ESD Best Practice Example: Cases from Slovakia
Špirála, the network of environmental education providers in Slovakia, has actively collaborated on the curricular reform of primary education in Slovakia. As a member of the working group of transversal literacies in the new curricula, it worked with the Slovak National Institute of Youth and Education and other public institutions on defining learning goals for environmental literacy. As a result of this long-term collaboration, ESD themes are now better represented in the new curricula and becoming an environmentally-friendly school has, at least officially, become a cornerstone of public primary education.
The Bratislava region has officially presented the building of its new, regional ecocentre in Čunovo. The Čunovo ecocentre is located at a triple border of Slovakia, Austria and Hungary. In the second half of 2024, it will begin offering ESD programs and guided nature tours and will feature an interactive exhibition that focuses on nature protection. It should also serve as a venue for the development of cross-border nature protection activities. It will be led by a consortium of the Bratislava region, State Nature Conservancy and DAPHNE – Institute of Applied Ecology (NGO).
The Slovak Environment Agency has collaboratively built the EWOBOX platform, where ESD actors can meet to share their news and resources. These can be filtered according to activity and resource type, age group, and various ESD themes.
