In July, forty teachers from across Latvia met at the 36-hour continuing education course for educators organised by AS "Latvijas valsts meži" (LVM), which took place this year for the eighteenth time as part of the LVM environmental education programme. Over three days, the teachers shared their own experience of delivering environmental education in Latvian schools and drew inspiration for new ideas from the experience of Sweden's nature schools. The continuing education programme was developed with the support of the Nordplus project "Schools growing together with forests", and it included a range of forest education workshops in which Latvian teachers, together with Lotta Carlegård (Lotta Carlegård) — a representative of the Swedish nature school movement and a textbook author — explored methods for delivering sustainable forest education in Swedish schools. The course also featured Cūkmens, who taught the teachers about the importance of clean forests as part of the Latvian environmental protection project "Nemēslo mežā".
Although the LVM Kalsnava Arboretum is usually a place to get to know native and foreign woody plant species, this time the course participants joined the arboretum's specialists to learn how, by carrying out pyrolysis experiments with pupils, charcoal or tar can be produced. Those present also gained an idea of how simple, widely available natural materials can be used in creative work. The teachers were particularly delighted by a workshop exploring the use of wood products in the food industry, where they tasted ancient Latvian recipes that are still found in many households and restaurants today.
Continuing their introduction to forest science, the teachers travelled to the LVM Kalsnava tree nursery, whose staff work daily on seed collection, seedling cultivation and maintaining the forest tree seed bank. After the tour, the teachers agreed that the biggest surprise of the day had been the birch seed orchard, because, unlike pine and spruce orchards, birch seed production requires greenhouses to prevent the seeds from spreading uncontrollably and to make collecting them easier.
The future lies in well-considered decisions
During the course, the educators were invited not only to work practically but also to think critically. Together with forest sector expert Kristaps Klauss, they unpicked various misconceptions about the industry, analysed the role of the forest in Latvia's landscape and economy, and took part in a discussion on what education about sustainability issues in Latvia should look like.
To learn about sustainable forest management practice and the processes taking place in the forest, the educators visited the forests around Lubāna together with Kārlis Taukačs, senior planner for the LVM Vidusdaugava region. They looked at young stands as well as middle-aged and mature forests, coming face to face with damage caused by the European spruce bark beetle (Ips typographus) in spruce stands and concluding just how great an impact human decisions have on forest health.
The teachers also visited the LVM Podiņi tree nursery, where they learned about the forest seedling production process from seed to seedling. The educators found out what transplanting seedlings involves, how quickly a forest grows, whether forest seedlings are available to anyone, and what day-to-day life is like working in a tree nursery.
AS "Latvijas valsts meži" offers both 12-hour and 36-hour continuing education courses for teachers who choose to integrate forest topics into their teaching. The professional development courses are approved by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Latvia and are developed in cooperation with the Interdisciplinary Centre for Educational Innovation of the University of Latvia and the Continuing Education Centre of the Forest and Wood Products Research and Development Institute. Further information about LVM environmental education programmes: www.lvm.lv/skolam
https://www.lvm.lv/jaunumi/7537-skolotaji-iepazist-latvijas-un-zviedrijas-pieredzi-meza-izglitiba