THE IMPORTANCE OF PLACE-BASED EDUCATION FOR RURAL YOUNG PEOPLE TODAY
By Ben Murphy and Rosanna Crawford, 8 September 2022
Allowing children and young people to connect with and experience nature benefits their physical and mental health and wellbeing (Louv, 2005). In spite of this, the last 20 years have seen an increase in the amount of time children spend indoors, and with the advent of the internet, in front of a screen. In 2013, the RSPB reported that just 1 in 5 children were ‘connected to nature’, despite the numerous benefits that spending time outdoors can bring. While outdoor centres encourage children and young people to try different activities, they often offer a sanitised experience that isn’t embedded in the local environment - focussing more on ‘adventure’ instead of connection (Harrison, 2010).
Place-based learning is an approach to education that makes use of local activities to encourage children and young people to engage meaningfully in the place they live. Allowing children to explore landscapes, communities, nature, and local history can give them a greater sense of connection to, and responsibility for, the place and people around them. Research shows that place-based education fosters students' connection to place and creates vibrant partnerships between schools and communities (Cruz et al, 2018; Harrison, 2010), as well as boosting student achievement and improving environmental, social, and economic vitality. In short, place-based education helps students learn to take care of the world by understanding where they live and taking action in their own communities.
What does this look like in practice?
The Shieling Project (An Àirigh), situated in Glen Strathfarrar, north-west of Inverness, is an off grid place-based environmental education project and social enterprise. The site of the project, around 10 acres, hosts 6 eco-cabins, a rain and midge-proof classroom used for meals, events and craft sessions as well as a large kitchen where visiting groups help prepare and cook food and clean-up. On site there is also a byre and dairy, a hand-built pizza oven, compost toilets and staff accommodation. All the buildings have been built with school groups and volunteers.
The Project is located in Dumnaglass, the site of a pre-clearance township where 200 people lived, working the land using the shieling system. You can still walk to and see the old shieling site, only a couple of kilometres further up the glen. The shieling system was practised for over 2000 years in Scotland. At Beltane (the Gaelic May Day), women, children, and young people would walk the livestock up to the shieling, carrying all the necessities they needed for the summer months. The shieling site near Dumnaglass was excavated to show the ruins of 27 past structures. During the shieling weeks, people would stock up on valuable hill materials; heather, dyes and peat, alongside making butter and cheese. More than just a logistical or practical process, the shieling was also a time of wellbeing and renewal, with personal accounts testifying to a sense of freedom and connection to place.
Exploring the ancient Caledonian Woodland near the Project
The shieling today
At the Shieling Project, learning happens through doing and being. There is an emphasis on craft, storytelling, foraging, livestock care, landscape surveying, art, cooking and food growing. We’ve been working at the Shieling Project since April as the seasonal staff, helping maintain the site and looking after school groups, kids and teen camps and Duke of Edinburgh Gold residentials. Working at the project in a post-Covid context has allowed us to see and experience the importance of independent outdoor learning firsthand. We’ve seen kids and young adults become more confident over the course of their time at the project (sometimes only a few days!), learning new skills in an environment that encourages independence and self-sufficiency. After the camps, parents have shared how pleased they are to see their child’s lack of interest in devices (phones, playstations), desire to spend more time outdoors and their enthusiasm and connection to the Shieling Project.
Another important aspect of the Shieling Project experience is allowing children the freedom to play - to run around the site, dabble in the stream, climb trees and build dens. This unstructured time allows children to take risks, establish boundaries and develop friendships. Following the Covid-19 lockdowns, it is even more important that children have this time to make up for missed school and social experiences, considering the importance of play in holistic childhood development (Grindheim et al. 2020).
Harvesting ancient grains at the Shieling Project
Place-based learning for rural young people
Many of the school groups and children that visit the Shieling Project are from the Highland area, often from ‘remote rural’ communities. Living rurally doesn’t necessarily correlate with more time spent outdoors, which doesn't chime with common perceptions of living in the countryside. Those living in rural areas are often vulnerable to loneliness and social isolation, with the reduction and centralisation of mental health services adding to mental health risks in rural households (VHS, 2019). Learning about Gaelic heritage and culture, spending time in nature, and encouraging play and independence at the Shieling Project encourages children and young people to engage more meaningfully in their local place when they return home.
It’s been a joy to see the satisfaction and confidence children, young adults (and adults!) gain from completing tasks and overcoming challenges together, from building raised beds and badger proof bin stores, to mapping the geological and cultural history of the glen - or even just collecting blaeberries from the hill. Hopefully, we will see an increase in place-based learning, developing resilient children, adults and communities.
“When one pulls on something in nature, they find it attached to everything else”
References and further reading:
Books
Outdoor Learning and Play: Pedagogical Practices and Children’s Cultural Formation, ed. by Liv Torunn Grindheim, Hanne Værum Sørensen, Angela Rekers (2020) Open Access: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder, by Richard Louv (2005)
Reports
Children in the Outdoors: A Literature Review, Dr Sarah-Anne Muñoz (2009) https://www.ltl.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/children-in-the-outdoors.pdf
The Impact of Children’s Relationship to Nature, Dr Miles Richardson, Prof. David Sheffield, Dr Caroline Harvey & Dominic Petronzi (2013) https://www.rspb.org.uk/globalassets/downloads/documents/positions/education/the-impact-of-childrens-connection-to-nature.pdf
Mental Wellbeing, Social Isolation and Loneliness in Rural Scotland, Voluntary Health Scotland (2019) https://www.uhi.ac.uk/en/t4-media/one-web/university/research/srhp/Key-Messages-Mental-Wellbeing-in-Rural-Scotland.pdf
Journal Articles
Cruz, A.R., Selby, S.T. & Durham, W.H. 2018, "Place-based education for environmental behavior: a 'funds of knowledge' and social capital approach", Environmental education research, vol. 24, no. 5, pp. 627-647.
Harrison, S. 2010, "'Why are we here?' Taking 'place' into account in UK outdoor environmental education", Journal of adventure education and outdoor learning, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 3-18.
Photos by Abel McLinden