Funding to support teaching children outdoor environmental skills and awareness that will stand to them for life
Leave No Trace Ireland is delighted to announce it has received funding from the Department of Rural and Community Development to deliver new educational resources to schools across Ireland.
The Leave No Trace primary schools programme was founded in 2012 and now reaches thousands of primary school students and hundreds of teachers across the country annually. The support for additional educational resources funded by the Department of Rural and Community Development will enable Leave No Trace Ireland to continue to increase its impact in promoting ethical use of the outdoors and expand its programme to new schools across the country.
COVID-19 has highlighted the need for specific digital educational resources. Finding the balance between inspiring our nation’s youth and ensuring their safety has enabled Leave No Trace Ireland to develop its Championship programme to be delivered both online and on-site in full compliance with HSE guidelines. By using blended learning approaches, Leave No Trace Ireland Trainers are delivering programmes outdoors or through engagement with students using interactive activities, videos, and presentations.
The new educational resources will the development of videos for key outdoor activities as well as a school’s pack for teachers which will include a range of posters, skills and ethics leaflets for activities, and teaching cards.
Leave No Trace Ireland’s schools programme is about encouraging young people to discover, learn and connect with nature. The goal is to ensure that our natural world is left in capable hands for generations to come through education from an early age.
The programme aims to facilitate children’s learning by inspiring respect for and raising awareness of their natural environment by:
- Increasing knowledge through experience, explanation, and questioning.
- Engaging children in activities to immerse them in natural environments and help them to establish sensory connections with it.
- Help children to identify opportunities in their own life where they can apply the principles of Leave No Trace.
Leave No Trace Ireland’s programme is designed to encourage exploration and discovery and help children understand how to minimise their impacts by equipping them with the skills and knowledge to help conserve Ireland’s shared outdoor spaces. It is now more important than ever that the Leave No Trace Ireland ethos is spread to as many youths as possible.
Speaking today, Heather Humphreys TD, Minister for Rural and Community Development said, “I am pleased to support Leave No Trace Ireland’s schools programme this year. I know that this engagement with school children around the country will help to foster a knowledge and love of the natural environment and help to ensure that it is properly cared for in the years ahead. My Department, through Comhairle na Tuaithe (the Countryside Council), is working to support the outdoor recreation sector in Ireland to grow and develop in a sustainable and responsible way, and this funding goes some way to reflect the important work that Leave No Trace Ireland do to support that objective.”
Maura Kiely, CEO of Leave No Trace Ireland, said
“We are very proud to partner with the Department of Rural and Community Development. The new educational resources will help to teach children outdoor environmental skills and awareness that will stand to them for life. We are delighted that each child learns about how to protect these special places and learns about Leave No Trace”.
Further information on courses can be found at www.leavenotracireland.org.
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FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Maura Kiely, CEO, Leave No Trace Ireland
087 9005683
NOTES:
Leave No Trace Ireland is Ireland’s only outdoor ethics programme, which promotes the responsible use of the outdoors. Through education, research and partnerships, Leave No Trace Ireland enables and supports individuals, communities, organisations and companies in reducing the environmental impact of outdoor activities.
