Informalising and Transforming Learning Experiences in an Unfamiliar Landscape: Reflections on the ‘Awayscape’ of an A-Level Geography Field Trip

Abstract

This chapter explores the role of geography fieldwork in providing opportunities for young people to engage with unfamiliar places. We argue that, within school geography, there is usually a largely utilitarian rationale for fieldwork, which constrains the potential for ‘deeper’ explorations of potentially transformative engagements between young people and the places they visit. Drawing on data collected during an A Level Geography visit, the research illuminates the way in which young people navigate unfamiliar landscapes by constructing and reconstructing their own personal sense of place and identity. What begins as a formal, rather institutionalised relationship with a distant environment, evolves into something unique and personal, as relationships are formed with the landscape and the unfamiliar becomes more familiar.