Both an educational philosophy and pedagogy, Wild Pedagogies is born from theory, based in research, and grown through practice. A boarding-crossing movement aimed toward educational change, from Canada to Norway, Australia to Greece, Wild Pedagogies seeks to address the root causes of the Anthropocene era, while sprouting a community of educational theory and practice for lasting change.

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​Wild Pedagogies holds two initial premises:

1. Human relationships with Earth are not sustainable, and

2. Education is a necessary partner in any transformational project of the scale required to address the first premise.

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From these premises come six touchstones of a wild pedagogy:

1. Nature as co-teacher

2. Complexity, spontaneity, and the unknown

3. Locating the wild

4. Time and practice

5. Socio-cultural change

6. Building alliances and the human community

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The Wild Pedagogies program at Headwaters is enacted as a community of sharing, learning, and practicing. For many, especially those who teach in traditional school settings or within large bureaucratic systems, it is an opportunity to connect with others on topics and ideas about which they often feel alone. An opportunity to spread their wings among like-minded peers and discover the possibilities of an open sky.

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Taking the form as either a workshop, event, or wilderness camping trip, all of our Wild Pedagogies programs are symposia – communities of reciprocal learning. Together, we discuss ideas, share stories, build practices, and pay attention to nature as an equal partner in teaching. For if nature is to be wild, to be self-willed in its flourishing, then education and, surely, educators, need to be as well.

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Based in research and grounded in playful discovery, Wild Pedagogies is an aspiration for what education can look like, and an invitation to open ourselves – and our students – to a pulsing, breathing, flowing world.