Knowledge widening and attitude improvement by Forest Pedagogy

Abstract

Concerns regarding the environmental crisis were already formulated in the second half of the 1900s. Since then, global problems have become more severe and complex. Despite the obvious signs, the environmental catastrophes generated by us result in intermittent actions only, without any substantive change. It is our task to make people realise that, and to develop environmentally conscious behaviour. The question is how we can achieve that? Nowadays, the environmental crisis is accompanied by a moral one as well. The realignment and the loss of values can be attributed to the faults of education. The inter- and multidisciplinary aspect of environmental education can provide the solution to these problems. Therefore, the goal is to make people able to recognise the global environmental problems, and to act against them, possessing the suitable knowledge, attitude and personality traits, acquired through the environmental pedagogy, which puts the pedagogy of sustainability into practice. Forest schools are the real stages of environmental education and pedagogy of sustainability. Pedagogues must be professionally prepared when they bring their class to the forest school, and the same is expected about the service providers, who receive them. Efficiency of forest schools with regard to the shaping of environmental attitudes and the acquisition of knowledge about nature would increase if more and more environmental educator made acquaintance with the Forest Pedagogy project elaborated by Mária Kováts-Németh, and applied that.