2019

LVM Teacher Continuing Education Courses Take Place in Active and International Environment

How to promote creativity in forest learning? How to design classes so that students can be active and creative? These and other questions were answered by teachers from all over Latvia in the 36-hour continuing education courses organised by JSC “Latvia's State Forests” (LVM), which this year were conducted in an international atmosphere.

Participants started the three-day session at the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) of the Republic of Latvia, with a meeting organised by Jānis Eglītis, Head of the Office of the Minister of Agriculture. During the meeting, the participants had an opportunity to get acquainted with the activities and achievements of the MoA, as well as to take part in active discussions on the forestry sector, its topicalities and its role in addressing environmental and social issues. Kristaps Klauss, Executive Director of the Latvian Forest Industry Federation, encouraged the participants to think about myths and reality. During the presentation, he presented statistical data and demonstrated tangible and real-life examples from everyday life, convincing those present that it is not always how it looks and it is always important to look deeper and more attentively.

Continuing their journey, the teachers went to LVM Kalsnava Arboretum. Although known for its rich collection and splendid Peony Festival, this time the teachers were asked to try the role of students in the arboretum's Green Backyard School. The class was divided into three parts. The first part consisted of making teams using cards, various household items and tree and shrub species that can be found in the arboretum. The second part focused on role-playing, where everyone became eco-tourists and made decisions about which items to bring with them to be more environmentally friendly than the other alternatives used so far. In the third part, the teams conducted scientific experiments on the availability of land resources as well as on soil properties and water permeability.

To start the next day alert and active, the teachers together with the ornithologists of the Latvian Bird Fund went to the wild to observe the species of birds living around us and to find answers to their questions about birds and their life.

As the day began, the participants were given a unique opportunity to meet entrepreneur and internationally acclaimed textbook author Prof. Gunter Pauli. During the meeting, the participants learnt about the educational methods and tools developed by the Professor, which are used all over the world to teach (in an attractive and exciting way) about sustainable environmental management and bio-economy. In his materials and work, the Professor puts the emphasis on conducting the learning process in the wild, so the teachers present were also invited to go to the forest to perform various tasks, which provided a clear example of how to conduct an outdoor lesson quickly and efficiently. At the end of the session, each participant received Prof. Pauli's book “The Greatest Tree” signed by the author himself.

To get to know the forest, it is necessary to find out the path of its creation from a seed to a log building; therefore the teachers visited LVM Podiņi Nursery, where nursery manager Jānis Siksalietis told about the processes taking place at the nursery, while forest expert Kaspars Riže talked about current issues in the forest and forest management.

  Open gallery 

At the closing day of the teacher courses, Āris Jansons, Researcher at the Latvian State Forestry Research Institute “Silava”, during the discussion “Forests for Latvia. The next 100” encouraged us to think about what we want to see in the future. In turn, Līga Abizāre, Head of the LVM School Programme, shared her experience of the previous study programmes and opportunities for the cooperation in the new school year. The teachers were also encouraged to make suggestions on how to improve the programmes, thus contributing to the discussion on how to bring these programmes closer to everyday learning in schools.

In order to share their experiences more successfully, teachers went on ‘dates’ which not only brought them together, but also encouraged them to collaborate and work together on projects. A teacher from Limbaži Secondary School No. 3 shared her opinion: “During these ‘dates’, strangers can quickly become friends!”

The head of the Nature Friends' Centre “Dadzis” in Viļāni tells about his experience: “My head is full of cool ideas, hands are ready for work, new collaborations are being established. Thank you for this event, inspiration, experience and opportunity to participate in LVM's curriculum, offering the children of the centre new knowledge and skills. At the end of the event, every ‘graduate’ of the course got their own crown. If you happen to meet someone with such a strange crown on the street, don't be surprised. These people have a noble goal of educating children about nature and the environment, teaching them to think about the future.”

Every year, LVM offers continuing education courses for teachers, who integrate forest in the study process. Professional development courses have been coordinated with the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Latvia and are developed in cooperation with the Centre for Further Education of the Forest and Wood Products Research and Development Institute. The courses are financially supported by the Latvian Environmental Protection Fund within the framework of the “Do not Litter the Forest!” campaign.