Encounters with Forest School and Foucault: a risky business?

Abstract

This paper tells the story of an encounter between two early years teachers and two Forest School workers, the growing tensions in their relationships and how these tensions were resolved. When analysed through a Foucauldian (poststructuralist) lens, the story can be read as a battle between dominant discourses—a battle exacerbated by the outdoor context in which it took place. Exploring the consistency and contradictions between these discourses enabled the teachers to make changes to their practice and to reconstruct their professional subjectivities in a way that more closely addressed their current interests and the requirements of the proposed Foundation Phase for Wales.