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“A Powerful Educational Instrument": the Woodcraft Folk, indoor/outdoor nature 1925-1975
‘The Woodcraft Folk…seeks to enlist the enthusiasm and energy of youth for the
great task of our generation…it believes that any attempt to establish a new, worldwide
economic order is dependent upon the training of youth in the science of our age
and the deliberate cultivation of a world outlook in children and young people. To
achieve this end the Folk seek to forge a powerful educational instrument which shall
inculcate those habits of mind and habits of body necessary to bring man to devotion
to world peace and a new world order.’1
This quote from the declaration of the Woodcraft Folk in 1930 – five years after its inception
by Leslie Paul – encapsulated its rationale as a new youth organisation, as well as cementing
education at the heart of its motivations and methods. This chapter explores the pedagogical
practices of the Woodcraft Folk in the United Kingdom across the first 50 years of the
organisation (1925-75) as while still popular today, it is in these formative years that it sought
to forge a ‘powerful educational instrument’ and developed its training programme. In doing
so, this chapter illustrates how the Folk drew upon a number of spaces and practices of
(informal) education to inculcate those ‘habits of body and mind’ expressed above.
Specifically, this chapter considers how ‘nature’ and elements of folk culture and arts and
craft – such as song and dance – were used as part of this project. While academics and
popular imaginaries of youth organisations tend to focus on experiences of nature on camp,
here I focus on the deeper, symbolic and performative place of nature in the Folk’s indoor
activities and wider ambitions.
History
School
- Social Sciences
Department
- Geography and Environment
Published in
Informal Education, Childhood and Youth: Geographies, Histories, PracticesPages
65 - 78Citation
MILLS, S., 2014. “A Powerful Educational Instrument": the Woodcraft Folk, indoor/outdoor nature 1925-1975. IN: Mills, S. and Kraftl, P. (eds). Informal Education, Childhood and Youth: Geographies, Histories, Practices. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 65 - 78Publisher
Palgrave Macmillan / © The Author reproduced with permission of Palgrave MacmillanVersion
- AM (Accepted Manuscript)
Publication date
2014Notes
This extract is taken from the author's original manuscript and has not been edited. The definitive, published, version of record is available here: http://www.palgrave.com/de/book/9781137027726#otherversion=9781349439720ISBN
9781137027726Language
- en