Who We Are
The Botanic Gardens Education Network (BGEN) promotes and advances the delivery of education in member organisations. We are a specialist support and training network for professionals working in education related to plants and the natural world. The network has more than 200 members, most of whom are educators in botanic gardens and other centres of environmental education in the UK and Ireland. Anyone is welcome to join BGEN, though as a support network, those likely to gain the most benefit are professional biodiversity educators within the UK. You can learn more about our members and our work in the sections highlighted below.
Learning Outside the Classroom
BGEN is a signatory to the Learning Outside the Classroom (LOTC) Manifesto.
LOTC believes that every young person should experience the world beyond the classroom as an essential part of learning and personal development, whatever their age, ability or circumstances.
The organisation's aim is not only to make clear that learning outside the classroom has significant learning benefits for participants but also to explore how it can be successfully delivered so that more young people develop their knowledge, understanding and skills beyond the classroom walls.
For more information, visit www.lotc.org.uk.
Global Strategy for Plant Conservation
BGEN's work helps to support Target 8 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation.
The GSPC highlights the importance of plants and the ecosystem services they provide for all life on earth, and aims to ensure their conservation. It consists of 16 outcome-oriented targets for conservation with a deadline of 2010. Target 8 is especially relevant to BGEN's work and the work of our members. Target 14 calls for "the importance of plant diversity and the need for its conservation incorporated into communication, educational and public-awareness programmes."
For more information, visit www.plants2010.org.
What is plant-based education?
BGEN promotes the enormously positive role that active, plant-based learning can play in educational settings. But what exactly do we mean by "plant-based education"?
The importance of plant conservation
Plants are the backbone of life on Earth. Today, however, plant communities around the world are under threat. Scientists estimate that at least 100,000 plants are threatened with extinction--that's more than one-third the total known species of plants on the planet! Education about the importance of plants and the need for their conservation is an important aspect of BGEN's work.