The aims of the project were: - To develop practices of outdoor education and effective strategies of teaching in and about the natural environment, which we will require after the outdoor classroom is finished. At the same time, the aim was to improve the role of the school garden as a teaching tool on the basis of innovative practices. Through the mobility we wanted to acquire the knowledge, skills, strategies, and examples of good practice that we could transfer into our educational environment. - To develop the knowledge, methods, and forms of teaching and learning about environmental problems, environmental responsibility, and sustainable development. The primary aim was that the participants gain the knowledge, skills, and competences in the course of their mobilities to include environmental topics in their classes more frequently and effectively. New insights would then be consolidated into a document that would delineate the school’s environmental mission and the strategies of environmental education in all the grades. - To reduce our school’s carbon footprint – implementing good practices and policies would reduce the impact of our school on the environment (waste management, energy waste, sustainable mobility).
Based on a survey conducted among students and their parents in June 2021, we found that students desire more outdoor classes, more contact with nature and ecological education. As the school is sits on a link between urban and rural areas, it is uniquely placed to introduce new educational practices and to facilitate an outdoor classroom on a school-owned plot of land. For the latter we have already obtained the material means through two local projects funded by the Municipality of Ajdovščina. The school also has a school garden, which is not adequately used, however. Through innovative practices the garden could become an important locus of our environmental policies, since its communal cultivation could serve as an example of the sort of responsible environmental behavior that we strive to instill in our students. Our school’s development plan also highlights the need of our teaching staff to obtain further training and experience in environmental education. The analysis of observation sheets and surveys stresses the problem of increasing food waste and mixed municipal waste and so compels us to raise awareness among both the students and employees of responsible food management and reducing the use of disposable products.