Transcript On Expedition in the Forest

Forest education in Finland
- current state and
prospects for the future
Conference of the Friends of Forests in Poland
Jedlnia, April 20th 2007
Juhani Karvonen
Executive Director
The Finnish Forest Association
”Finland is a forest super-power.
Because of this, a good basic knowledge in
regard to forest ecology, protection, use and
forest-based livelihoods continue to be
fundamental skills for every Finn."
Jukka Sarjala
Director General
National Board of Education
Content
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Finnish Forest Association
Prerequisite for forest education in schools
Targets
Cooperation and coordination
Current state
 Tools and actions
• Future challenges
• Cooperation in Europe
• Our message
Finnish Forest Association (FFA) ...
• Established 1887
• Co-operative body for organisations in the
forestry sector and closely related fields
• Promotes the sustainable and multiple-valued
tending and use of forests
• Acts between the forest sector and the rest of
society
... FFA continues
• Member organisations (60)
 Representing private forest owners organizations, forest
industries, state forest enterprise, forestry workers´
unions, administration, research and education, forest
related trade unions, non-governmental organizations
(i.e. hunters, 4H, scouts, central outdoor association,
teachers unions)
• Major teams and activities
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International communication and media contacts
Forest at schools
Forest Forum for Decision-Makers (Forest Academy)
Annual Forest Days for professionals
• Resources
 ca. 12 employees
We are good but…
• A good educational system is an excellent
foundation for cooperation between the
forest sector and schools
 Finland has been ranked number one in
several international evaluations. One of the
most significant is the so-called PISA-study,
which measures the advancement of the
school system. Finland has the highest level of
literacy.
• Another foundation is, that forests and
forestry continue to be of vital importance
for Finland
Prerequisite for productive
forest education in schools
• Activities must be target oriented = forest issues must have
a clear position in the national curriculum
• Good cooperation between forest sector and education
authorities on national and local level. All you do, do it with
education specialists (authorities, researchers, teachers)
• One organization must have responsibility of coordination
and development on forest education system in schools (in
Finland the Finnish Forest Association)
• Clear division of responsibilities between forest
organizations
• Actions should cover the whole country and all age classes
• Good tools for teachers and forest professionals plus an
efficient delivery system for the forest education tools
• Regular follow-up and feedback system
Targets
• In the document called “Expedition in the
Finnish forest” FFA and the National Board
of Education have defined the goals of forest
and wood education
• Basic goals in the basic curriculum are:
 pupils must learn to understand sustainable use of
natural recourses and
 get familiar with different elements of forests:
ecosystem, protection, silviculture and use of forests,
forest industry, recreation and culture
The idea of the forest curriculum
(Expedition in the Finnish forest)
Forest curriculum
- examples of the goals
1.
What should a pupil from 7 to 12 year UNDERSTAND about
forest nature?
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be interested in what happens in forest nature and be able to observe and
explore
get acquainted with forests and tell a spruce, pine and birch forest from one
another
learn to know marshlands and describe their essential features
can explain generally from where animals get water, nutrient, energy for
growth
What should a pupil from 13 to 16 year UNDERSTAND about
forestry?
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know the meaning of forests in the regional economies
know, that over half of the Finnish forests are owned by private individuals
and families and understand, that forests have multiple meanings for the
owners
know, that wood is the most important renewable resource in Finland and the
forests produce wood for economic utilization
know, that the forest sector is a considerable employer outside urban areas
Coordination
Finnish Forest Association is in charge of
coordination of all school activities and
cooperation in Finland
 in the forest sector (e.g. private forest owners
organization, big companies, state forest
organizations) and
 with school authorities, teachers’ organization
and other stakeholders
Tools
• All materials for teaching in schools
(books, CD´s, games, videos, best
practices…) are collected on the website:
www.oppimispolku.fi
• WWW is the main delivery system of new
materials
Actions for schools…
• Forest days for individual school classes
and schools
• Forest weeks for schools in towns or
municipalities
• Excursions to the forests and factories
… actions for schools
• Metsävisa – the National
Forest Quiz
 organized annually since 1981
 participation about 70 % of age class in
the whole country
 since 1981 one million Finns have
participated in the Quiz (20 % of
population)
Actions for teachers
• Forest courses for teachers e.g.
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Forestry and environment
Nature management in the managed forests
Nature circle in the managed forests
Applications of Geographical Information Systems (GIS)
in forestry
• Courses in forestry for students (faculty of
education/teachers training in the
university)
Follow-up / feed-back
1.
The Forest Quiz (Metsävisa) gives feed-back every year
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how many teachers have taught forest issues enough to be
confident to register the school in the quiz
how much pupils know about forest biology, protection,
forestry and forest-based livelihoods
Independent market research company Taloustutkimus
ltd. carries out a study every two years about common
attitudes and knowledge of school teachers and pupils in
regard to forests and forestry
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helps to focus our activities
so far attitudes are predominantly in favor of sustainable
use of forest
Attitudes and knowledge of pupils
Findings from the Taloustutkimus study:
• about a half has visited a forest harvesting area during the
last year, mainly with their parents, only 10 % with school
• 60 % have visited a forest conservation area, 50 % with
parents and 30 % with school
• very aware about everyman's right
• do not know who owns forest in Finland very well
• 93 % consider forest management good
• 75 % want more forest protection areas
• young people are not very interested in traditional forest
professions
Attitudes and knowledge of teachers
Findings from the Taloustutkimus study:
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90 % knows that well-being in Finland is based on forests
75 % consider forest management good
70 % want more forest protection
do not know who owns forests in Finland very well, but
better than pupils
• forest teaching is concentrated on issues like nature,
conservation and recreation, not very much on forestry and
livelihoods
• teaching takes place mainly in classrooms. Teaching in
forests is slowly increasing!
• added to school books the best source of forest
information is Finnish Forest Association, then ENGO´s and
Forest Resource Institute
Future challenges
How to get young people to understand the idea
of sustainable use of natural resources
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The role of school education
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time frame for forest education in schools is limited. Pupils can learn about
forest ecosystem, not very much about the use of forest
more cooperation with schools is needed
Urbanization
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people’s knowledge and understanding about nature is more and more
depending on school education, not on their own natural experiences
Information society
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almost all information we get comes from the media and
the content is mainly images, which can be true or untrue, right or wrong
if you do not communicate, you give others the possibility to create images
about forestry
Naturalism
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because of many (good) reasons people are more interested to protect nature
than utilize forests or replace non-renewable materials by renewable ones
 co-operation and share of experiences must strengthen in Europe
European cooperation
1. EU Forest Action Plan
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Key Action 10: ”Encourage environmental education and
information”
2. PAWS - Pedagogic Works in Forests (2005-2007)
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project of the EU program LEONARDO
develops a training concept for forest and nature related pedagogic
work, complete results available in May
3. Forest pedagogic towards a sustainable development
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the aim is to raise the interest among pupils, teachers and foresters
for learning and teaching about forest ecology, sustainable forestry
and social values of forests
participants: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Latvia,
Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Sweden
4. Learning about Forests
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project of Foundation of Environmental Education in Europe
creates projects for schools (e.g. Blue flag)
Our message
The use of forest is often considered a
problem. It isn't a problem, rather a
solution; for a multiple of challenges:
 for the global environmental challenges
 for the local biodiversity problems
 for the living conditions and livelihoods of
rural people
 for the infrastructure of rural areas
 for the demand of attractive and state-of-theart products