All staff and students are welcome to join us on 14th May 2025 to hear Patrick Boxall talk about the significance of creativity within pedagogies of outdoor learning, and the activism of leaders engaged in place-making and practising outdoor learning.

This empirical enquiry is focused on the Queen Margaret University (QMU) Outdoor Learning Hub and analyses the significance of creativity within pedagogies of outdoor learning, and the activism of leaders engaged in place-making and practising outdoor learning. This paper focuses on questioning leaders and practitioners’ conceptions of creativity, how they enact creative pedagogies within and for outdoor places, and how this is intrinsically linked to social and ecological activism. 

The argument presented is that creativity is an essential aspect of the practice of outdoor learning and the process of place-making.  The outcome is an analysis of creativity that foregrounds the voices of participants to begin to co-construct an eco-pedagogy of creativity within outdoor learning.  This paper concludes that Pedagogies of Making, Pedagogies of Growing and Pedagogies of Anger and Kindness are convincing ways to conceptualise creativity in outdoor learning. The paper also concludes that the enactment of creative pedagogy in education is inextricably linked to a deep commitment to other human beings and the natural world, and that that these pedagogies invite a reconceptualisation of our position as humans within nature.  

Please book your place using the link below. 

We look forward to seeing you there!

LEAD Team

Bio

Patrick Boxall is a lecturer at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh, he is an educator and researcher with primary interests in how critical and creative pedagogies can forward human and eco-centred conceptions of social justice. His areas of specialism are creativity in education, outdoor learning and sustainability, English and Drama.

He is engaged in research towards a PhD by publication, that is focused on the importance of creative pedagogy in outdoor learning as enacted by leaders and practitioners. This work builds on his MSc. by Research. 

He spent much of his career as an English and Drama teacher, managing curriculum teams in socially and ethnically diverse high schools in Scotland, America and England. During this time, he studied for an MBA in Educational Management and the Scottish Qualification for Headship. Prior to moving into Higher Education, he worked in Adult Education, ran a social enterprise focused on creative learning, and worked as an educational consultant, which gave him the privilege of support leaders and learners across ages and stages.