“Forest pedagogy and outdoor education are extremely important for the overall development of children, so the project contributes to sensitizing and educating educational experts about forest pedagogy and its methods, and it lays the foundation stone for the development of this activity in Croatia” indicate Ana Fornazar a president of Model Forest Istria.

The goal is to improve the competences of classroom teachers and educators of two chosen regions in Croatia, Lika and Istria.

"With the project, we are trying to practically train educators and classroom teachers from the regions of Istria and Lika to work with children according to the methodology and principles of forest pedagogy. We are creating the core of the future network of forest pedagogues in the Republic of Croatia, but we are also strengthening the international cooperation of forest pedagogues. The tangible result of the project will be educational material in the form of an e-book intended for forest pedagogy educators as a means (tool) for planning work with children", says a project manager Ana Fornazar.

The Slovenian partner, the Forestry Institute from Ljubljana, will support the Croatian partners by transferring already existing practices from Slovenia and is the responsible partner for creating an e-manual that educators will use in their future work. Such material will have a long-term impact on raising awareness of the importance and benefits of forests and forest ecosystems. The e-book or manual in digital form will be intended for use with kindergarten and early school groups so partners from kindergarten and a school will be strongly involved in its creation.

The project partners Public Open University Gospic and the Istrian Model Forest will, through this project, begin the formation of regional canters in Istria and Lika for providing expert support in the implementation of forest pedagogy.

This project is the beginning of international cooperation on designing a curriculum for obtaining a formal qualification for the profession - forest pedagogue. As a long-term goal, the partners will set the verification of education for forest pedagogues (similar to verified programs for museum pedagogues in Croatia).

Educators and teachers from partner institutions will participate in trainings in Slovenia, Istria and Gospic that will be organized as part of the project.

"In March 2024 we will prepare Training in forest pedagogy and familiarization with good practices in Slovenia, followed by the Education of future forest pedagogy educators in Istria in May 2024, and then in Lika in October of the same year. The final conference of the project will be held in March 2025 in Istria," continues Ana Fornazar.

The special value of this project is that in Croatia there is no structured education program in forest pedagogy that can train experts in that area and thus enable their institutions to profile themselves as ones that integrate this form of work.

During didactic games, children form a certain attitude towards the natural environment, because they have the opportunity to establish a special, close relationship with the forest. For them, it can be a place where they feel safe and at home, while at the same time offers them challenges. A positive experience in a forest environment forms a "good" relationship with nature while simultaneously develops cognitive, emotional and motor skills and abilities.

With the results of the project, the Croatian partners will get closer to modern trends in education and will respond to the expressed needs of educators, who pointed out that they do not have enough knowledge to create quality and meaningful time with children in nature and the forest.

Project will focus on the possibility of implementing the forest pedagogy methodology with children with disabilities, so the part of the activities will be dedicated to inclusion.