Environmental education in school and society versus regional development

Raising and developing ecological awareness is a great challenge to modern societies in many countries. This article presents examples of ecological education at Polish schools. Ecological education at the beginning of the 21st century plays an important role in the education of young generations. It depends on education if we encourage a young person to choose the lifestyle which will be environment-friendly, or not. The raising and developing of ecological awareness is therefore a great challenge for many teachers. School ecological education aims at non-conflict development of contacts between children or youth and the natural environment. Direct relationship with nature allows children to enrich their knowledge, develop skills and act in ecological categories. The main objective of modern school is education ofa person who is not only creative, being able to use the acquired knowledge, think independently and act efficiently in different problem situations, but is also able to think long-term, foreseeing the effects and consequences of taken actions for which he or she will be held responsible. A large amount of subjects of school teaching in widely understood ecological education and great masses of young people nowadays constitute a big chance for a success in the action ensuring their effectiveness