Environmental education in the school system at elementary schools in Slovakia

Abstract

Environmental education (EE) in elementary schools (6 − 15 years old) in Slovakia is not systematically defined, it is often dependent on the voluntary efforts and enthusiasm of teachers. Schoolchildren acquire environmental knowledge in a limited form during the teaching of individual subjects, especially Biology, Geography and to some extent, also Chemistry, Physics etc. In elementary schools, the school subject of EE is absent. Therefore, the aim of the presented study is to find out the current situation in formal and informal EE at elementary schools in Slovakia. We gathered data on formal EE in the form of a google questionnaire survey, in which only 18% of all elementary schools in Slovakia were willing to participate. Through some questions in the google questionnaire, these elementary schools also provided informations about the inclusion of formal, informal and non-formal education at elementary schools. Our SWOT analysis indicate a need for systematic EE in elementary schools, as well as improvements of teaching materials and teacher training in this area. At the same time, we present the EE model at the Rakovec nad Ondavou Elementary School with Kindergarten, which is included in the Green School Network and actively involved in Erasmus projects providing the opportunity to implement part of the study and internships abroad.