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Introduction
The organisation
KÖRLÁNC came to life in 1992 as the result of an
intergovernmental agreement for a joint project between Hungary
and the United States to promote environmental education in Hungary.
Its mission, to raise environmental awareness with the tools
of pedagogy, is implied in the name of KÖRLÁNC expressing
the need for cooperation and common action.
KÖRLÁNC has been active
for six years now and become widely known both nationally and
internationally. It has been focussing its work from the very
beginning on the development of local programmes and curricula
as well as on their implementation and assessment. We seek to
disseminate and adapt foreign, especially European and North-American,
achievements. Research and development of the area are also among
our priorities. A national organisation has been established
in the meantime with about 300 kindergartens 400 schools, student
residence halls, museums, zoos, cultural palaces, teacher training
institutions and other environmental organisations as members
of KÖRLÁNC and among which a monthly newsletter has
been distributed free of charge for six years now. We organise
several regional and national conferences a year the topics of
which are selected and agreed through the co-ordination work
among the member groups. The particular needs of kindergartens,
schools and teacher training institutions for environmental education
are revealed and assessed. We respond to the emerging needs through
the activities of seven regional work-groups and the central
office. We try to contribute to the modernisation of the content
of Hungarian public education with curriculum development and
methodological innovation as well as their testing and dissemination.
From the very beginning KÖRLÁNC
represents the branch of environmental education which aims to
involve the local communities, local governments and families
in defining and implementing the pedagogical tasks. We encourage
the opening of kindergartens and schools to the local communities.
The experiences of this process we try to share with countries
like Rumania, Ukraine, Bulgaria and Poland, which struggle with
the similar heritage of communism through our wide range relationships.
An important objective of ours
is to generally improve teacher education and enrich it with
environmental content and considerations. We try to enhance teacher
pre-service training and a general integration of environmental
contents in the training curricula. We encourage cognitive, educational
psychology and social studies that can heighten the efficiency
of environmental education. The vision of KÖRLÁNC
is the establishment of a really professional organisation that
can mediate between the educational needs and demands of the
local communities and the opportunities and tools offered by
modern education and training.
The series of KÖRLÁNC
books now include nine volumes, all of them designed to help
teachers in their orientation and day-to-day work in the field
of environmental education. At the teacher in-service trainings
organised or held by KÖRLÁNC in cooperation with
colleges and universities thousands of teachers take part every
year.
Our availability will be soon
widened by the KÖRLÁNC homepage on the Internet which
will be accessible from the homepage of the National Institute
of Public Education and so we will be able to help the work of
teachers in every educational service institution of the country.
Address:
H-6000 Kecskemét, Kaszap u. 6-14.
Hungary
e-mail: havasp@oki.hu
The President of KÖRLÁNC:
Péter Havas PhD |
