Slovenia

OŠ Danila Lokarja is a public primary school. Located in the Vipava Valley, just 25 km off the Italian
border. İt is the biggest school in the Ajdovščina municipality. It has 650 pupils and 103 employees
(teachers, administrative staff, cleaners, janitors, a librarian...). The unpaid staff comprises university
students who come to our school to do their mandatory teaching practice (future teachers). Every
school year, we host over 14 students. Pupils come to school in different ways: those who live nearby
mostly come by bike or on foot, and those who live in neighboring villages come by car (parents) or
by bus. Our school prides itself on accommodating and taking considerable care of pupils with
special needs (the school houses a department for pupils with special needs) and learning disabilities
as well as gifted pupils. Some of our pupils come to Ajdovščina from other parts of Europe: Norway,
Kosovo, Serbia, Macedonia, Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. The school
emphasizes experiential learning and for this reason, organizes a number of activities that take place
in nature and works on projects related to nature. The location of the school plays a major role in this
as it lies on the very edge of the town, only a step away from the forest. Our school curriculum
anticipates and encourages activities aimed at preserving nature and the environment. Activities
begin as early as the first grade, including but not limited to raising awareness of water pollution,
paper recycling, reducing waste materials and/or reusing them in creative ways. If we were to single
out a few projects: we encouraged children to collect used plastic bottle caps, which were then given
to a disabled person, who was once also a pupil of our school, to exchange for funds for equipment
for his needs. This was not only conducive to an increased awareness of the need to recycle but –
significantly – of the need to work together as a community towards a common and salutary goal. To
encourage intergenerational cooperation, special needs pupils and pupils from regular classes are
working together in our school vegetable garden, thereby also contributing to greater school self- sufficiency.
More generally, the curriculum ensures that every subject strives towards work
conducted outside, in nature, which consequently includes many experiential learning processes.
Earth is our home, yet we have polluted so much of it. Rapid industrial development has resulted in
severe ecological problems. Pupils need to be aware of our impact on nature and it is the teachers’
role to motivate them to learn about it. The project will foster the pupils’ awareness and
understanding of environmental problems in their local community and participate in signaling
attention to them. By way of this project, pupils will learn what it means to be creative and proactive
in bringing about feasible solutions.