Unpacking a place-based approach - “What lies beyond?” Insights drawn from teachers' perceptions of Outdoor Education

This paper explored Singaporean teachers' understandings of Outdoor Education. Drawing from 84 in-service teachers' questionnaire surveys and 14 in-depth interviews, we constructed three analytical categories capturing the teachers' understandings of a newly introduced 'place-based approach'. In conceptualizing outdoor spaces as moving away from remote sites and closer to local schools, the teachers recognized their lack of understandings to fully engage with learning processes underpinning place-based pedagogy. We suggest that teachers need to invest time in understanding the history, culture and ecology of specific local 'places', and anticipate that deeper connections with local communities may extend the teachers' nascent place-based visions.