Forest education in Finland - current state and prospects for the future

1. 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

2. ”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

3. Content • 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

4. 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

5. ... FFA continues • Member organisations (60) • Representingprivate 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 • International communication and media contacts • Forest at schools • Forest Forum for Decision-Makers (Forest Academy) • Annual Forest Days for professionals • Resources • ca. 12 employees

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. The idea of the forest curriculum(Expedition in the Finnish forest)

10. Forest curriculum- examples of the goals • What should a pupil from 7 to 12 year UNDERSTAND about forest nature? • 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? • 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

11. 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

12. 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

14. 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

19. … 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)

23. Actions for teachers • Forest courses for teachers e.g. • 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)

26. Follow-up / feed-back • The Forest Quiz (Metsävisa) gives feed-back every year • 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 • helps to focus our activities • so far attitudes are predominantly in favor of sustainable use of forest

27. 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

28. Attitudes and knowledge of teachers Findings from the Taloustutkimus study: • 90 % knows that well-being in Finland isbased 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

29. Future challenges How to get young people to understand the idea of sustainable use of natural resources • The role of school education • 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 • people’s knowledge and understanding about nature is more and more depending on school education, not on their own natural experiences • Information society • 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 • 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

30. European cooperation • EU Forest Action Plan • Key Action 10: ”Encourage environmental education and information” • PAWS - Pedagogic Works in Forests (2005-2007) • project of the EU program LEONARDO • develops a training concept for forest and nature related pedagogic work, complete results available in May • Forest pedagogic towards a sustainable development • 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 • Learning about Forests • project of Foundation of Environmental Education in Europe • creates projects for schools (e.g. Blue flag)

31. 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-the-art products