Education for sustainability: the garden as a pedagogical resource for sustainable development

Description

Current education applies little non-formal learning methods for environmental protection and sustainable development. Today society is too little aware of the negative environmental impact of the production and distribution of food. Moreover, today's society, especially children and young people no longer have contact with the cultivation of food. The project promotes gardening activities in 5 localities of the country as a tool to educate sustainable and ethical principles in schools and enrich children's experiences entering in direct contact with nature by training teachers and adults involved in the education of students, promoting widespread introduction of practical methods for learning garden. This project will form the first nucleus of education which will promote the work of gardening as a learning tool in schools. The project beneficiaries are children and young students, teachers, people involved in education, members of environmental and youth NGOs and active citizens.

Summary of project results

There is a strong demand at national level, coming from a significant part of teachers, parents and students, for introducing gardening practices in the regular school activity, completing the few existing means of nonformal learning with outdoor practical activities. Worldwide, gardening has been used since the early nineteenth century for educational purposes. It manages to combine mathematics, geography, entomology, botany and drawing, landscaping and aesthetic arrangement of the garden, manual labour and physical education in preparing and maintaining the garden, small household economy in order to grow the necessary plants. While gardening, children learn about teamwork, responsibility, creativity and personal development in a nonformal environment, different from the classroom. The intent of the project was to create innovative spaces and learning tools in Romania, so that children can learn about gardening in school's garden. The project provided training for 153 teachers, adults and volunteers involved in education through gardening and for 125 students (youth and children) in protecting and regenerating the environment through gardening. Throughout the project, 31 adults and 604 students have developed specific gardening skills. 8 pilot projects, consisting of learning spaces through gardening practice, were implemented. A summer camp was organised for the children who participated in pilot projects, involving nine adults and 53 children aged 6 to 18 years old. The project promoted the introduction of practical learning methods for environmental protection and regeneration based on permaculture principles in formal and/or informal educational structures. Two manuals, nine guides and worksheets were elaborated and published, all detailing themes and activities related to gardening as a tool for learning, teaching about practical gardening. An online support platform was developed serving as a learning tool for all teachers, children and parents that are or will be interested to develop gardening projects - www.scoaladingradina.ro.

Summary of bilateral results