{"id":6742,"date":"2016-08-15T07:12:11","date_gmt":"2016-08-15T07:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/?p=6742"},"modified":"2016-08-15T07:18:53","modified_gmt":"2016-08-15T07:18:53","slug":"even-more-natural-connections-satire-or-just-a-timely-comment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/2016\/08\/15\/even-more-natural-connections-satire-or-just-a-timely-comment\/","title":{"rendered":"Even more natural connections: satire or just a timely comment?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I thought that I'd written my last word (for all time) on Natural Connections, the project, but I'd missed the interview that the head of the project team gave to the BBC about the final report. \u00a0It's <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/science-environment-36795912\">here<\/a> \u2013 and thanks to the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/naee.org.uk\/outdoor-learning-boosts-childrens-development\/\">NAEE<\/a>\u00a0blog for spotting it.<\/p>\n<p>And so, I have, in the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.kiplingsociety.co.uk\/poems_copybook.htm\">Kipling<\/a>\u00a0certainty* that \"the\u00a0burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire\" returned to the fray, prompted in particular by this quote:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\"We need to be a little bit clearer about what forms of outdoor learning meet what purposes and aims (of curricula). \u00a0So rather than just being outdoors magically making things happen, activities such as residential outdoor experiences would be particularly effective for developing social skills and leadership. \u00a0Whereas field studies would be particularly effective for greater awareness of the environment. \u00a0What we argue in the report is for people to think about the purpose and place (of the activity), as well as the people involved, in order to construct different forms of outdoor learning that will meet certain (teaching) aims.\"<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I have read this several times, and confess to being torn by two possible interpretations. \u00a0Is it, as NAEE suggested, [i] a gross mis-reading of how schools and teachers have approached their work over time: saying that they have\u00a0never bothered over-much\u00a0about purpose? \u00a0NB, I know no school that believes in\u00a0<em>magically making things happen<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Or is [ii] a welcome critique\u00a0of current trends within\u00a0organisations that represent outdoor learning interests to valorise the\u00a0<em>outdoor\u00a0<\/em>just because it's not the indoor. \u00a0This tendency is real enough and has led to a confusion of aims with context.<\/p>\n<p>Despite my criticisms of Natural Connections over the length of the project, I'm inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt here.<\/p>\n<p>............................................................................<\/p>\n<p>*The Gods of the Copybook Headings<\/p>\n<p>\"...\u00a0As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man<br \/>\nThere are only four things certain since Social Progress began.<br \/>\nThat the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,<br \/>\nAnd the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;<\/p>\n<p>And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins<br \/>\nWhen all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,<br \/>\nAs surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,<br \/>\nThe Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I thought that I'd written my last word (for all time) on Natural Connections, the project, but I'd missed the interview that the head of the project team gave to the BBC about the final report. \u00a0It's here \u2013 and...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":237,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comment","category-new-publications"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/237"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6742\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/edswahs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}