The meanings of friluftsliv in Physical Education Teacher Education

Abstract

The aim with this article is to contribute knowledge about the meaningsoffriluftslivin educational practice. This is done by investigatingwhatfriluftslivbecomes in the ongoing practices of PETE in Sweden andhowthese meanings are established in the studied activities. The empiricalmaterial consists of different kinds of material fromfriluftslivactivities inPETE programmes: study guides,field trip plans, students’vlogs fromovernight stays outdoors, video recordings from two longerfield trips,audio recordings from evening seminars during thefield trips andstudents’written reflections after them. In order to identify meanings offriluftslivand how these are established we used a transactional analysisbased on Dewey. Five different ways of whatfriluftslivbecomes in PETEpractice were identified in this study. The different meanings reflect thecomplex picture of contradictions and lack of common ground for thecontent and motives identified in the outdoor educationfield. Ourstudy also confirms how the meaning offriluftslivas skills is establishedby putting up tents, lightingfires, building wind shelters and so on, andhow this contributes to a focus on the instrumental values in PETE. Onthe other hand, our study shows that other meanings offriluftslivareestablished in the ongoing practice, where more intrinsic values are atstake even if they are often overshadowed in PETE practice. Inconclusion the results also point to the potential offritluftslivin termsof a suggested move away from an activity-based personal and socialdevelopment discourse in favour of experiences of educating forenvironmentally sustainable human-nature relations. The challenge ishow to make these experiences educational in PETE and how to guidestudents in transforming experiences in more exclusivefriluftslivintopedagogical competence as future teachers usingfriluftslivfor differentpurposes in school PE.