The pedagogic moment: Enskilment as another way of being in outdoor education

Abstract

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 skillful 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.

“Immersed within the rock itself”: Student experiences rock climbing in outdoor education

“…This led to feelings of achievement from succeeding at perceived difficult tasks on their own. On a small scale, the experiences of these students are consistent with Prins and Wattchow's (2020) description of how the need to develop skills to be successful engaged the students and led to high levels of personal satisfaction and enjoyment.…”

“…Thomas (2005) attempted to find a middle ground on the issue of adventure and risk arguing that with careful facilitation and intentional program design it might be possible for students to participate in adventurous activities and still learn about the natural and cultural history of places. Prins & Wattchow (2020) and Mullins (2021) drew on the work of Ingold to challenge outdoor educators to move beyond 'either/or' thinking when it comes to adventure and place in outdoor education. They suggested that if outdoor educators help participants to develop 'skilfulness' in an activity then this can potentially lead to a deeper connection with environments.…”

Enskilment: an Ecological-Anthropological Worldview of Skill, Learning and Education in Sport

“…More deeply, how does one support the growth of responsivity and attentiveness that is required to self-regulate perceptions, emotions, cognitions and actions when becoming enskilled in sport? In attending to these theoretical questions of practical relevance, we next explore three components of enskilment as highlighted by Prins and Wattchow [ 10 ]: taskscapes , guided attention and wayfinding . We conceptualise each within the sporting landscape, showing that it is in their entanglement where enskilment is grown—it is the taskscape in which an activity resides (what we conceptualise as the performance environment in a sport), guided attention that deepens one’s knowledge of the activity within the taskscape (what we conceptualise as being a key part of the role of the practitioner in sport), and wayfinding that promotes the growth of active self-regulation (what we conceptualise as the performer interacting with a taskscape (performance environment)) (Fig.…”

“…Here, we elaborate on this social anthropological concept to understand (en)skilfulness in sport, guided by the contemporary theoretical framework of ecological dynamics [ 9 ]. In doing so, we explore three of its entangled components, taskscapes , guided attention and wayfinding [ 10 ], detailing what each may mean for the growth of enskilled sports performers. However, before setting off along this path and attending to its features as we go, we briefly detour down the former, and perhaps more traditional path, drawing our readers’ attention toward some fundamental differences in worldview, contrasted with ecological propositions on skill, learning and education.…”

‘Knowing as we go’: a Hunter-Gatherer Behavioural Model to Guide Innovation in Sport Science

“…As discussed in greater depth below, there is no pre-determined route in which a learner follows when wayfinding; rather, they embark upon a self-regulating journey, progressively deepening and growing his/her knowledge of a landscape as they go, framed by the intentionality to traverse from one ‘region’ of the surroundings to another. This progressive entanglement between a wayfinder and his/her environment is not isolated to interactions with its physical features, but also relates to history, norms, social happenings and cultural rules, each enmeshing (with physical environmental features) to shape the way the learner navigates (self-regulates) through a performance landscape [ 37 ]. These perspectives are what we contend could lead to the requisite inhabitation and transdisciplinarity that ultimately instils innovative ways of doing.…”