“We do it anyway”: Professional identities of teachers who enact risky play as a framework for Education Outdoors

Accelerated by our collective pandemic experience, systems of schooling saw a groundswell of momentum to reconsider where and how learning might continue across Canada. Education Outdoors emerged as a relational pedagogical practice whereby elementary school teachers began to locate curricular learning in schoolyards and adjacent natural spaces. In jurisdictions where schools remained open for students to attend in person, many educators took advantage of public health directives to locate learning outdoors as much as possible. Within this critical participatory action research study, elementary school teachers described how they took up emergent learning by locating curricular learning outdoors. Three significant findings from this include: (1) participating teachers’ emergent curricular practice out-of-doors included time and space for unstructured play; (2) teachers highlighted the pedagogical value of risky play in relationship to student wellness, classroom management, and motivation for curricular learning; and (3) with collegial mentorship, teachers can develop the necessary skills and knowledge to enhance opportunities for risky play as a pedagogical approach to outdoor play and learning in elementary schools, even if they did not have a strong personal history of outdoor play. This study offers insight into the funds of knowledge, dispositions, and professional identities of elementary school teachers who embrace risky play as a pedagogical practice and how they navigate systemic challenges unique to education outdoors.