Die Bodenkultur - Journal for Land Management, Food and Environment

M. Penker and H. K. Wytrzens:

Teaching Landscape preservation and Countryside management in Austrian Vocational schools for Agriculture

Summary

The agricultural sector endeavours increasingly to undertake the task of landscape conservation. This requires specific know-how. The paper presented looks at the way. Austrian vocational schools as well as advanced academies of agriculture impart countryside management knowledge to young farmers. An analysis of teaching curricula and programmes - using a specially developed standardized text evaluation method and additional interviews with specialized instructors - showed far-reaching deficits. Above all there are an institutional lack of measures and suitable teaching materials. Some supportive measures are suggested to ensure a more landscape-oriented syllabus in future environmental education. Key words: environmental education, landscape preservation, countryside management, agricultural schools.