Environmental education is characterised as a
process of lifelong education ensuring the acceptation of
environmental principles for positive influence of social conduct,
which is aimed at each social and age group. It is obvious from the
aforementioned that the system of schools consisting of pre-school
facilities, primary schools, secondary schools and universities,
universities of the third age, educational institutions managed by
universities, methodological centres, institutes for further
education, etc. is most important from the point of view of
educational potential.
System of schools
Pre-school education: Slovakia has a developed
structure of pre-school education within the frame of nursery
schools. In 1989, the average rate of enrolment achieved 92.3% of
the total population of children in the age from 3 to 6 years.
However, during next years a relatively large decrease took place,
and in 1994 only 75% of children took part in pre-school education,
and in 1998 this rate decreased to 70.8%. It was managed after the
year 1995 to halt this trend of the liquidation of pre-school
facilities because the new regulation has allowed a decrease of
pre-school facility fee and five years old children were exempted
from it.
There operate seventy-nine nursery schools in
Košice, and they are attended by 8,064 children.
The basic pedagogical document for pre-school
education is the ”Programme of educational work in nurseries and
kindergartens”, which also includes problems of establishing
relations of a child to the environment in various aspects. The
intellectual education also includes familiarization of children
with nature, contact with it (the stress is put upon understanding
the significance of nature in the life of human being). In the
ethical education, the development of emotional relation to nature
is implemented. Labour education is characterised by the effort to
involve children physically into care of the environment as well as
aesthetical experience of relation between a child and nature.
Primary and secondary schools. Primary schools
have two stages: Stage 1 (1st – 4th forms) and
stage 2 (4th – 8th forms and from the
1997/1998 school year, 4th – 9th forms).
In relation to pre-school education, emotional
action on pupils is used in a considerable degree creating the basis
for rational understanding of relations between environmental laws,
mainly at the 1st stage of primary schools, for which
innovated syllabi were prepared accepting requirements of
environmental education. This was projected into the teaching
subjects such as the Slovak language, elementary teaching, natural
science, national history and geography and labour education.
At the 2nd stage of primary school,
analytical cognition of natural and social reality is distinguished,
which is included in teaching blocks of separate teaching subjects
(natural science, geography, physics, chemistry, civics,
ethics).
There operate fifty primary schools operate in
Košice, attended by 29,052 children.
In order to improve environmental education in the
system of primary and secondary schools, the Slovak Ministry of
Education elaborated the syllabus ”Environmental education at
primary and secondary schools (Environmental minimum)”, which is
valid from September 1, 1996.
The present state of environmental education at
primary and secondary schools can be considered as the good basis
for its further improvement in accordance with progress in science,
technology and knowledge from practice of our schools. The objective
of this effort is to achieve such a state that environmental
education would become integral, purposeful and systematic part of
the work at all schools, of teachers and of everyday life at
schools. The number of grammar schools providing general secondary
education in Košice is 14 with 5,862 students. More than 40 other
secondary schools of different orientation operate in Košice.
From the point of view of environmental education,
universities have a dominant position in the preparation of
professional, scientific and pedagogical workers – ecologists and
environmentalists. In the sphere of universities, it is necessary to
pay attention to education of specialists in natural, technical and
social sciences, who will obtain special knowledge in the
environmental sphere during their university studies. The method of
teaching environmental science at schools is based on the
development of general knowledge on the wide basis such as knowledge
on the biosphere, pedosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere
and general processes and laws related to them and on obtaining the
knowledge on humane subjects, chemistry, mathematics and physics.
Currently it is possible to obtain already now professional
competence in the care of the environment with orientation towards
ecology and environmental science based on an environmental
curriculum at 13 faculties in Slovakia in the form of bachelor (6
semesters) study or in the form of obtaining the master degree or
engineering education (10 semesters study).
The above entire educational system also operates
in Košice. Universities educating specialists for the environment
are characteristic. In Košice, they are as follows:
- The Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
- The Faculty of Civil Engineering
- The Faculty of Mining, Ecology, Process Control and
Geotechnologies
- The Faculty of Natural Sciences
- University of Veterinary Medicine
Extracurricular system
The Centre of Environmental Education operates in
Košice within the Slovak Environmental Agency.
Non-governmental organizations are also active in
environmental education, such as SOSNA, People and Water, Slovak
Association of Ornithology, Association of Earth’s Friends, etc.
Košice – a Healthful City
Since 1993, Košice has participated in the project
of the World Health Organization (WHO) called ”Healthful City”. The
municipality undertook to improve the health of population of the
city including positive changes in the life style, nutrition and
state of the environment.
The Healthful City project is a
How is the INSTRUMENT applied to solve
City environmental problems?
