Becoming-with in the natural-cultural world: narratives of the Outgoing Community of practice

Abstract

This qualitative study aims to discuss how outdoor practices with children and ECE teachers may transform their relation with the natural-cultural world. This study is part of the OutGoing project (Rasteiro et. al. 2023), a Community of Practice (CoP)of academics, teachers, and children searching for new ways of thinking, feeling and acting through outdoor experiences in ECE contexts. The theoretical framework of this study is anchored in the critical pedagogy using concepts such as Worlding, Becoming-with and Response-ability (Harraway, 2016). In a qualitative paradigm, this study analyses the teachers’ practices with children using cartography (Almeida & Costa, 2021) and delicate empiricism (Ilhéu & Valente, 2019) in outdoor ‘selected’ places; it uses teachers’ narratives and mini-stories produced throughout the OutGoing CoP as a way of listening to children and teachers. Participants’ initial informed consent was followed by negotiated participation during the research process, allowing withdrawing from the study without a sense of failure. The main results suggest that: 1) the teachers’ participation in the CoP contribute to a supportive way to introduce new practices; 2) Cartographies and delicate empiricism are two possible approaches to create time and space in ECE where children and adults reshape their interactions with the natural-cultural world; 3) mini-histories supported the emergence of children and teachers’ narratives about the word. Results may inspire new practices and meanings in education for sustainability and impact policy recommendations that provide the conditions to strengthen children's and teachers in their relationship with the nature-cultural world.