Tag Archives: education

IZE Journal 2017 – International, National, Local

August 23, 2017 Stephen Leave a comment

Through much of my zoo education career I have engaged with and been a member of the International Zoo Educators association (www.izea.net). This network of passionate and dedicated educators across the globe, most of whom are based in zoos and aquariums, freely share ideas and approaches to engaging people in nature and conservation.

I was honoured to be chosen by IZE to be on the Executive Committee and to be the Journal Editor for the past 5 issues. The latest, my last, 2017 Journal has just been published and will be circulated to members during August. (Past issues are available on the website).

A diversity of projects and activities are reported upon, many of which can be applied in different contexts, from international to national to local.

The evaluation of activity is also reported and provides evidence of effectiveness, and lessons to apply in future.

Thanks to all contributors to this journal (and the previous ones) and to the excellent team on the IZE Board for their support and assistance in sourcing articles and proof reading. Best wishes to Judy Mann-Lang who takes up the role of Editor for the next issue.

Workshop

Conservation Education & Communication – Training at Durrell

May 2, 2017 Stephen Leave a comment

The Durrell Conservation Academy in Jersey has been involved in the training of hundreds of conservationists from around the world and its flagship programme is the Durrell Endangered Species Management Graduate Certificate – DESMAN. It was an honour to be asked to run the Conservation Education training aspect of this year’s course.

The participants this year were from Rwanda, Mauritius, Madagascar, Seychelles, St. Lucia, Borneo, Indonesia, Brazil, China & UK, and their four month residential course is validated by DICE, University of Kent. So it was great to play a small part in the delivery and development of the participants learning & engagement in conservation.

For the few days I was at Durrell, I created a workshop on Conservation Education Theory & Practice, covering aspects of learning theory and lots of practical activity in communication and presentation skills. The students were great to work with, and it is a privilege to have met them and been involved in their development, and I was delighted to read their feedback, for example:

“It is very interesting session; the funny way you do the education is good. I think that it helps a lot to share examples of education in conservation. Personally I have got many tips from the sessions and many things to apply back home.”

“Great enthusiasm, some great ideas; kept us interested. Gave me new skills. Very relevant to my career. Useful contact to have”.

For conservation to succeed it is essential that the people and communities around conservation projects are fully engaged and informed; and its not always easy, so we covered using different techniques for different audiences and building the students confidence in this area. I look forward to hearing of their work in the field in years to come.

Uncategorized, Workshop

Durrell’s Army and Academy Workshop

April 20, 2016 Stephen Leave a comment

I was delighted to be involved in delivery of a conservation education short course and DESMAN at the wonderful Durrell Academy based at Durrell Wildlife Park in Jersey last weekend.

With participants from India, Brazil, Mauritius, Madagascar, Tanzania, Nigeria, Congo Republic, Seychelles, St. Lucia, and the UK, the course benefited enormously from the wealth of experiences and backgrounds each person brought with them and it made my job of facilitating learning and sharing of educational practice very enjoyable.
durrellparticipants
Utilising a mix of lecture with discussion, and diversity of activities from role play to storytelling, we covered a wealth of techniques and tips for educational engagement in a diversity of contexts and for a variety of audiences from children to adults.

The Durrell Academy and the Durrell Wildlife Hostel at Les Noyers, right next to the zoo, is a great facility and one that is world-leading, showing what a good zoo can do to make a real and lasting commitment to the conservation of species and habitats on a global scale. I was especially pleased to be ‘teaching’ here as I attended the opening of this centre back in 1984 on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the zoo, and it’s so good to see how Gerald Durrell’s vision has come to life. les noyers

durrell academy With the 12 week DESMAN – Durrell Endangered Species Management Graduate Certificate – the participants achieve academic recognition, validated by the University of Kent. The course has a high reputation and it is brilliant that scholarships are available.

The wonderful participants are now part of the growing Durrell’s Army of conservationists – most of whom work in the field across the world.

I enjoyed returning on ‘pilgrimage’ again to the zoo, now known as Durrell Wildlife Park and seeing species such as Livingstone’s fruit bat, giant jumping rat, aye aye, Round Island skink, orang utan, and gorilla. It was great to see the wonderful ‘Gerald Durrell Story’ exhibition too which opened last year. I was also lucky to see the red-billed chough not only in the zoo but at the release site on the Jersey coast – part of a cooperative project to restore Jersey’s natural habitat. Conservation at home as well as globally.

durrellstory

durrellchoughzoo choughwild
durrell gorilla