outdoor places. Four ‘threads’ of enskilment—taskscape, guided attention, storytelling and wayfinding—are each discussed in terms of how they contribute to the way that leaners learn to become enskiled. Discussions of Ingold’s ideas are coupled with van Manen’s insights into the pedagogic moment to describe what is required of the educator to teach for enskilment. The authors’ draw examples from their teaching experiences on coastal outdoor education programmes and conclude by suggesting some practices that favour an enskilment approach. © 2019, © 2019 Institute for Outdoor Learning.
Young surfers finding their wave: telling the tale of enskilment in surf places
- Authors: Prins, Alex , Wattchow, Brian
- Date: 2023
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Leisure Studies Vol. 42, no. 2 (2023), p. 268-281
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- Description: This paper seeks to contribute to the growing body of literature focused on the recreational activity of surfing. Investigations into how young people learn to surf are rare, particularly those that focus on the pedagogical aspects involved in learning the practical ‘know-how’ required to surf in particular places and under specific environmental conditions (tide, wind, swell, currents, terrain). How do young people learn where and when a break will be worth a surf? When to duck dive under a broken wave or when to paddle further out? Recent research suggests that a process of enskilment, a form of knowledgeable practice, may provide pedagogical insights into how young people are developing the practical know-how to be able to surf skilfully and safely in particular places. This research used narrative methodology as an alternative way to investigate and represent these complex (and often tacit) aspects of a human learning experience, and findings are presented in the form of a set of short stories. This paper draws from that research to provide important insights into the phenomenon of how young people learn to surf with the intention of improving formal coastal experiences such as those in the leisure and education fields. © 2022 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.