D. Walsh Mayo Campus GMIT 2016 Building an Outdoor Classroom By Dr Davy Walsh National Outdoor Education Conference GMIT 2016 Intro When I was asked to do a talk, back in December 2015 for the Outdoor Con I instinctively said yes, thinking to myself that I could talk about the challenges outdoor education faces in the postmodern world. As a philosopher this kind of analysis really appeals to me and much of my own research is around the concept of self as encountered in adventure, which I believe is a unique existential moment that leads to a very authentic and meaningful encounter with one’s true self, which easily leads to the kind of therapeutic experience that has been discussed already at today’s conference. Nonetheless, before I had the chance to pitch my ideas I was asked if I could do something on the outdoor project thingy that I was cooking up. Of course I said yes but about 2 minutes later it dawned on me that I had said yes to present or talk about something that didn’t yet exist. When I was asked to present something there was only a lose idea and number of conversations with students and staff that lead to an inkling that an outdoor classroom would be a great project. Thankfully that inkling has become a reality and I stand here today talking about something that now exists. I feel it’s worth stating that I was originally slotted into the education strand of the conference and I was only asked a few days ago if I would mind slotting into the adventure therapy strand so what I had prepared has been chopped and changed somewhat. I should also add that I’m not an expert in adventure therapy, I have a good deal of experience with respect to using the outdoors and adventure in a therapeutic way, as have so many others in this room. Moreover, all of my postgraduate research has been in contemporary philosophy and social theory so I’m not going to be drawing on any evidenced based or empirical analysis of therapy. Of course the entire talk today centres around the building of an outdoor classroom and where possible I will emphasise the kind of therapeutic impact that project had – on myself - but also on the wider community. I should say that I can only speak for myself here today but I’d like to think that my words and thoughts are shared by others who help to on the build. Furthermore, I make no claim of ownership over this project, nor do I claim any kind of ownership over the success and completion of the build or the lack of planning and the lack of equipment. The idea of ownership does not belong to the realm of earth or wood, and in many ways that had to be respected for this build to happen. The plan is to speak here for 10 minutes and then to walk you round some of my thoughts with respect to the build. By walking around my thoughts I literally mean walking, we'll be le aving here and we will walk down to the woodland trail where the journey began. I’m aware that this is the final talk before a break so I hope that we will be back for tea and coffees before the final speaker. 1
D. Walsh Mayo Campus GMIT 2016 Main The project itself grew in a very organic way, in fact the word organic is quite a good verb to describe the entire process really. The willow dictated what we did, if you pulled it too hard it broke, if you didn't pull hard enough it fell apart and bit by bit we began the process of communicating with nature. For me this was one of the real values behind this project. The connection with nature, which for me normally happens through a long exposure to the outdoors like ‘expedition life’ for example, however this process of small immersions in nature seemed to have helped reset some kind of temporal balance, the circadian clock if you will, and that surprised me. From a therapeutic point this was a really positive finding because I would have always said long exposure was key, but small emersion with the right mind set seems just as successful. The build itself was the brain child of a few dedicated people who helped direct and shape the classroom and thanks to their belief in the project and their passion, work rate and skill we were able to complete the project within a very short deadline. However, a project of this kind cannot be bound by deadlines and the experiences shared and knowledge learned will always be timeless. The knowledge that is gained from a build like this transcends time. The understanding that comes with a process like this is entirely laid on the connections and relationships one makes with the self, others and nature. Therein lies the therapeutic impact of such a journey. An important, but entirely subjective truth emerges in such journeys, a truth that speaks to the very core of our being. It’s a dialogue that is hard to explain and I guess everyone experiences it differently, because it’s entirely subjective; and yet this entirely subjective truth only comes forth only through the experience and presence of either others or the elements of nature or both. According to Kierkegaard, it is the subjective truth that counts in life. How we believe is way more important than what we believe. For Kierkegaard the "passionate inwardness" relating to how we believe is one of the fundamental ingredients when it comes to dealing with anxiety and stress in our daily lives. It was a journey that started with a few basic plans and designs, quite literally been drawn on the back of envelopes and recycled paper and while the design and plans changed over the months of the build there were a number of underlying philosophies that I believe never yielded. The great idealist Plato, was adamant that ideas were never changing and entirely objective and these ideas or forms for Plato are the building blocks of life; the foundation of creation itself. He also insisted that the only thing that changes is the physical realm. In some respects I think he is right. We have built a classroom that will forever change because it is a living breathing entity, however the deep seated values of the outdoors and of education, I believe, will remain the same. By deep seated I'm referring to values that are grounded on a dialogical relationship, to put it another way a relationship of respect and dignity within that trilogy I mentioned earlier of the self, others and nature. The revelation of the inner workings of interpersonal relations, of dialogue and understanding, of compassion and indifference and of course the feeling of nature, is all the knowledge we need, to find some kind of peace, love and happiness in our lives. I’m stressing and emphasising on the subjective experience of this process because for me therapy or recovery or whatever word one wishes to us, comes directly from the subjective 2
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