Landcare education - living laboratory & community education and training
Abstract
This project commenced in 1990, was one component of a major initiative in land conservation education in Western Australia. The objective was to prepare teachers for making full use of the opportunity for field study activities in a rural location (a living laboratory approach) by promoting opportunities among metropolitan and local schools; providing the necessary information, a teachers guide, in service workshops and field site experiences (prior to student class visits) and providing financial incentives for the pre-visit Landcare induction courses and briefings, through partial offsetting of costs for relief teaching,transport and accommodation.Both this and other parts of the whole project were supported by major sponsorship from Alcoa of Australia and the existing NSCP funded, Community Education and Training Project. This project was based on the premise that there was a need for future generations of Western Australians to be aware and have an understanding of, land and water degradation and soil conservation. There was widespread support for this motion; in particular in the National Soil Conservation Strategy and in Western Australia Government's Environment policy.There was also the challenge to make land conservation education relevant to the majority of schools in the Perth Metropolitan area and urban communities of country centres throughout the State.
