Storytelling outdoors
Countryside Classroom says that Chris Holland, an outdoor educator and author based in the south west, has launched an online storytelling for outdoor learning course. The course aims to empower teachers, outdoor educators, forest school leaders and parents to become better storytellers and facilitate memorable learning experiences through the power of story, [...]
ITE ESD Audit
TEESNet recently commissioned an audit of Education for Sustainable Development provision within university based UK Initial Teacher Training providers. The results of the survey were presented at the University of Edinburgh seminar on the 10th March.
Tractors into Schools
Thanks to FACE for the news that school children across Lincolnshire saw a new addition to their playground when the ‘Tractors into Schools’ initiative returned last week. The project, which was launched in 2016 by the Lincolnshire Agricultural Society and the National Farmers Union, has returned for a second year to [...]
Two more rivers get legal rights as people
We reported on March 16th the decision in New Zealand to grant the Whanganui river rights as a "legal person". India has followed this up, citing the New Zealand move, to declare the Ganges and Yamuna rivers to be people as well. The Economist has a feature on both these developments, providing [...]
Waitrose supports Countryside Classroom
Waitrose has made a donation to Countryside Classroom, allowing the site to "grow more quickly, reach more teachers sooner and expand the scope of resources available on the site." Tina Varns, Manager, Sustainability and Responsible Sourcing at Waitrose, said: "We think it’s really important to encourage children to learn about where [...]
New from Outdoor Families
The latest feature from Outdoor Families is here. Pacific Coast Highway: OFM’s Guide to an Epic Family Road Trip by Jennifer Fontaine is the story of an epic summer family road trip and "is as American as warm apple pie ala mode", but the intricacies of planning one can prove a [...]
More on the global learning programme
The GLP is a funded programme of support that aims to help teachers in Primary, Secondary and Special schools (Key Stages 2 and 3) to deliver effective teaching and learning about development and global issues. With free training, guidance, resources, and funded CPD, the GLP is building a national network [...]
Hundreds of Native Bee Species in Danger
A new study from the Center for Biological Diversity has revealed that out of more than 4,000 known species of native North American and Hawaiian bees, over half the species with available data are declining, and about 1 in 4 are at growing risk of extinction. The Center's Pollinators in Peril study found that [...]
A crisis in US environmental policy?
The problems that our sister organisation in North America [NAAEE] is having over its funding have now become clearer. You can see the detail of the difficulties here, and this quote from NAAEE's recent message to its members illustrates the significance of the problem the USA as a whole now faces: "The [...]
Wildlife Photographer of the Year
You can still see this exhibition at the Natural History Museum. 'Some of the world's best nature photography.' - The Guardian 'The best animal photographs of 2016.' - National Geographic 'Images of the most extraordinary species on the planet.' - Time Out More info here.
Bayer Crop Science working with FACE
Bayer Crop Science has started a £10,000 fund with Farming and Countryside Education (FACE) to help increase training opportunities for teachers wanting to work with farmers within the education system. FACE says that this could lead to over 12,000 more children having some food or farming content within their lesson plans, and [...]
What UNESCO is up to
Do you get the ESD ZOOM newsletters from UNESCO? These are essential reading if you want to keep up with ESD, the GAP, etc round the world. Here is a link to the most recent one in January. In this, the highlight was UNESCO seeking nominations for the third edition of the UNESCO-Japan Prize [...]
