Abstract:
Recent developments in national and international policy and curricula have featured a re-orientation towards liberal forms of education and training that promotes learners’ self-growth and active participation in community solutions to social, technological, and environmental changes. In response, this presentation discusses how a conceptualisation of liberal vocationalism, aligned with contemporary visions of lifelong and lifewide learning presents opportunities to re-vision outdoor learning across industry, community and institutional education. The conceptual framework developed centres on the generative interconnections between Bernstein’s concepts of classificatory relations (1977; 1990; 1996 & 2000), knowledges (Moore, 2006; Maton, 2009) and pedagogic identities (Bernstein & Solomon, 1999). The conceptual framework is illustrated and explored through a case study of post-Year10 Outdoor Education (post-Y10 OE) in Western Australia (WA). The term post-Y10 OE refers to educational opportunities offered within and/or beyond years 11 and 12 of schooling in WA. It also encompasses those educational opportunities that are offered by organisations and can be pursued by people of any age across a variety of different outdoor learning contexts. The case study illustrates ways in which distinctive classificatory relations across industry, community and schools generate qualification and training structures that privilege particular knowledges, subject and learner identities in post-Y10 OE in WA. The interconnections between these features are in turn associated with inequities in learners’ access to and engagement with lifelong and lifewide learning experiences. In response, three research foci are discussed that can inform different visions of outdoor learning in and for changing worlds. Building on Bernstein’s sociological theory, the first focus calls for the development of progressive relations between industry, education, and community stakeholders, with the intent of facilitating innovative (re)design of qualification structures and educational experiences through outdoor activities. The second focus underlies the need for qualification and training structures that enable equitable access to knowledges consistent with liberal vocationalism that is lifelong and lifewide in its conceptualisation and practice. The third focus argues for the construction of therapeutic identities that enables educators and learners to orientate towards experiences of outdoor learning that are autonomous and flexible. The presentation concludes by considering developments in research, curriculum development and teacher education that can facilitate the realisation of liberal vocationalism.