Environmental education
Environmental education is a perfect set in the 1970s approach to education that is intended to provide a responsible approach to the environment and natural resources. Much involved were the environmental movements of the time and still are the consequential organizations and institutions. In the 1980s, numerous concepts with very different orientations and objectives were developed in the German-speaking countries, have been used for dozens of terms. Previously used terms such as environmental education or learning or Ecological Ecological instruction are now rarely used.
Since the late 1980s there are environmental educators in all sectors of education from early childhood education through schools, vocational and general ( further) education, higher education and informal learning.
According to Agenda 21, the World Conference in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, the environmental education of education for sustainable development (ESD ) has developed more and more international in direction. Environmental education is not the guiding principle of sustainable development now obsolete. This model applies not only to ecology, the environment and nature, but also integrates other dimensions, such as social and economics, often on policy / participation and culture. This is now close to all the actors of the former Environmental Education, accepted in all fields of education, science and politics - at least since the started on 1 January 2005 the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.
Practice
In Germany there are about 4,600 nationwide inpatient environmental education facilities. These are complemented by about 20 environmental Mobile. The diversity of institutional forms is hardly manageable, ranging from forest kindergartens, Environmental Schools, Environmental and ecological stations, national parks, biosphere reserve, nature reserve, environmental protection, nature conservation and school biology centers, school land and forest youth centers, youth hostels, forest schools, school farms and field laboratories to to environmental academies. Besides working a non-controlled, large number of freelance environmental educators (eg tour guides, field guide, experiencing nature educators, forest theater educators, etc.). There is often a fruitful cooperation with the free educational institutions.
This development towards ESD is also true for the umbrella organization of environmental education and environmental educators in Germany, the Association for Natural and Environmental Education ( ANU) for example. Since 1991, the ANU publishes the monthly information service ökopädNEWS, the association reported from across all sectors of education with a focus on environmental education and education for sustainable development. An extensive archive on the Internet with around 5,000 papers provides a good overview and can be used free of charge. There is also a media list, with about 45 newsletters and other media from the German-speaking countries.
In Austria the FORUM environmental education operates with 15 employees in two offices in Vienna and Salzburg. The FORUM Environmental Education is an initiative of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management (Department II / 3 Sustainable Development) and the Federal Ministry for Education, Arts and Culture (Dept. V/11 Political Education and Environmental Education ). For the number of facilities in Austria there are no reliable data. A compilation of facilities offered by the " education map ". In Styria was founded in 1982, the first Austrian environmental educational institution that has been operating since 2001 under the name environmental education center Styria ( UBZ ).
In Switzerland, the Foundation for Environmental Education Switzerland (SUB ) of the Confederation, cantons, municipalities and organizations of education and environmental protection, was founded in 1994. It shall promote environmental education in Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein and expand, they anchor in the existing structures and support initiatives for environmental education and coordinate and strengthen cooperation between actors with foreign countries and with related fields. The Foundation has an extensive database with information on institutions and offers in Switzerland, a list of organizations as well as an overview of practical assignments in nature and environmental protection for classes, groups and individuals. The SUB Foundation is a member of the International Network on Education for Sustainable Development and Environmental Education / ENSI, which was founded in 1986 under the auspices of the OECD Centre for Educational Research and Innovation ( CERI ). A concrete example from Switzerland is the action woodpecker tree, which together led to the end of the 1990s, the Pro Natura and the Swiss bird with the Association of Swiss forester. School classes and youth groups were motivated with the action to seek in the forest after the so-called cavity trees - mostly cobbled from Woodpecker - Birds serve as nesting sites. Some foresters offered this hand to let these found and marked accordingly cavity trees stand in terms of near-natural forest management.
There have always been points of contact for environmental education with the global learning approach, which has evolved from the development education Education and the Third World pedagogy and similar concepts. One example is the Conciliar Process, the common learning path of Christian churches to justice, peace and integrity of creation. In its approach to environmental education is about to make the interaction between the small budget of everyday life ( the oikos ) and the larger budget of the inhabited earth ( the Oikumene ) experience. Meanwhile, even global learning has focused more towards education for sustainable development, without the term was abandoned for it.
Some educators speak of a relative lack of success of conventional environmental education and educational reform and suggest other approaches before. In particular, experiential learning approaches are described in Chapter nature and environmental education (see also informal learning). In a different direction environmental education goes by the principle of sustainable development, through the resulting better ermöglichste life interest are expected to have greater success.