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Electronic TEG

Published in TEG news issue 27, Spring 2001, by the British Ecological Society.
Category: Ecology around the World.

Ecology Education in Eastern Europe

by Susan Barker and Paul Elliott

This article outlines a project in ecological education in Bulgaria that has just been completed with funding from the Darwin Initiative for the Survival of Species (Department of the Environment Transport and Regions) A version of this article appears in a new book on education for sustainable development in Europe. It is the result of an European Initiative to share expertise and experience in environmental education. The details are:

de Haan, Gerhard, Mann, J. and Reid, A.M.(2000) Educating for Sustainability (Umeltbildung und Agenda 21) Peter Lang (Verlag) European Publishers.

The output of our own project, a teaching resource book is currently only available in Bulgarian but we are looking for a commercial sponsor for an English version so watch this space!

Title

Adventures in Ecological Education: From The Classroom to the Karst

Project Directors

Dr Susan Barker and Dr Paul Elliott
Institute of Education
University of Warwick
Coventry, CV4 7AL
UK

Tel: 02476 523897, Fax: 02476 523237

E.mail:
s.barker@warwick.ac.uk
p.elliott@warwick.ac.uk

Web Page:
http://fcis1.wie.warwick.ac.uk/~bgbioed/

Project Description

Project dates:
May 1998 to Feb 2000

Main output:
Written resource materials for teachers and training workshops of 3 days duration for teacher trainers, student teachers, teachers and NGOs

Funding:
The Darwin Initiative of the UK government's Department of Environment Transport and Regions.

Academic Rationale

Restructuring following the collapse of communism in 1990 has caused economic and political difficulties for Bulgaria. Poverty is widespread in the mainly (70%) urban population. Although not directly involved, the recent war in the Balkans exacerbated economic problems for Bulgaria. Respect for the natural environment and the organisms it supports is a low priority for most Bulgarians during these difficult times. This in a country that has a high diversity of species and habitats and noteworthy endemism. These result from its position at the cross-roads between Europe and Asia and the varied climate, topography and geology of the country. As Bulgaria develops a market economy one can only assume (and hope!) that the standard of living for the majority will rise, with a corresponding increase in leisure activity a possibility. The beauty and richness of Bulgaria's natural environment means that increased tourism, as well as industry, is seen as key elements in economic growth. Industrial development, increased leisure activity and tourism pose their own threats to the natural environment. There is therefore an urgent need to help individuals understand and appreciate fully the value of biodiversity in their country now and prepare them for a time when greater prosperity may bring its own problems.

Identification of a need

Despite possessing quite a convincing academic rational for the project in theory, identification of the need was crucial in order to gain funding. We did this by researching relevant published work. This proved to be difficult as very little had been done (which implicitly identified a need) and what work had been done was on a very small scale, was often written in Bulgarian and not widely disseminated. The project did however clearly meet a need. An urgent need for environmental education promoting conservation of biodiversity in Bulgaria was identified in:

• Dobris Assessment (Stanners 1995)
• OECD Environmental Performance Reviews: Bulgaria (1996) - "data on species and ecosystems are ample - measures to raise public awareness of nature issues need to be developed"

In summary, these reports indicated that there has been some success in obtaining outside funding for biodiversity assessment (90% international funding) but there was little domestic funding for nature conservation per se which has a very low priority. Moreover, education and training in this area has even lower priority and considering there are extremely limited human and financial resources available anyway, the situation was quite serious. A desperate need was also identified from within Bulgaria from those involved in teacher education and delivery of the school curriculum. We used personal statements from our Bulgarian colleagues to highlight this need. In summary a secure evidence base is essential both to write an academic rationale and secure funding.

Aims and Objectives:

The overall aim was to work with teacher educators and 'tomorrow's teachers' on a skills based resource for teaching biodiversity. The reason for the focus on teacher education was the effectiveness of reaching a wide audience. Student teachers at the beginning of their careers have the potential to reach a large number of children in a range of schools and are often seen as the source of new ideas. The theme of the project was to appreciate and value biodiversity in its widest sense including awe and wonder.

The key objectives were to:

• produce a teaching skills handbook to encourage the teaching of biodiversity in/out of the classroom in the local environment;
• introduce interactive ecological activities that promote awe and wonder of the living world and the sensitivity to care for living organisms and habitats;
• help teachers look for the potential in their own surroundings and relate these to the wider issues of biodiversity in Bulgaria particularly e.g. Karste habitats, bats, wolves, raptors, migrating birds etc.
• consider ways of planning, teaching, assessing and evaluating the use of biodiversity issues in the classroom within the context of the existing school curriculum but also looking to influence policy for future curricula;
• take into account traditional educational strategies, aesthetic and cultural dimensions;
• help develop teaching styles to bring Bulgaria more in line with the rest of Europe; develop environmental games which are related to Bulgaria's rich Biodiversity;
• place an emphasis on transferable skills ; skills transferable to other areas of the curriculum and transferable in the sense that the model could be applied to other countries;
• run training workshops for 'tomorrow's teachers' of Bulgaria at five regional institutions;
• set up WWW page for dissemination of information;
• collaborate with teachers, central government, ecologists and NGOs in the development of the handbook (to establish an internal network );
• publicise the project to raise public awareness about Biodiversity issues in Bulgaria; use the outcome of the project in our own teaching in the UK on ecological/biodiversity and professional education courses.

Innovation

It is difficult to define the innovation of the project in European terms when such different definitions and expectations of environmental education, sustainable development and biodiversity exist. Arjen Wals (1999) suggests that there is no one single perspective or definition which describes them all, in all situations or contexts. Indeed even within the European Union there is a divergence of opinion although there are many common features and goals in member states' educational systems (European Commission 1997). Outside the European Union there is a huge range of approaches and philosophy. Sharing of good practice globally, whilst not innovative, is common sense. In some countries environmental education often equates with ecology and nature study and teaching methodology can be traditional and formal with an emphasis on using text books and learning facts. Experiential learning and constructivist approaches to learning are thus innovative in these contexts. Thus we see the innovation of our project within the context of the receivers and users i.e. educators and young people in Bulgaria. The key innovation for us was designing environmental education/sustainable development activities to meet the defined need within a Bulgarian context. The content and approaches were not entirely innovative, we used a mixture of more traditional environmental education practice and new teaching strategies. However the pedagogy was just as critical as the biodiversity and sustainable development ideas.

The innovative features of the project was:

• working within a country rich in Biological resources but poor in economic resources;
• sharing biodiversity education expertise between the UK and Bulgaria;
• ecologists and educationalists working together;
• working with student teachers;
• seeing the project as a catalyst for further action;
• using the notion of biodiversity in sustainable development;
• promoting sustainable development through good practice;
• teaching pedagogy through example.

One problem of introducing innovative practice is resistance to change, lack of confidence in the delivery and suspicion of the educational value. Introducing the project through experiential training workshops was crucial to the success of the project. We had to gain the confidence of the teachers that what we were doing was effective and would make a difference.

Establishing the network

The network developed through existing contact in Bulgaria and new contacts obtained through the INTERNET and advice from the British Council. It was interesting that at the outset of the project none of our Bulgarian colleagues knew each other despite working in similar fields in Bulgaria. However at the end of the project a very strong network and many friendships have been formed. It did highlight to us the problems of communication within Bulgaria and in some cases the intense rivalry, particularly between academic institutions. This potentially could have been very destructive. We feel that working with existing networks is crucial to the success of a project but bringing in new partners can be very stimulating; a balance is ideal. Sharing was fundamental to the success of the project. Each member of the network had different strengths and distinct roles within the project; we certainly felt we were working together with a sense of mutual trust. The important links were between NGOs, academic scientists/ecologists and educationalists, however it was crucial to liaise with government departments both to raise awareness of the project and to gain approval for the final documentation.

Educational Resources and Sustainable Development in Bulgaria

It was important to prepare educational materials which were appropriate for every classroom, teacher and child in Bulgaria within the context of sustainable development and our specific objectives. This meant that essentially we had to develop classroom based activities for a largely urban-based population. We could not rely on out of classroom visits or the use of local habitats. We also had to develop activities which relied on few resources. Indeed this fits in well with the notion of sustainable development. Any consumables needed for the activities are either waste materials or those which involve no cost to the teacher. Our philosophy was one of 'low-cost/no cost' activities.

Between 1946 and 1989 Bulgaria was a centrally planned economy in which almost all activities were directly or indirectly controlled by the state. This was true for education which resulted in there being extensive education facilities across Bulgaria and a large number of teachers. On the surface Bulgaria has favourable education indicators with a literacy rate of over 95% and the primary pupil -teacher ration of 15 which is considerably lower than other countries in its income group. The transition to a market economy has hardened the budget constraint in education and so the education system is striving to improve learning under increasingly tight budgets. Moreover the teaching styles tend to be very formal with a great emphasis on learning facts and using textbooks. We had to work with these features in mind.

Training

Training was achieved through a series of 3 day workshops. The workshops were held in a variety of institutions around the country:

• The National Natural History Museum, Sofia;
• New Bulgarian University/Sofia University, Sofia;
• American University in Blagoevgrad;
• Smoljan, 7th School 'Paisii Hilendarski'

The variety of locations was intentional - to ensure a wide variety of participants and also for us to understand better the way in which these institutions function and could support the initiative once the project had finished. A key feature of the project was to have a definite exit point from which the Bulgarian colleagues could continue and develop the project.

Each workshop had a designated local organiser and an interpreter. All the workshops lasted for three days and involved trialling of the materials and activities. All the activities were evaluated and comments discussed and used in refining the final resource.

The written materials

The draft materials were brought over from the UK ready translated into Bulgarian. We had one or two problems with this as our translators were not scientists- some of the scientific ideas or names were literally translated which led to lots of amusement e.g. a woodlouse was translated into a forest headlouse! Scientific translation is thus recommended! The materials were developed using guidelines prepared by the UK government panel on sustainable development (DETR 1999). We were able to conform to some but not all of the voluntary code. The ten principles outlined in the code are:

• Principles of sustainable development
• Integrity
• Balance
• Values and attitudes
• Knowledge and Skills
• User-centred approach
• Need
• Development
• Production
• Promotion and Distribution

We certainly were able to achieve and demonstrate all of these with the exception of production. We decided to have all of the materials printed in Bulgaria and therefore control of this process is out of our hands. However we felt that having the materials printed in Bulgaria would make them more user-friendly and acceptable whilst also bringing some revenue to local publishers; this offset any advantages in choosing the most sustainable printing and production process. The philosophy of our teaching strategies can be described as non-behaviourist and experiential. We used a great variety of techniques including affective methods such as role-play, sensory and games, scientific method, problem solving, and value teaching. The factual content was fairly light, what was important to us was for participants to construct their own meaning and to realise the value in doing this (see Box 1).

Useful recommendations for biodiversity education for sustainable development within the context of our other units:

• Birds of Prey. The role of top predators and consequently the vulnerability of populations is poorly understood. A food-chain focus is a good idea.
• Snakes. A good theme to explore the link between species and habitat conservation. Wine and Grapes. Shows the value of biodiversity within domesticated species and its potential for economic development.
• Bats. A poorly understood but very vulnerable group of species that people as individuals can do a lot to conserve in urban/suburban habitats as well as rural. Raises awareness of the importance of the Karst habitat.
• Wolves. Changing perceptions of some species can be very difficult when they are based on centuries of prejudice and fear. One cannot hope to change some attitudes overnight but a start can be made.
• Herbs. Centuries of sustainable exploitation of herbs for medicinal and culinary purposes can lead to complacency. The protection offered by legislation can be poorly understood e.g. if the species are mentioned in legislation then there is a perception that they can still be harvested because they are deemed protected!
• Edelweiss. A good species to demonstrate the importance of genetic diversity by raising awareness of sub-species in different mountain ranges. It highlights conflict between recreational use mountain areas and conservation of vulnerable species. It also explores the use of sustainable cultivation of non-native cultivars to meet the demands of a trade in tourist souvenirs and the risk they pose to the purity of native populations.
• Local Diversity. To put some biodiversity concepts into a local context we recommend first-hand exploration of the immediate environments. Most people are surpassed to find such diversity on their doorstep.

Dissemination

Dissemination of the final resource and information about the project is very important. Dissemination of the resource is through our Bulgarian network and via a web-site based in the UK. We used local and national newspapers both in Bulgaria and the UK, with TV and radio features in Bulgaria. Using the press to help us raise awareness of the project was also very effective in raising public awareness of the value of biodiversity and the need to conserve it; we had undervalued the potential of this.

Evaluation

Evaluation and an exit point is our focus. We completed the project through a formal launch of the written materials in February. We held this launch in the National Museum of Natural History in Sofia. We were slightly amused at the fact that an awful lot of biodiversity 'turned up' in the form of fur coats and fox shawls etc.- something we rarely see in Britain today! To date we have achieved all of our objectives in the writing of materials and the training workshops. We have achieved Ministry of Education of the Republic of Bulgaria's approval of the final document- an endorsement of suitability of the resource for schools. Before any book can be used in schools it has to have this endorsement so we were delighted with the success of this lengthy and bureaucratic process. Our only difficulties have been the language barrier and lack of published materials. What we have gained can be demonstrated through our measurable outputs and the sense of shared achievement with our Bulgarian friends.

Acknowledgements:

We thank our dear Bulgarian friends who have contributed so much to the success of the project: Bogdana Shopova, Ludmilla Georgieva, Tea Ivanova, Toni Boiadjieva, Snezhana Tomova, Natalia Tsanova, Ana Petrova, Dimitar Usinov and Lilia Brezova. We also thank the Darwin Initiative Fund of the British Government for funding the project.

References

Department of Environment Transport and Regions (1999) A Voluntary Code of Practice: Supporting sustainable development through educational resources. DETR London.

European Commission (1997) Environmental Education in the European Union, ECSC-EC-EAEC, Brussels & Luxembourg.

OECD (1996) OECD Environmental Performance Reviews: Bulgaria. OECD Paris. Stanners, D (Ed) (1995) Europes Environment: the Dobris Assessment, European Environment Agency Copenhagen.

Wals, A.E.J. (ed) (1999) Environmental Education and Biodiversity IKC Natuurbeheer, Report number 36, Wageningen, Netherlands.

Dr Susan Barker and Dr Paul Elliott
Institute of Education
University of Warwick
Coventry, CV4 7AL
UK

Tel: 02476 523897, Fax: 02476 523237

E-mail: p.elliott@warwick.ac.uk

Web Page: http://fcis1.wie.warwick.ac.uk/~bgbioed/

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