Last updated: October 2021
The School Garden of Széchenyi István University, Apáczai Csere János Faculty in downtown Győr was reestablished by the Vice Dean of Apáczai in 2013. Apáczai’s new school garden trains university students studying education on properly organizing and maintaining the school garden with ecological methods in the format of an optional credit course at the university. Alongside the university students, elementary school student groups are responsible for the planting, maintenance, harvesting, seed collection and other activities under the supervision of teachers and in Apáczai’s garden. The modern school garden movement is rapidly growing since 2013 due to its recognized value in current pedagogical movements, and role in education for sustainability (Reference 1). In 2019, a raised garden bed was also added to the garden, which made that part of the garden accessible to wheelchair users as well. (Reference 2)
School Garden of the Széchenyi István University, Apáczai Csere János Faculty
Lados Mihály, retrieved 08/31/2018
Overview
Nature-based solution
- Grey infrastructure featuring greens
- Green playgrounds and school grounds
- Community gardens and allotments
- Community gardens
Key challenges
- Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
- Green space creation and/or management
- Social justice, cohesion and equity (SDG 10)
- Environmental education
- Sustainable consumption and production (SDG 12)
- Sustainable production
Focus
Creation of new green areas, Knowledge creation and awareness raising
Project objectives
Goals of the NBS intervention include (Reference 1):
- teach sustainability and inspire children to take care of the environment;
- popularize school gardens;
- training university students on properly organizing and maintaining the school garden as an optional credit course at the university;
- educational goals: teaching cooperation in a group environment, focusing, taking responsibility, planning, scheduling and patience;
- Spread best practices, organize meetings and conferences, run workshops and trainings, offer free guidance, and build a network of school gardens.
Implementation activities
Apáczai’s new school garden was implemented in 2013 to train university students on properly organizing and maintaining the school garden with ecological methods in the format of an optional credit course at the university. The garden was created in three patches of what was a parking lot. There have been extensions to the garden, due to popular demand. (Reference 1)
Main beneficiaries
- Public sector institution (e.g. school or hospital)
- Researchers/University
- Citizens or community groups
- Young people and children
- Other
Governance
Management set-up
- Led by non-government actors
Type of initiating organisation
- Public sector institution
- Researchers/university
Participatory approaches/ community involvement
- Crowd-sourcing/Crowd-funding/Participatory budget
- Dissemination of information and education
- Consultation (e.g. workshop, surveys, community meetings, town halls)
- Joint implementation (e.g. tree planting)
Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project
The educational Vice Dean of Apáczai, who drives the Apáczai garden process and its integration into the educational program, together with three other school garden leaders of Hungary, co-founded the Foundation for Hungarian School Gardens (Iskolakertekért Alapítvány) in 2015 in order to understand the barriers, to seek opportunities and to increase the number of school gardens in Hungary. (Reference 1)
Project implemented in response to ...
... an EU policy or strategy?
No
... a national policy or strategy?
No
(According to Halbritter, in 1868, it became mandatory by law to educate all future teachers of Hungary on modern agricultural practices and gardening – this is when Győr’s teacher training institution (now called Széchenyi István University, Apáczai Csere János Faculty) established its school garden in their current campus, thus creating one of the largest and most complex educational gardens of the country in the heart of Győr on 5.238 square meters. [1])
... a local policy or strategy?
No
Financing
Total cost
Unknown
Source(s) of funding
- Crowdfunding
- Other
Type of funding
- Direct funding (grants, subsidies, or self-financed projects by private entities)
- Donations
Non-financial contribution
Type of non-financial contribution
- Provision of land
- Provision of goods
- Provision of labour
Who provided the non-financial contribution?
- Other
Impacts and Monitoring
Environmental impacts
- Climate change
- Lowered local temperature
- Environmental quality
- Improved air quality
- Green space and habitat
- Increased green space area
- Other
Economic impacts
- Unknown
Socio-cultural impacts
- Social justice and cohesion
- Fair distribution of social, environmental and economic benefits of the NBS project
- Cultural heritage and sense of place
- Improvement in people’s connection to nature
- Increased appreciation for natural spaces
- Education
- Increased knowledge of locals about local nature
- Increased awareness of NBS and their benefits
Type of reported impacts
Achieved impacts
Presence of formal monitoring system
Unknown
Presence of indicators used in reporting
No evidence in public records
Presence of monitoring/ evaluation reports
No evidence in public records
Availability of a web-based monitoring tool
No evidence in public records
References
1. Katona, A. (2017). Case Study Working Paper Győr. Available at: Source link [Accessed: 18 Jul. 2020]
2. Széchenyi István University. (2019). Akadálymentesítés az Apáczai Kar iskolakertjében. [online] Available at: Source link [Accessed: 18 Jul. 2020]
2. Széchenyi István University. (2019). Akadálymentesítés az Apáczai Kar iskolakertjében. [online] Available at: Source link [Accessed: 18 Jul. 2020]