Leisure Studies and holistic education: Talking, walking, and playing

In this presentation, Mark Leather, associate professor of education at the University of St Mark & St John, Plymouth briefly share three ideas that evolved from my research and practice as a university educator. He will highlight the richness and depth that an experiential approach to education can offer, particularly when we take the time to share embodied, aesthetic experiences, outside in nature.

About Mark Leather

Mark has been educating people outdoors, formally and informally, for most of his adult life. Currently he is the programme leader for Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning at the University where he teaches on a range of post-graduate and under-graduate programmes that utilise outdoor and experiential pedagogies. Before this he worked in a variety of settings; residential outdoor centres (camps), sailing schools, American summer camps, a leader in the Scout movement, and taught physics and science in a high school in Devon, SW England. Mark is fortunate to work with some excellent, experienced, and passionate colleagues in Plymouth, as well as those involved in National, European, and International educational networks. His research is grounded in his professional practice. Given the chance you will find him playing outside, connecting to others, the more-than-human world, and the planet, under open skies in blue and/or green spaces.