Leiden Position Statement on Education and the Role of the International Peat Society
This statement is prepared in draft format for discussion by the members of Commission VIII following a meeting in Leiden on the 18th June 2013 which was chaired by Dr Michiel Gerding.
Definition
For the purpose of this statement education is taken to mean training, information dissemination, school programmes and continuing professional development.
KEY WORDS
Training Information Dissemination Master Classes
Tool Kits Education Peatland Academy
Audits Peatland Passport
Introduction and Status of Peatland Education Within the IPS
The Strategy for Responsible Peatland Management of the IPS highlights the importance of investing in education, training and information dissemination to realise the vision of the strategy.
The international nature of the IPS and the involvement of many of its members in education and public awareness activities is a strong foundation on which to build a reputation in the delivery of peatland education. Every annual report of the society documents the wealth of awareness activities being undertaken by the national committees each year and within Peatlands International Magazine and Peatland News individual members highlight particular educational initiatives focusing on the peat industry, nature conservation, site management and interpretation.
Every peatland congress and annual meeting/conference sees countless experts present academic papers on cutting edge technologies to interested stakeholders and the general public which provides a wealth of material that could be adpated for use within the formal educational system or as part of continuing professional development and life long learning programmes.
The Problem and Action
The role of the IPS as an educator needs to be developed and formalised to include the following actions
· The formation of a special working group on education and possibly a new commission
· The inclusion of an education and training section in the international peatland symposium every four years and a call for papers
· The inclusion of an education and training section in the annual assemblies and conferences and a call for papers
· The inclusion of educational focused field excursions in the annual conference and international symposium
· Undertaking an audit of educational work being done within the members of the IPS
· IPS members need to be encouraged to present papers about educational or training initiatives running within their country to these conferences and to Peatlands International or Mires and Peat
· The educational role of the IPS needs to be promoted to target groups and individuals: IPS members, the general public, teachers, educators and students particularly through the web site.
· A variety of educational resources or tool kits should be made available on line through the web site
· IPS should adopt high profile educational project(s) to work on as part of their core activities such as the development of a world wide peatland passport for visitors or the development of training tool kits on various aspects of the sustainable peatland management of peatlands
· IPS should also be involved in the delivery of training programmes and master classes which focus on passing on the skills and expertise currently available within the members. Master classes could be offered in parallel with the annual assemblies. Longer term training programmes with certification might be offered through the peatland academy already proposed.
Who Does What
The educational working group should have a co-ordinating role in the development of the educational profile and work of the IPS within the framework of achieving the goal of the Strategy for Responsible Peatland Management.
Initially the work of the education working group will require voluntary input from the officers elected. Involvement in this group will require a dedicated time commitment to undertake the different tasks.
Audits might begin with a desk top study of published materials of the IPS to build a database of contacts and information about peatland education projects.
A survey of national committees might be undertaken to determine which peatland sites in each country are open to visitors so that a Peatland Passport could be built up.
Based on the information gained above invited speakers could be sought to present papers at forthcoming conferences and sites could be chosen for field trips.
A meeting with leaders of all of the commissions within the IPS should be organised to come up with ideas for master classes and training programmes and themes for the tool kits.
Presenter
This paper was prepared by Dr Catherine O’Connell, Chair of the Irish Peat Society, Irish Peatland Conservation Council, Lullymore, Rathangan, Co. Kildare, Tel 0035345860133, email
10th July 2013