Forest education in Finland- current state and

prospects for the futureConference of the Friends of Forests in Poland

Jedlnia, April 20th 2007

Juhani KarvonenExecutive 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 SarjalaDirector General

National Board of Education

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

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 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?

• 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

2. 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

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. 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 • 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 2. 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

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:• 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

1. 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

2. Urbanization• people’s knowledge and understanding about nature is more and more

depending on school education, not on their own natural experiences 3. 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 4. 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

European cooperation

1. EU Forest Action Plan• Key Action 10: ”Encourage environmental education and information”

2. 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

3. 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

4. Learning about Forests• 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-the-

art products