Dylan Adams

The curlew’s call to Kairos – Exploring the pedagogical, ontological, and ecological implications of escaping the clutches of Chronos.

This paper investigates how an artist in residence project, with primary schools in north Wales, seeks to address our perilous relationship with the more-than-human world. The presentation begins by exploring how an ontological crisis exists in mainstream education that is both being denied and is being denied. A factory-model of…

Dwelling in immanence and transcending the “real world” – A bricolage exploration of KS2 children’s immersive experiences of the more-than-human world

Outdoor education and contact with nature places have long been associated with enhanced educational development. Long before progressive pedagogical “pioneers” such as Dewey, Froebel, Montessori, Pestalozzi and Rousseau came to espouse the benefits of nature pedagogies, indigenous cultures maintained ancient educational place-based philosophies (Cajete, 2015). More recently, the curricula of…

Mindful approaches with primary school aged pupils (aged 7-10 years), in a nature reserve, from the perspective of their teachers

It has been over fifteen years since Louv (2005) stated that children were suffering from ‘nature deficit disorder’’ and Miller (2005) warned of the damaging effects of biodiversity loss as people become increasingly disconnected from nature. Since then, numerous studies have aimed to improve children’s nature connection (Barrable and Booth,…

Re-minding our Selves of our Natural Communitas

In the second of our blog series, Dr. Dylan Adams shares his thoughts and reflections regarding the liminal nature that the COVID-19 crisis has brought to society and education. Rhetoric as a result of the crisis is awash with dire consequences associated to the pandemic, but does this liminality represent…

COVID-19 Experiences, Featured

Being immersive and subversive in nature. A study of the experiences of children from four different primary schools taking part in mindful approaches in local nature reserves.

Evidence shows that children are increasingly becoming disconnected from nature (Bragg, 2013; ; Charles, 2018; Moss, 2012; Ridgers, Knowles and Sayers, 2012; Sobel, 2008; Waite et. al. 2016). Louv (2011|) calls this situation immoral and unethical and states that “we need to give nature back to our children and ourselves”…

Students’ well-being, wild-ness and freedom from the ‘magic capture’ of assessments.

Neoliberalism has dictated policies and attitudes in higher education for well over a decade (Hursh and Wall, 2011; Lynch, 2006; Sanders-McDonagh and Davis, 2018). Within the neoliberal model “the individual (rather than the nation) is held responsible for her or his own well-being.” (Lynch, 2006, p. 1). However, In Wales…