The European Forest Pedagogics Congress is organised annually to provide a platform for the exchange of experiences and for the discussion of currently relevant topics or challenges for forest pedagogy in Europe. Barry McGonigal, our International LEAF director will be there, in Latvia, from July 1st to 4th.

This year, the central theme of the Congress 2019 is DESIGNING BRIDGES BETWEEN FOREST AND SCHOOLS. How to link the forest pedagogy programmes and regular schools? How can forest educators and teachers cooperate on pupils' learning?

The key-note speakers will be Tomass Kotovičs, Prof. Robert Vogl and Ph.D. Jan Froněk who is coordinating the #Learningaboutforests programme in Czech Republic.

Ph.D. Jan Froněk is a teacher-trainer from TEREZA Educational centre, Czech Republic. Besides coordinating the international "Learning about forest" (LEAF) programme among 380 Czech schools, he also teaches social psychology at Charles University in Prague and runs coaching trainings for school headteachers. His key-note speech will be based on interaction with the audience:

• How to link the forest pedagogy programmes and the regular school? Both forest pedagogues and school teachers are invited to share their ideas.

• What makes forest education successful? It is presumed that efficient outdoor learning event must be well planned, well structured and well reflected on and followed up at school. Isolated events are less useful. However, there is seemingly lack of real life examples available.

• So let´s come up with some good examples from various countries to share and inspire new ideas of how to make the learning connections stronger for children

If you want to know more about the key-note speakers, please follow this link.

In this link, you can find all the information about the 14th European Forest Pedagogics Congress´programme, venue and accommodation, organizers and supporters, as well as upcoming workshops and market of activities.