ENSI's history
Phase 1: 1986 – 1988
ENSI as OECD/CERI Innovation exchange project
ENSI was established 1986 as a project of OECD´s Centre for Educational Research and Innovation/CERI with 11 participating countries focussing on the promotion of environmental awareness and such “dynamic qualities” as initiative, independence and the readiness to accept responsibility. At that time, these relatively new school requirements were not normally related to each other. ENSI centred on the concept of environmentally oriented project teaching, which offered potential for the development of human creativity, intelligence and organisational skills.
It was self-evident that the experiences of the fundamental partnership (i.e. of teachers and pupils), were of decisive importance in this respect. This led to the development of a number of case studies in some countries, which were written by teachers using an action research method. (Action research is a method of systematic reflection on professional practice, in this case, employing teachers as the researchers.)
Member countries in Phase 1
- Austria
- Belgium/Flanders
- Denmark
- England
- Finland
- Germany
- Italy
- the Netherlands
- Norway
- Portugal
- Sweden
- Switzerland
Final conference in Linz, Austria, 1988 Main publication/conference report: Environment, Schools and Active Learning, An OECD/CERI-Report. OECD/CERI, Paris, 1991, ISBN 92-64-13569-3
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Environmental Schools and Active Learning
The environmental imperative poses new challenges to education systems: how can schools prepare children, tomorrow´s citizens, to become more...sensitive to environmental concerns and develop a sense of responsibility for the world in which they live? This book discusses the pedagogical implications of this challenge based on concrete examples of environmental initiative in schools in a number of OECD countries. Selected for their innovative methods, these initiatives often call into question traditional boundaries between disciplines. Pupils had the possibility to define a project and its objectives, and then carry it out so as to have a concrete impact on the environment.Published in english by OECD, 1991
-Environmentschools2.pdf
