INSTITUTE FOR FOREST PEDAGOGICS
2500
Members of professional teaching staff participating in 35 seminars and professional training programmes
3000
More than 3000 children participating in forest workshops
5
Professional handbooks – Povabilo v gozd srečnih otrok/Invitation to the Forest of Happy Children (2012), Otroci potrebujejo gozd/Children Need the Forest (2014), Gozd oblikuje življenje/The Forest Shapes Life (2015), Gremo mi v gozd/Let’s Go to the Forest (2016) and Zelena učna okolja: Prednosti učenja v naravi za otroke s posebnimi potrebami/Green Learning Environments: Advantages of Learning in Nature for Children with Special Needs (2018)
1
Establishment of the Development Consortium of the Slovenian Network of Forest Kindergartens and Schools in 2014
141
Members in the Slovenian Network of Forest Kindergartens and Schools in 2019
6
Participation in 6 European projects as a partner or subcontractor
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Areas of Operation
1.
The institute is building on natural science work methods with emphasis on learning about and promoting Slovenian forests and sustainable management, with the desire to bring natural sciences and scientific and research activities closer to the children and youth.
2.
It is researching what the forest as a classroom and a source of ideas can offer to all subjects or curriculum areas; in the process it is contemplating on various didactic approaches, striving towards the development of active and modern teaching methods in nature and with nature.
3.
It is researching the impact of nature on the health and development of children and of their values.
OUR PARTNERS
The institute is collaborating with the Slovenian Forestry Institute, the Slovenia Forest Service, the Faculty of Education in Ljubljana, the National Education Institute of the Republic of Slovenia, the National Institute of Public Health, private organisations, and numerous Slovenian schools and kindergartens, which are a part of the Slovenian Network of Forest Kindergartens and Schools. It has also joined the European Forest Pedagogy Network and collaborates with many partners throughout Europe.
WHO WE ARE
M. Sc. Natalija Gyӧrek
Natalija is engaged in the professional development of forest pedagogics. She encourages teaching staff to introduce forest kindergartens and forest schools, holds seminars and professional training programmes at home and abroad, and educational programmes in natural environments. She is also experienced in expert evaluations and research work. She prepares, manages and implements European projects. She is the founder and initiator of the Slovenian Network of Forest Kindergartens and Schools, a consultant to the National Education Institute of the Republic of Slovenia, a lecturer at a technical college, and the author of professional handbooks on forest pedagogics. She graduated from the Department of Forestry and Renewable Forest Resources of the Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, and completed an interdisciplinary master’s study programme in Environmental Protection at the University of Ljubljana.
Peter Železnikar
Peter has a BSc in Mechanical Engineering and is the director of the Institute for Forest Pedagogics. He is in charge of its formal operation and strategic development. He is otherwise employed by CMC GROUP d.o.o., where he performs the tasks of a project engineering manager.
Mija Bokal
At the Institute for Forest Pedagogics Mija is in charge of public relations. She makes sure that the institute’s information about events, seminars, publications and current goings-on reaches the people it is meant to. At the institute, she assists with the development of the Slovenian Network of Forest Kindergartens and Schools, and takes part in project preparation.
Uroš Jelen
Uroš is a physical education professor and a kinesiotherapy specialist. In 2008, he graduated from the Faculty of Sport, and continued his studies in England at Keele University, where he studied the movement of a person as a whole. He deepened his knowledge at the Nürnberg Institute of Sport Science and Sport in Germany, where he completed a training programme in preventive exercises for the spine. At the institute he is raising awareness among the teaching profession and children of the importance of movement in nature, while his hands-on workshops in nature never cease to excite with their ideas and implementation. He is the author of the handbook Naravno gibanje otrok/Natural Movement of Children.
Alja Pirnat
Alja has a doctorate in biology. She is enthusiastic about nature and its diversity; she is primarily interested in fast, beautiful creatures – dragonflies and numerous bugs. Alja is a researcher, author and co-author of many scientific, technical and popular articles, and a collaborator on numerous projects. For many years now, she has been sharing her enthusiasm for nature at natural science camps with different generations of children.
Within the group she is in charge of zoological contents and will gladly assist you in discovering the small creatures that we often overlook, even though they are living all around us.
GREEN LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS
Electronic version: Green Learning Environments
Electronic version: The Benefits of (Learning in) Nature for Children with Special Educational Needs
Electronic version: Policy brief
REFERENCES
Implementation of full-day seminars on the topic of forest pedagogics for the teaching staff: • Conference Zelena učna okolja part 2: prednosti učenja v naravi za otroke s posebnimi potrebami/Green Learning Environments: Advantages of Learning in Nature for Children with Special Needs, 5 February 2019, Kamnik •Conference Zelena učna okolja: prednosti učenja v naravi za otroke s posebnimi potrebami/Green Learning Environments: Advantages of Learning in Nature for Children with Special Needs, 7 November 2018, Hrovača near Ribnica • Z orlom belorepcem po kočevskih gozdovih III – usposabljanje iz gozdne pedagogike in interpretacije narave/With a White-Tailed Eagle through the Forests of Kočevje III – Training in Forest Pedagogics and Interpretation of Nature, 7 and 8 September 2018, Kočevska Reka
• International seminar Narava in otroci ne poznajo meja/Nature and Children Know No Bounds, 28 and 29 August 2018, Zgornja Bela and Preddvor
• Učenje z naravo/Learning with Nature, 15 May 2018, Kočevska Reka
• Z orlom belorepcem po kočevskih gozdovih II – usposabljanje iz gozdne pedagogike in interpretacije narave/With a White-Tailed Eagle through the Forests of Kočevje II – Training in Forest Pedagogics and Interpretation of Nature, 4 and 5 May 2018, Kočevska Reka
• Gremo mi v gozd/Krenimo u šumo/Let’s Go to the Forest, 30 March 2018, Pula
• Gibanje v naravi-ključ do otroka/Movement in Nature – The Key to the Child, 15 March 2018, Bohor
• Gozdna pedagogika in gozdni vrtci ter vpliv narave na razvoj otrok/Forest Pedagogics and Forest Kindergartens and Nature’s Impact on Children’s Development, 31 March 2017, Pula
• Z orlom belorepcem po kočevskih gozdovih – usposabljanje iz gozdne pedagogike in interpretacije narave/With a White-Tailed Eagle through the Forests of Kočevje – Training in Forest Pedagogics and Interpretation of Nature, 29 and 30 August 2017, Kočevska Reka
• Občutimo gozd in se izrazimo v umetnosti in gibanju/Let’s Feel the Forest and Express Ourselves in Art and Movement, 15 May 2017, Maribor
• Pouk izven učilnice/SOS – School OutSide, 19 April 2017, Zg. Bela near Preddvor
• Gremo mi v gozd! Od gozdnih zamisli v gozdna dejanja/Let’s Go to the Forest! From Forest Ideas to Forest Actions, 18 September 2016, Zg. Bela near Preddvor
• »IN MOTU VITA«, v gibanju je življenje/“IN MOTU VITA”, in Movement Is Life, 19 May 2016, Preddvor
• Je učenje lahko pustolovščina?/Can Learning Be an Adventure?, 19 April 2016, Maribor
• Gozd kot ustvarjalno vzgojno-učno okolje/The Forest as a Creative Educational and Learning Environment, 12 May 2015, Velika Kostrevnica
• »Gozdni vrtec« se predstavi/The “Forest Kindergarten” Introduces Itself, Part II, 15 October 2014, Kamnik
• »Gozdni vrtec« se predstavi/The “Forest Kindergarten” Introduces Itself, Part I, 15 April 2014, Kamnik
• Gozd eksperimentov/Forest of Experiments, 11 May 2014, Ljubljana
• Gremo v gozd/Let’s Go to the Forest, 27 March 2014, Ljubljana
• Gozdni vrtec, gozdna šola 3/Forest Kindergarten, Forest School 3, 28 August 2013, Motnik
• Gozdni vrtec, gozdna šola 2/Forest Kindergarten, Forest School 2, 8 May 2013, Velika Kostrevnica
• Gozdni vrtec, gozdna šola 1/Forest Kindergarten, Forest School 1, 13 February 2013, Kamnik
Meetings of the Slovenian Network of Forest Kindergartens and Schools: ⦁ Prvo srečanje Mreže gozdnih vrtcev in šol Slovenije/First Meeting of the Slovenian Network of Forest Kindergartens and Schools, 28 August 2013, Motnik ⦁ Drugo srečanje Mreže gozdnih vrtcev in šol Slovenije/Second Meeting of the Slovenian Network of Forest Kindergartens and Schools, 11 June 2015, Kočevje
Preparing calls for applications for Slovenian schools and kindergartens: ⦁ Gozd oblikuje življenje/The Forest Shapes Life, 2014/15 school year
Handbooks on the topic of forest pedagogics:
⦁ Povabilo v gozd srečnih otrok/Invitation to the Forest of Happy Children (2012)
⦁ Otroci potrebujejo gozd/Children Need the Forest (2014)
⦁ Gozd oblikuje življenje/The Forest Shapes Life (2015)
⦁ Gremo mi v gozd/Let’s Go to the Forest (2016)
⦁ Zelena učna okolja: Prednosti učenja v naravi za otroke s posebnimi potrebami/Green Learning Environments: Advantages of Learning in Nature for Children with Special Needs (2018)
Scientific review article: Györek N., 2013. “Gozdna pedagogika v Sloveniji – priložnost za povezovanja in nova znanja./Forest Pedagogics in Slovenia – an Opportunity for Connections and New Knowledge.” Znanstvena razprava, Gozdarski vestnik, letnik 71, št. 4, Ljubljana, 225-235.
Scholarly article: Györek, N., 2012. “Gozd za učenje in življenje./The Forest for Learning and Life.” Trajnostni razvoj v šoli in vrtcu: revija za globalni razvoj kurikula. Zavod RS za šolstvo, Ljubljana, 55-62.
Published technical conference papers: Györek, N., 2010. “Forest Pedagogy in Slovenia.” Collection of Conference Papers. Encountering, Experiencing and Exploring Nature in Education. European Institute for Outdoor Adventure Education and Experiential Learning (EOE), Centre for School and Outdoor Education Slovenia, Ljubljana, 298-304. Györek N., 2013. “Otroci potrebujejo gozd./Children Need the Forest.” Bilten, Ekologija za boljši jutri. VIII. Mednarodni znanstveni posvet-Konferenca “Ekologija za boljši jutri”, NUK, Ljubljana, ISBN 978-961-93275-3-1.
Attendance at international congresses: ⦁12th European Forest Pedagogics Congress, 3 – 6 October 2017, Milovy, Czech Republic. Workshop – Green Learning Environments for Children with Special Educational Needs
⦁7th European Forest Pedagogics Congress, 2 – 5 October 2012, Scotland;
Györek N., 2012. Forest of Happy Children; https://www.forestpedagogics.eu/index.php/annual-congress/2012-dunkeld-scotlanduk
⦁10th European Forest Pedagogics Congress, 28 September – 2 October 2015, Slovakia
Project partner: ⦁Naravna okolja spodbujajo učenje in razvoj otrok s posebnimi potrebami/Natural Environments Stimulate the Learning and Development of Children with Special Needs (ERASMUS+) 2016 – 2018, ongoing project
⦁Srce narave nas povezuje (Evropski sklad za razvoj podeželja)/The Heart of Nature Connects Us (European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development) 2012 – 2014 – key results: Establishment of the Slovenian Network of Forest Kindergartens and Schools and of the website of the Slovenian Network of Forest Kindergartens and Schools
⦁Povabilo v gozd/Invitation to the Forest (dynAlp-Climate Programme), 2011 – 2012 – key results: The platform of innovative forest pedagogics, which has been spreading successfully throughout Slovenia; the handbook Povabilo v gozd srečnih otrok/Invitation to the Forest of Happy Children
Awards: Within the framework of the conference Allianz in den Alpe, the project Povabilo v gozd/Invitation to the Forest was chosen as the best project under the dynAlp-Climate Programme.