WESSA Schools Programme Annual Report 2019/2020

MESSAGE FROM FEE

Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) runs three youth focussed educational programmes, Eco-Schools (including FEE EcoCampus), Young Reporters for Environment (YRE) and Learning About Forests (LEAF), to educate young people with a goal to create awareness of environmental issues. The other two programmes Blue Flag and Green Key work with tourism sector through an environmental management framework to support sustainability.

Over the years, the programmes have created a name for themselves globally and are implemented with the following core educational principles: • Ensure that participants are engaged in the learning/ teaching process • Empower participants to make informed decisions and actions on real-life sustainability issues • Encourage participants to work together actively and involve their communities in collaborative solutions to examine their assumptions, knowledge, and experiences, in order to develop critical thinking, and to be open to change • Encourage participants to be aware of cultural practices as an integral part of sustainability issues • Encourage participants to share inspirational stories of their achievements, failures, and values, to learn from them, and to support each other explore, test, and share innovative approaches, methodologies, and techniques through monitoring and evaluation are central to our programmes The programmes have different origins and over the years have grown significantly. The quality and • Support participants • Continuously • Ensure that continuous improvements

growth has been made possible by FEE Members in 77 countries who share our conviction and execute our programmes on a daily basis.

in 1991 when student reporters accompanied scientists to the North Pole to study the depleting ozone layer and was launched as an international programme three years later in 1994 celebrating 25 years of empowering youth around the world to give the environment a voice. Every year YRE students are also given an opportunity to report from high-level international environmental conferences that increase their leadership and journalistic skills. As for the programme development, YRE is planning to focus on students from higher age education and strengthen the network for the programme Alumni. focussed on the benefits of forests and reconnecting students with the natural world. The programme in 2019 engaged around 700,000 students from over 5,000 schools with the help of 30,000 teachers in 28 countries. While most LEAF students are in primary school, the programme also has participants from 30 schools at the college and university levels. FEE is building FEE Academy (www.feeacademy.global) as an online teaching and learning platform to support stakeholders with their capacity building needs. Pramod Kumar Sharma Senior Director of Education (FEE) Learning About Forests (LEAF) engages students in outdoor education primarily

Eco-Schools

is

a

globally recognised label of excellence in formal educational

systems. FEE EcoCampus, though not as widespread as Eco-Schools, is being recognised as a strong approach to further sustainability education at tertiary level. The programme now engages nearly 20 million students and 1.5 million teachers from over 60,000 schools in 68 countries around the world. 121 tertiary education institutions are now on board through FEE EcoCampus. The programme marked its 25th anniversary in 2019 and in its 25th Anniversary Declaration, Eco-Schools affirmed Education for Sustainable Development as a human right and pledged to continue to engage children around the world in positive action. Eco-Schools also released documentation of its history in the publication titled ‘Changing Together’.

The Young Reporters for the Environment (YRE) is a leading programme engaging youth in journalism.

360,000 students from 4,835 schools in 45 countries participated in YRE in 2019. The students produced over 16,000 pieces of environmental journalism for the international YRE competitions in 2019. YRE was first conceived

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