Geocoaching: memories and habits of learning in practices of ecopedagogy

Ecopedagogy, or place-based, experiential and environmental education, has become a critical part of contemporary environmental and geographic learning, in attempts to tackle perceived moral panics around childhood and environmental crisis. Drawing upon research with children taking part in a ‘summer club’ in the Brecon Beacons National Park Authority, Wales, this paper critically explores instances of ecopedagogy within the educational landscape of the National Park. We examine the moral geographies of ecopedagogy through our concept of geocoaching, which attempts to explicate the workings of embodied practices, or habits, interwoven with how personal and social memories are brought to bear in outdoor educational activities. We take three examples of geocoaching: a bug-hunt; a walk to a standing stone; and an outdoor filming and photography exercise, to explore how past, present and future selves and fields are co-produced by educators and children. In doing so, this paper questions the straightforward traceability between ecopedagogy, critical ecological consciousness, and future environmental stewardship