Current status of extracurricular Environmental Education in Slovakia

Current status of extracurricular Environmental Education in Slovakia Introduction

Extracurricular environmental education (hereinafter also ENV) begins in the family even before entering kindergarten and naturally continues there while attending school institutions. If we focus on the realization of ENV outside schools and school institutions, we find its application mainly through certain state budgetary and contributory organizations in the environment sector, in the culture sector and in the health sector. In addition, out-of-school ENV is addressed by educational institutions in the interior sector, cultural-educational institutions, networks of museums, galleries and libraries, and civic associations.

Almost every child is born into a family (whether complete or incomplete), and it is in it that they acquire the basic prerequisites for their later development. Positive values and a positive attitude to nature and the surrounding environment need to be developed in a child from early childhood. In the early years, parents are examples and role models for behavior toward the environment. It is the parents who often provide the decisive impulse for a relationship with nature. They can nurture in a child an interest in and love for the environment, for its protection and development. The family model is very strong in a child. This family situation, however, is hard to influence and is largely dependent on the family members’ intellectual level, interests, and way of life. Many things, even small bits of ignorance or bad habits, a child brings from the family, sometimes for life. The family is the fundamental unit of society that affects a person’s personality and attitude.

In the working draft Environmentálna akadémia (2000), points are identified at which family upbringing should focus on ENV:

• assuming responsibility for one’s own life, health and the state of the surrounding environment,
• fostering a positive relationship with nature and with the social and cultural environment,
• awareness of the family’s responsibility to future generations,
• preference for a new lifestyle that considers the importance of recreation and rest while preserving and protecting the environment,
• the needs of older people and people in socially vulnerable situations.

Environmental education in cultural-educational institutions, museums, galleries and libraries

In the current period, in the sphere of cultural-educational institutions, environmental education is purposefully implemented mainly by local cultural institutions, regional cultural centers with educational centers and the National Cultural Center. Further included are botanical gardens and zoos, arboráta, several museums, galleries and libraries.

Most museums have natural science collections and exhibitions. They organize various activities that contribute to educating visitors, protecting nature and the environment. Dominant roles in this area have: Slovenské národné múzeum, Slovenské múzeum ochrany prírody a jaskyniarstva in Liptovský Mikuláš, Slovenské banské múzeum in Banská Štiavnica and Múzeum Tatranského národného parku in Tatranská Lomnica. The naturally developed conservation and ecological dimension is represented by the natural science exhibition of Stredoslovenské múzeum in Banská Bystrica, and other regional museums (Západoslovenské in Trnava, Východoslovenské in Košice, Liptovské in Ružomberok, and others) also achieve good presentation quality. Some museums offer opportunities to organize teaching hours with a natural science focus. Also, interest clubs or groups are organized there. Popular too are exhibitions with conservation themes, talks, lectures, competitions, camps, field outings and the like. Several museums are today in individual districts the only place where professional literature and information with an environmental focus is collected.

In Slovakia there are not enough professional libraries (except for the specialized library at Slovak Environment Agency and the Slovak Forestry and Timber Library in Zvolen). Professional literature and information materials in this area are found mostly in museums, university workplaces and scientific institutions (Environmentálna knižnica of the Faculty of Natural Sciences of Comenius University in Bratislava, Knižnica Štátneho geologického ústavu Dionýza Štúra, Knižnica Slovenského múzea ochrany prírody a jaskyniarstva, Knižnica Výskumného ústavu vodného hospodárstva, Knižnica Výskumného ústavu vodného hospodárstva). The Central Library of the Slovak Academy of Sciences has a special position. Environmental literature is also held by the University Library, the Technical Library - Center for Scientific and Technical Information, Matica slovenská in Martin and further institutions. A significant amount of environment-related information is also made accessible through online libraries.

Environmental education in mass media Television, which is among the most preferred mass media, in our view still deals with environmental issues only little and unsystematically. Environmental programming is placed at unpopular broadcast times and is rather a rarity than routine. At present, Slovenská televízia broadcasts environmental programs Zelená revue and Halali on its second program, while Markíza currently does not broadcast any environmental program. In addition to the need for systematic work, there is also a lack of funding.

In Slovakia there are, besides Slovenský rozhlas as a public institution, several dozen commercial radio stations. Although they do pay some attention to environmental protection and creation issues, because of the breadth of stations and their broadcasting power, this remains limited. In both cases, a regular program with suitable broadcast times is also missing, one that could find both listeners and viewers and thus enable more effective dissemination of environmental ideas and information. More often than dedicated programs, nature films can be seen on television screens, and these do to some extent shape people’s environmental awareness.

It is also unfortunate that television and radio programs of this character intended for children and youth, broadcast by our mass media, are almost completely absent. However, each year an International Festival of Films, Television Programs and Video Programs ENVIROFILM is organized in Banská Bystrica, Banská Štiavnica, Kremnica, Krupina and Zvolen. The festival includes international conferences, expert talks with the public on current environmental themes, and supporting educational events for children and youth. The festival films become part of a video library and are used in educational processes at schools.

Slovak press gives more attention to environmental protection. It has separate sections or editors who specialize directly in environmental issues. Progress in this direction is shown by thematic supplements, for example in the weeklies Trend and Profit, and in the dailies Práca and Sme.

Among regularly published periodicals in the environment sector, since 1996 there is ENVIROMAGAZÍN—a bimonthly publication that comprehensively addresses the protection and creation of the environment (its online version is at this link: http://www.sazp.sk/slovak/periodika/enviromagazin/).

The journal ĎalEKOhľad is interesting especially for teachers of environmental education and philosophy (online version at this link: http://www.spirala.sk/files/cdd23a8efd93d468094cc314e5006954).

Životné prostredie is a review journal focused on environmental theory and creation. It also has an online version, which has been available since 2004 at http://www.elis.sk/. Older issues of this journal can be found at http://www.seps.sk/. On this website we can find many other journals on this theme as well. The publication of posters, puzzle books, bulletins and information brochures also contributes to increasing public environmental awareness.

No magazine aimed exclusively at children and youth with a focus on environmental protection and creation is currently being published. This thematic area, however, is contained in nearly every children’s magazine in individual sections or articles. Also useful are the posters, brochures and worksheets for children mentioned above. Most of these materials are hardly accessible to children.

Internet is a phenomenon of the time. At present, one of the most effective ways to search for information has become searching via the internet. Almost all organizations, associations and even state sectors publish information on websites (e.g. www.enviroportal.sk, www.enviroweb.sk, www.biospotrebitel.sk, www.environet.sk, www.pavucina-sev.cz, www.ekoskola.sk, www.greenpeace.sk, www.envis.sk and others).

Implementation of the survey

In the field of out-of-school ENV, many state and non-state organizations, non-governmental non-profit organizations and associations offer schools a wide range of projects and competitions in which they can participate. Basic schools often use these offers and cooperate with different organizations active in this area.

In the school year 2011/2012 we conducted a questionnaire survey in eastern Slovakia focused on clarifying the current status of environmental education in our primary schools. Within this survey, we prepared and distributed two electronic questionnaires for school coordinators of ENV and for teachers of 1st-grade primary school classes (Kancír - Suchá, 2012).

The survey also included questions focused on cooperation of primary schools with state or non-state organizations and NGOs ensuring environmental education. We also asked respondents whether they participated in a wide range of competitions and projects offered by these organizations.

The results of the questionnaire survey carried out in the Prešov and Košice regions showed that primary schools participate to a high degree (78%) in environmental projects and competitions.

Table no. 1 Degree of school participation in ENV competitions and projects.

The next questionnaire item focused on precise naming of competitions and projects in which schools participate. From respondents’ answers we prepared a ranking of competitions and projects. We rank them by frequency of appearance (from highest to lowest). We also divided projects by duration into short-term (lasting one day, or a week) and long-term. Remaining responses were divided into competitions and events.

Table no. 2 Environmental projects, competitions and activities in order.

In the questionnaire for school coordinators, we focused on determining respondents’ level of satisfaction with several aspects concerning out-of-school ENV. For this type of question we used an interval scale on which respondents could mark one of five levels of satisfaction with individual aspects of ENV (where 1 means full satisfaction and 5 complete dissatisfaction). In the following table we present the respondents’ answers to questions regarding out-of-school ENV.

Table no. 3 Level of respondents’ satisfaction.

N – percentage of respondents who did not answer
AP – arithmetic mean
ŠO – standard deviation

According to these values we can determine that satisfaction was low mainly in the first and second items. It is therefore not sufficient for respondents to have available enough training and credit education in the area of ENV. Schools constantly receive offers of competitions and projects for pupils, but the offer of trainings for teachers is truly very limited. Another issue respondents identified in their observations is the reluctance of some principals to sign forms for teacher participation in credit education. This may be caused by the time and financial burden of this type of education. Sometimes principals are unable to secure proper school operation if a greater number of staff are away from teaching for training.

Because there truly are many organizations dealing with environmental education, we monitored the current state in Slovakia and present below a clear list of them with a brief characterization.

Environmental education provided by state (and non-state) institutions

Institutions with irreplaceable roles in the area of environmental education and training include the Slovenská agentúra životného prostredia, Správa národných parkov SR, Správa slovenských jaskýň, Geologická služba SR, and the Slovenský hydrometeorologický ústav. These are professional organizations or institutions that provide experts, schools and the wider public with information on nature protection, environment components, spatial planning, waste management, and so on through their information centers, libraries and networked databases.

Slovenská agentúra životného prostredia – SAŽP – www.sazp.sk The Slovenská agentúra životného prostredia (SAŽP) carries out environmental education of the public on two levels—organizing nationwide and international seminars, symposiums, conferences, colloquia; specialized training courses, exhibitions and festivals with themes of environmental protection and creation; as well as direct education of teachers, students and pupils, using didactic classrooms, specialized libraries, an environmental video library, nature protection information centers and its own professional staff support. SAŽP staff produce a number of methodological materials for out-of-school ENV and cooperate in creating methodological materials for school-based ENV. Through its expert departments and environmental education centers (hereinafter also SEV), it implements out-of-school education focused on protection and creation of the environment at all levels.

SAŽP environmental education centers (SEV SAŽP) realize practical environmental education mainly through experiential forms of learning. In Slovakia there were five SEV centers: SEV Drieňok Teplý Vrch, SEV Harmónia – Modra, SEV Orlík Poprad – Spišská Sobota, SEV Regetovka and SEV Dropie. In 2011, two SEVs, namely Drieňok – Teplý Vrch and Regetovka, were abolished by a decision of MŽP SR. The abolition occurred despite petitions and requests from teachers and other involved people.

Promotion includes, for example, preparation and editing of promotional materials, production of materials for practical environmental education, publication of ENVIROMAGAZÍN, organization of conferences, seminars, trainings, exhibitions, dramaturgical and organizational support for ENVIROFILM, television and video programs with themes of creation and environmental protection, cooperation with European festivals and management of regional environmental libraries and video libraries. In 2013 SAŽP created a school program in the form of an outdoor game called Enviróza (http://www.enviroza.sk/). The educational goal of the school game is to gather and spread information about environmental burdens in Slovakia among young people. Within the school program and Enviróza game, SAŽP announced in 2014 a competition titled SCI-FI for the best science-fiction story, which is also carried out with a similar goal. The competition was announced on the theme “I Have Such a Dream” – a world without environmental burdens.

Besides Enviróza, SAŽP also offers the following programs: Ekologická stopa, Na túru s Naturou, Beagle. Its competitions are: Zelený svet, Hodina ekostopu, Oči na stopkách, Hypericum, ProEnviro, EnirOtázniky.

Správa slovenských jaskýň – SSJ – www.ssj.sk Správa slovenských jaskýň is responsible for maintaining accessible and publicly available caves in the Slovak Republic. The educational, promotional and outreach activity aims to protect and promote this natural heritage. Newly opened cave areas now include specialized exhibitions focused on learning about and protecting nature (in Slovenský kras for presenting World Heritage).

At each park administration of national parks or protected landscape areas, information centers for nature protection are established; their task is to provide information on the corresponding protected area and guide services. They also issue promotional materials, provide various publications about individual areas and offer video programs (available at: www.spirala.sk/dokumenty/koncepcia.doc).

Environmental education is also realized through nature trails, exhibitions, displays, educational events, educational brochures and the like.

Národné lesnícke centrum – NLC - http://www.nlcsk.sk/ NLC is a state-established contributory organization, administratively subordinate to the Ministry of Agriculture of the Slovak Republic and methodically guided by the Forestry Section of MP SR. In 2011, declared the International Year of Forests, NLC organized a large number of events for the public, including for children and youth. At these events, foresters tried to make information in the field of forest management, forest regeneration, forest functions and so on accessible in an engaging way.

Štátna ochrana prírody Slovenskej republiky – www.sopsr.sk The Administration of national parks of the Slovak Republic changed by decision of the Minister of Environment No. 36/2000-4 effective 1 July 2000 into Štátna ochrana prírody Slovenskej republiky, which organizationally manages and ensures care in all specifically protected areas and in free countryside through park administrations, protected landscape areas and regional centers.

In the area of education, training and promotion of nature and landscape protection, it carries out activities aimed at environmental education for local residents and visitors of national parks. It establishes and operates nature trails, nature sites and nature protection information centers, and ensures educational and outreach activity focused on stewardship of national park areas, their protection, knowledge and mission.

Národný park Nízke Tatry – www.napant.sk The Administration of Národný park Nízke Tatry prepares annually for kindergarten and primary schools a range of environmental teaching programs and excursions. The programs are focused on sensory, creative and active knowledge of nature and environmental problems, with the aim of enriching primary school curricula. The offer for primary schools for this school year includes activities such as: Lúčna expedícia, Vodné potvorky and Lesné dobrodružstvo. More detailed information is at http://www.napant.sk/akcie/akcie_eko.htm.

The Administration of Národný park (hereinafter also NP) organizes the regional and nature-themed HYPERICUM competition – poznáť a ľúbiť svoj rodný kraj. The competition is intended for primary schools in the area of Central Považie. It is held in a natural environment and focuses on identifying plant and animal species and the landscape of the Low Tatras.

Tatranský národný park – www.tanap.sk Eco-educational programs for children and youth are carried out by State Forests TANAP – www.lesytanap.sk. They are actively engaged in forest pedagogy. Forest pedagogy teachers cooperate systematically with schools every year, carrying out a full cycle of lectures, eco-games and other activities. They also organize the competition Putovná sova. In Tatra National Museum, nature films are screened for relevant age groups. They also actively participate in Lesnícke dni, which take place every year under the patronage of the Ministry of Agriculture and in cooperation with other known partners, such as Národné lesnícke centrum, Vojenské lesy a majetky SR, š. p., LESY SR, š. p., and Slovenská lesnícka komora.

Národný park Muránska planina – www.npmp.sk The administration of this national park annually organizes many activities in environmental education. These include arranging the mobile camp Prežitie v divočine, organizing brigades, and building nature trails.

Národný park Poloniny – www.sopsr.sk/poloniny/ The administration of Poloniny National Park in environmental education carries out educational and training programs for children and also offers nature trails. Programs that were realized were named for example: Čarovný les, V ríši zvierat, Putovanie po krajine, etc. More information: http://www.sopsr.sk/index.php?page=cinnost/vychova2.

Národný park Slovenský raj – www.slovensky-raj.sk The administration of Národný park Slovenský raj implements educational and training programs for pupils from kindergarten to secondary school such as: Nevypaľuj, Zasaď si svoj strom, Mokrade and others. More information: http://www.sopsr.sk/cinnost/vychova/programy/programy_slovraj.pdf.

Národný park Slovenský kras – www.sopsr.sk/slovkras/ Environmental education in this national park is implemented for all age groups of children and adults. The wider public is made aware of the area through lectures, talks linked to film screenings, events organized on notable nature protection days, field excursions into the park, exhibitions on current nature protection topics such as Neželaní votrelci, Vážky, promotion of the park through information stands at various events, via the eko-education program Bocian, and various competitions for primary school pupils.

Národný park Veľká Fatra – www.sopsr.sk/velkafatra/ This national park offers many educational trails and its administration also focuses on direct activities with children. It implements various activities for kindergarten, primary and secondary schools—talks, excursions, frog relocation transfers, cleaning the Turiec River of litter, water quality monitoring with invertebrates, and similar actions. More detailed information is on the website www.mokradeturca.sk.

Národný park Malá Fatra – www.sopsr.sk/malafatra/ In terms of environmental education and training, the park administration creates many interesting programs, which can be found at http://www.sopsr.sk/cinnost/vychova/programy/programy_mfatra.pdf. These are programs for primary schools, secondary schools, leisure time centers and clubs focused on nature protection. Educational programs are focused on sensory, creative and active understanding of nature and environmental protection issues, with the aim of enriching primary and secondary school curricula.

Pieninský národný park – www.pieniny.sk PIENAP does not organize direct activities with children, but the beauty of this national park can inspire teachers to diverse environmental activities. The built educational trail also gives teachers and forest teachers certain possibilities for spreading ENV.

The Administration of Protected Landscape Area Cerová vrchovina also offers environmental educational programs. These include, for example: Jarné žabie putovanie and program Bocian.

For completeness, we also mention ENV provided in the business sector. Several companies and enterprises participate every year in environmental activities aimed at children. These activities are organized on significant days (e.g. Earth Day or World Water Day). On a commercial basis they also organize several exhibitions that are not directly aimed at children (e.g. ENVIRO Nitra—organized by Agrokomplex – Výstavníctvo Nitra, EKOENERGO Košice, AQUA, KOMUNÁL Žilina, INTERSTONE Trenčín and others).

Environmental education provided by non-governmental organizations

Today in Slovakia there is a fairly extensive spectrum of non-governmental non-profit organizations (hereinafter also MNO), or civic associations (hereinafter also OZ). Organizations with environmental focus are usually of local or regional character. They cooperate very well with schools and have a high impact on developing environmental education and training.

With a partly environmental focus, one can find in Slovakia a large number of associations (e.g. fishery and hunting clubs, collectors’ associations, model makers, artists, divers, speleologists, hikers and nature enthusiasts, clubs and the like). Work with youth is also carried out by Slovenský skauting and Slovenský Červený kríž.

Forms of activity of non-governmental organizations are diverse, from lecture activities in schools, programs, talks, excursions, nature camps, publicity activity, to monitoring of the environment, solving specific regional environmental problems and especially spreading environmental awareness.

MNOs have played an indispensable role in both formal and informal environmental education and training since 1989. They provide a broad range of activities with an environmental focus. The most active organization at present is ŠPIRÁLA. Špirála – www.spirala.sk Špirála is a nationwide network of organizations engaged in environmental education and training. Špirála is a non-governmental, non-profit organization founded as an association of legal entities. It was founded in June 2001. Membership requires providing environmental teaching programs and projects amounting to at least 200 hours annually. Since 2004, Špirála has been an associated member of the International Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) and successfully implements the Eco-Schools program under the Slovak name Zelená škola. In the 2009/2010 school year, the program Young Reporters for the Environment—Mladí reportéri pre životné prostredie—was launched for the first time.

Špirála currently has five members: Centrum environmentálnych aktivít, Centrum environmentálnej a etickej výchovy Živica, Daphne - Inštitút aplikovanej ekológie, Klub Kon-Tiki and Sosna - centrum trvalo udržateľných alternatív.

Občianske združenie Tatry – OZ TATRY – www.seps.sk OZ TATRY was founded in October 2000 by members and sympathizers of Lesoochranárske zoskupenie VLK TATRY, who have worked in the sub-Tatra region since December 1998. The goal of OZ TATRY is protection of the environment and cultural heritage in the sub-Tatra region in cooperation with state and municipal authorities, business entities, and other non-governmental organizations. The chairperson, Mgr. Rudolf Pado, is the winner of the CENA LIPTOVA 2000 in the category "Ochrana a tvorba životného prostredia."

Implemented activities for children and youth include, for example: Correspondence School of Ecology – Liptov, the artistic competition Talenty Matky Zeme (ecoposter, ecophotography, ecowit, ecosong, ecostory), and the exhibition of works Talenty Matky Zeme, publishing the youth environmental monthly Ekokompas, delivering lectures at schools (on average 80 lectures per school year), implementing the information campaign Strom za starý papier, the project Ekohliadky na základných a stredných školách v Liptove, the competition Energia pre budúcnosť for primary school pupils, school excursions Čierny Balog - NPR Dobročský prales, Týždeň environmentálnych aktivít and similar. The “Korešpondenčná škola ekológie” is held every year and is dedicated to current ecological topics. Current projects include, for example, Neseparujte sa! Separujte s nami!, Eko polícia, S energiou v dome and the like.

Other well-known organizations active in this field are: Lesoochranárske zoskupenie VLK http://www.wolf.sk/, which every year organizes the competitions Lesoochranárska škola roka and Lesoochranársky čin roka; Karpatské ochranárske združenie altruistov – KOZA at www.koza.sk; Mimovládny výbor Naše Tatry – http://www.nasetatry.sk/; Občianske združenie Strom života – http://www.stromzivota.sk/sk/o-nas.html. The environmental work carried out by staff of Vydra in Čierny Balog is also noteworthy. A program full of eco-games, nature movement and worksheets is offered by Vydra—a rural development activity. More information and cultural offers for schools can be found on www.vydra.sk and www.vydrovskadolina.sk.

It is also appropriate to mention the annual educational environment-program fair Šiška. The event is organized by the Slovenská agentúra životného prostredia, Centrum environmentálnej výchovy a vzdelávania. An inseparable part of the fair is a market for books, methodological materials and teaching aids. The fair is financed from the European Regional Development Fund within the project Improvement of Environmental Awareness in the Field of Nature and Landscape Protection (including NATURA 2000).

Known programs and projects Zelená škola - www.zelenaskola.sk Zelená škola is one of the largest environmental education programs for children and youth in the world. Zelená škola is a certification and education program that is part of the global Eco-Schools network. The program has been implemented in Slovakia since 2005 and every year a large number of schools take part. Coordination of the program in Slovakia is ensured by the association Živica (until February 2009 it was implemented by CEA).

Uhlíkoví detektívi www.sk.carbondetectiveseurope.org Uhlíkoví detektívi is a new pan-European project intended also for Slovak primary and secondary schools. The project is focused on minimizing carbon footprints in participating schools. It supports schools in their efforts to become more sustainable, introducing TUR into the curriculum and engaging teachers and students through enjoyable activities, interactive tools and pan-European communication. The project runs with support from the European Commission within the Intelligent Energy Europe program. The coordinator in Slovakia is CEEV Živica.

Foundations: Zelená nádej – www.gpf.sk; Ekopolis – www.ekopolis.sk and others.

Projects: Strom života, Modré z neba, Živá voda, Deň Zeme, Deň mokradí, Náučný chodník základných škôl, Korešpondenčná škola ekológie, Škola podporujúca zdravie and others.

Conclusion

Environmental education today is education in favor of environmental quality and quality of life overall. The goal is positive change in human thinking and behavior in favor of sustainable societal development. Through this paper, we respond to calls to more intensively address the effectiveness of environmental education. We present several sources of inspiration that can help teachers in practical implementation of ENV in schools and provide links for establishing cooperation with organizations active in this field. We believe this paper can become a source of stimulation for searching for and using additional possibilities for implementing ENV, also through using the potential of specific regions.

Author: Mgr. Ivana Suchá Prešovská Univerzita v Prešove, Pedagogická fakulta Literature 1. KANCÍR, J. – SUCHÁ, I. 2012. Environmentálna výchova u nás a v zahraničí - analýza súčasného stavu realizácie. In: Komplexnosť a integrita v predprimárnej, primárnej a špeciálnej edukácii. Proceedings of an international conference with international participation. Prešov: Vydavateľstvo Prešovskej univerzity v Prešove, 2012. ISBN 978-80-555-0664-7. CD-ROM, pp. 261-267. 2. KANCÍR, J. – SUCHÁ, I. 2013. Škála Novej environmentálnej paradigmy ako výskumný nástroj v oblasti environmentálnej gramotnosti. In: Aktuálne otázky prírodovedno-technických predmetov a prierezových tém v primárnej edukácii. Proceedings of an international electronic scientific conference. Prešov: Vydavateľstvo Prešovskej univerzity v Prešove, 2012. ISBN 978-80-555-0994-5. [cit. 2014-02-01]. Available online: https://www.pulib.sk/web/kniznica/elpub/dokument/Kancir1. 3. Environmentálna akadémia. Program pre vytvorenie uceleného systému environmentálnej výchovy, vzdelávania a propagácie. (návrh). Bratislava: MŽP SR, 2000. 81s. Available online: http://www.seps.sk/zp/vychova/2000/eanavrh.htm. 4. SUCHÁ, I. 2011. Otázky environmentálnej výchovy na prvom stupni základnej školy [online]. In: Medzinárodná vedecká elektronická konferencia: Didaktika v teórii a praxi. Prešov: Katedra pedagogiky FHPV PU, 2011. [cit. 2011-04-07]. Available online: http://konferenciapresov2011.weebly.com/10/post/2011/06/such-ivana-otzky-enviromentlnej-vchovy-an-prvom-stupni-zkladnej-koly.html. ISBN 978-80-555-0482-7. 5. List of used websites: www.zelenaskola.sk, http://www.envirofilm.sk/, www.pavucina-sev.cz, www.ekoskola.sk, www.eco-schools.org, http://www.nlcsk.sk/, www.sazp.sk, http://www.pienap.sk/, www.napant.sk, www.tanap.sk, www.lesytanap.sk, www.npmp.sk, www.sopsr.sk/poloniny/, www.sopsr.sk/slovkras/, www.sopsr.sk/velkafatra/, www.sopsr.sk/malafatra/, http://www.sopsr.sk/index.php?page=cinnost/vychova2, http://www.sopsr.sk/cinnost/vychova/programy/programy_slovraj.pdf, http://www.sopsr.sk/cinnost/vychova/programy/programy_mfatra.pdf, www.slovensky-raj.sk, www.mokradeturca.sk, www.cea.sk, www.zivica.sk, www.daphne.sk, www.kontiki.sk, www.sosnask, www.wolf.sk, www.sazp.sk/slovak/periodika/chus/38/21.html, www.seps.sk, www.koza.sk, www.nasetatry.sk, www.sk.carbondetectiveseurope.org, http://www.beagleproject.org/hu/, http://www.spirala.sk/files/290d2d07725670d2cff1db8a487136f1 www.vydra.sk, www.vydrovskadolina.sk, http://www.carbondetectiveseurope.org/Country.aspx?CountryID=5.

(The questionnaire for teachers of 1st-grade primary school is available on the website: https://spreadsheets.google.com/embeddedform?formkey=dGh3TmlMb1l5alpueW1LeHdpSDF4bHc6MQ. The questionnaire for school coordinators of ENV is available on the website: https://spreadsheets.google.com/embeddedform?formkey=dEVuQXBHa3lvd19RS0d6YVVxYXk2QkE6MQ.)