Coordinating institution:
- WWF Austria
WWF Austria is the largest nature conservation organisation in the country and was founded in 1963 as a partner of WWF International. WWF Austria is an association that works as an independent non-profit organisation. When WWF Austria was first established, the most important objective was to protect “Lange Lacke” (a bird area of international importance) in the eastern part of Austria.
Since then, WWF Austria has launched diverse campaigns throughout Austria to protect many different natural habitats. WWF Austria’s headquarters are located in Vienna. A branch office in Innsbruck in Tyrol is actively working on the “Alpine Programme” by developing trans-national conservation projects. A large WWF Education Centre “Seewinkelhof” is located near “Neusiedlersee” in the eastern part of Austria.
WWF Austria works closely with other non-governmental organisations in Austria, in the eastern part of Europe and in the Alpine region. Environmental education has played an important role since the very start of WWF Austria in 1963. Teaching material, school campaigns, project weeks, nature camps for children have always been at the top of WWF Austria’s agenda.
Our main goals (to stop the destruction of nature and safeguard a future in which man and nature live in harmony) can only be achieved if we start with our children and show them the relation between humankind and the environment.
Partner institutions in alphabetic order:
EDUCATION HIGHWAY Innovationszentrum für Schule und Neue Technologie GmbH, Austria (IST.eduhi)
Education Highway was founded as part of the Teacher Training College of the Diocese of Linz (Pädagogische Akademie der Diözese Linz - PADL) in 1986. Since 2000, EDUCATION HIGHWAY has operated as an independent non-profit research and development business in the field of ICT and school education. 20 people are currently employed at IST.eduhi.
The organisation is mainly financed by the Upper Austrian government and Raiffeisenbank. Furthermore, IST.eduhi gets additional funds through a number of projects and initiatives which are implemented on behalf of the Austrian Ministry of Education, Science and Culture.
IST.eduhi maintains the Upper Austrian school network (http://www.eduhi.at) as well as the Austrian platform for schools (http://www.schule.at).
IST.eduhi plays an important role in in- and pre-service teacher education in Upper Austria as one third of the staff of IST.eduhi also teaches ICT, pedagogy and media education at the Teacher Training College of the Diocese in Linz.
IST.eduhi is currently taking part in various regional, national and trans-national ICT projects in the fields of teaching, learning and school organisation. The projects deal with technical aspects, feasibility, educational and organisational matters in the field of school, education and new media. This includes projects on educational research, projects on NICT in the educational system as well as pre- and in-service teacher training projects and initiatives.
Istituto Statale d’Istruzione Superiore “F. Solari”, Italy
Our school comprises two types of schools: an “Industrial Technical Institute” and a “Professional Institute”.
The “Solari” Industrial Technical Institute is an upper level technical college in which students have two years of general preparation and three years of courses geared to their field of specialisation. The three fields students can choose from are: Electronics and, Mechanics and Biology.
The Professional Institute was founded in 1883.
The four different courses offered are: Chemistry, Electronics, Telecommunications and Mechanics.
Each course of studies is divided into
- a three-year course with a final exam and a diploma;
- a two-year course with a final state exam and a diploma.
The last two-year course is profession-oriented; students do professional training of 120 hours in private enterprises in Friuli Venezia Giulia and attend 180 hours of specialised lessons at school.
Istituto Statale d’Istruzione Superiore “Malignani”, Italy
The ISIS Malignani is a large upper level secondary school which comprises ITI Malignani 2000 – a technical school in Cervignano del Friuli (North-East of Italy), not far from Trieste, Grado and Aquileia. ITI is a specialised technical school in which students have two years of general preparation and three years of courses geared to their field of specialisation. At present, students can choose from the following fields: Electronics and Telecommunications, Mechanics and Chemistry.
Le Rectorat de Grenoble, France
The Regional Education Authority of Grenoble (“Rectorat de Grenoble”) is responsible for the administrative district (académie) and therefore governs the educational establishments – primary and secondary education – of Ardèche, Drôme, Isère, Savoie and Haute-Savoie and works in close cooperation with the four universities of Grenoble and Université de Savoie. The Rector of the Regional Education Authority of Grenoble is the chancellor of these universities.
Le Rectorat must attend to a total of 3,933 schools (both public and private establishments) and 54,000 students of higher education.
Since Le Rectorat has special relations with local and regional authorities, it defines and implements the educational policy of its territory in accordance with national priorities.
It appoints, manages and trains both teaching and administrative staff. Its inspecting bodies also evaluate teaching practices.- Organise and disseminate project work on the internet via different international and national online educational projects
- Develop a distance teaching model
- Organise an online distance teaching program for primary and secondary school pupils living in Slovenia and abroad
- Prepare teachers for online distance teaching with MIRK training programmes which will have a mixed modality format
- Organise an international conference on computers in education which will be held in Slovenia every year.
MIRK, Zavod za projektno in raziskovalno delo na omrežju Internet, Ljubljana, SloveniaMIRK is a partner in the development of the national programme on e-education called the CRP project 2002/04. Within this framework, MIRK cooperates with the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports, with the Slovenian National Educational Institute and with Universities. MIRK is also involved in the Slovenian Education Network (SIO) programme.
Sint-Dimpnacollege, Belgium
Sint Dimpna is a private catholic school for boys and girls which is subsidised by the state. It provides general secondary education in the following fields: Economics – Modern Languages, Economics – Mathematics, Greek – Latin, Latin – Modern Languages, Latin – Sciences, Latin- Mathematics, Modern Languages – Sciences, Modern Languages – Mathematics, Sciences – Mathematics, and Human Sciences.
Besides their mother tongue which is Dutch, pupils learn French, English and German for at least three years. Nearly all the pupils will be go to universities.
The school has a long tradition of projects and exchange programmes.
Sint-Dimpnacollege has 703 pupils and a staff of 91. Since ICT is an integral part of the curriculum, eight ICT teachers teach pupils how to use multimedia, how to investigate, search for information and communicate. 11 Science and language teachers, who are involved in European Projects, coach pupils in project work.
Umweltbüro Nord e.V., Germany
The Umweltbüro Nord e.V. was founded as a non-profit/non-governmental organisation in 1997. The association is very small and has less than 20 members. It works in the field of environmental education (see www.umweltschulen.de for details).
Environmental library in Stralsund: 7,000 media units, lending, distance lending, virtual library (online media catalogue since 1999)
Natural playground in Stralsund: adventure playground and ecological education on the periphery of Stralsund (since 2002)
“Green” schools: support for school projects (e.g. environmental checks, environmental audits), training for teachers, publications (since 1997)
New media in environmental education: projects with pupils and training for teachers (especially “learning by designing” and using computer simulations/games, since 1999)- WWF Italy
WWF was founded in Italy in 1966. It is represented by a national office, a network of 19 regional offices and 230 local offices and works with a large number of volunteers. It organises nationwide campaigns to save and protect endangered species and manages 132 protected areas called “Oasi” and other nature reserves. Other campaigns heighten an awareness of the need for the protection of the environment, ranging from freshwater habitats and the Mediterranean Sea to temperate forests and important wetlands.
For many years WWF Italy has carried out specific environmental education programmes in Italian schools by means of didactic tools which has been specially designed by the Education Office and distributed to teachers (45 different programmes to date).
One example
“Classes upstream” WWF Italy, 2001.
This environmental education program on rivers and streams focuses on the many different aspects of the complex relationship between man and rivers. To properly define this relationship and demonstrate the long history of the relationship between humankind as a whole and fluvial ecosystems, the discussion on individual aspects is initiated with the students’ own experiences. The discussion is further stimulated by impressions and ideas conveyed by books, essays, articles and other pieces of writing. This “emotive/evocative” part is followed by a more informative and descriptive part in which each topic can be further analysed and (possibly) studied in depth. Each part of the programme is enriched by a wealth of practical activities. - WWF Switzerland
WWF Switzerland works as an independent foundation and was established as a partner of WWF International in 1961.
With 230,000 members, WWF Switzerland is the biggest environmental association in the country. WWF Switzerland has its headquarters in Zurich, offices in Geneva and Bellinzona (Italian-speaking part of CH) and 20 local organisations all over the country.
WWF Switzerland offers teaching material, background information and a newsletter on diverse topics to teachers. Thanks to its “Panda Mobil”, the organisation has provided schools with a travelling exhibition on ever-changing topics for the past 25 years (the exhibition is currently on rain forests, next year on climate change). WWF Switzerland regularly organises special campaigns and frequently gives schools the opportunity to take action (e.g. “rainforest-friendly schools”).
WWF Switzerland has its own children’s magazine (Panda Club). It also has its own homepage for children: www.pandaclub.ch and one for young people: www.pandaction.ch. The organisation also holds campaigns and educational events for young people.
Some 40 camps are organised for children in different parts of the country every year.
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