“Forest and Forestry” provides content and instructions for school lessons in forests

The guide is targeted towards teachers of secondary schools and school forestries, colleges, and anyone who is interested in forests and forestry.

“I have learned from my work that efficient higher and professional education doesn’t depend only on the quality of the educational establishment. A lot depends on how conscious is the choice that the students make when they decide to study forestry. School forest activities, which this manual aims to improve, help students make informed choices about their future profession.”, says Anatoly Petrov, Professor, Doctor of Economy, President of the Russian Institute of Continuous Education in Forestry.

To increase professional awareness of young people who are considering going into forestry and forestry colleges and universities, FLEG decided to produce an educational manual for school teachers who are leading extra-curricular activities related to forests. Teachers of technical colleges and universities also showed an interest in the new publication.

“As the leader of the educational project, I had to decide: to give priority to giving fundamental knowledge about forest and forestry to school studends or prepare a very practical guide with maximum information on conducting field lessons at forest sites”, says Anatoly Petrov.

The discussion with teachers and educational experts showed that schools prefer to have a manual that focuses on practical knowledge.

This led to the publication of the practical educational guide “Forest and Forestry”. FLEG expert presented it in Pushkino, Russia, at a workshop Continuing Education in the System of Forest Management and Law Enforcement: Lessons Learned and Problems, on December 8-9, 2016. The participants called the manual “the bestseller number one for school forestries”. It is now in high demand, and FLEG has printed an additional run. FLEG also gives a free online access to the book.

The teaching manual is based on eight modules: “Forest and people”; “Trees are the foundation of the forest”; “The flora and fauna of forests”; “Ecological and social services provided by forests”; “Forest restoration”; “Protection of forests from fires”; “Forest protection and sanitary safety”; “Participation in the Podrost All-Russia Youth Contest”.

All modules have the same structure. In the first part, teachers are presented with the information that they need to give the required amount of knowledge on the topic to the students. In the second part, the teachers are provided with instructions on how to conduct practical lessons on the topic on forest sites (35 field lessons in total).