The Health and Physical Education (HPE) curriculum and national curricula identify the need for students to be connected, caring and active contributors to their own, others, and wider community wellbeing. This article draws on findings from a collaborative, inquiry-based research project that aimed to reimagine outdoor education within HPE to better reflect the needs of the diverse students, the school’s vision and curriculum priorities, and the HPE learning area. Using the teaching as inquiry cycle as a framework, the article examines some of the key curriculum and pedagogical innovations teachers implemented at each stage. A case is made for the contribution that localised, “placed” outdoor education experiences may make to promoting students’ understanding of, and connectedness to, local places.
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