2016

Further education courses for teachers are now open for registration

We kindly invite teachers of different subjects to take part in educating courses, and find out why and what is being done to manage Īle ecoforests for recreation, see the LVM Nature Park in Tērvete in a new light, draw inspiration for organising classes outside the usual school premises and, above all, learn to love the forest even more. While students are off for their spring holidays, teachers have an opportunity to participate in a further education (A) course held on 15 March "Development of Professional Competence of Teachers in Environmental Education on Sustainable Forest Management", organised by Further Education Centre "MeKA" (Forest and Wood Products Research and Development Institute) and JSC "Latvian State Forests".

Together with LVM experts the course participants will visit Īle ecoforests for recreation, to take part in an educational forest management excursion, and assess the importance of sustainable forestry. Participants will also have an opportunity to visit and explore Īle partisan bunker, and learn about the history of its creation and restoration.

On the second part of the day, the teachers will be offered an opportunity to get acquainted with the current events taking place in the LVM Nature Park in Tērvete, take the first steps over the new wooden bridge - the laboratory, and to draw inspiration for outdoor classes in the Green Classroom environmental class. Uldis Spulle, MeKA Deputy Director for Scientific Work, will reveal the numerous possibilities for the use of wood, and will inform the participants about innovations in the use of wood in Latvia, as well as abroad.

The courses are open for registration until 26 February; to apply, please fill in the electronic application form. Please note that places are limited.

Thanks to the acquired knowledge, I now can teach my students more about forestry. I realised that forestry was not at all a simple thing. Forests are taken care of, planted, cultivated, not only cut down" - these are just some of the lessons learned by the teachers after the last autumn's further education courses.

The courses are organised within the framework of the international environmental education programme "Learning about Forests”.