Lecturer Jetske de Boer from Aeres University of Applied Sciences Wageningen, Netherlands, will start a new professorship term in 2025. The previous professorship, Ecologically Wise: Insects and Society, thus ends. The transition to the new theme ‘Learning for a nature-inclusive society’ has been celebrated with a meeting on January 29. Jetske talks about the importance of the theme and what she hopes to achieve together with her team.
“We all know that nature is under a lot of pressure. Look at climate change: we are going beyond the boundaries of the earth. That is precisely why the new professorship period is so topical – there are clear reasons from ecology that things must be different. It can also be done differently. That is why my colleagues and I want to commit ourselves to working together with nature and education and looking for solutions.”
Restoring biodiversity
“We are already working a lot on biodiversity and its recovery. By implementing this within education, young people become increasingly aware of biodiversity and sustainability and their importance. Important questions are what this education should look like so that learners feel more involved with nature and develop the competencies to actually take action and what teachers need for this. At the same time, we want to focus on administrators, because that is where the urgency must be felt and the support must come from. With our ‘PRO biodiversity’ project, we are taking great first steps towards a nature-inclusive society.”
Current and important
It gives Jetske and her team a lot of energy to start working on this new theme. “I think that the expertise of our faculty, together with green vocational education and the connections we have within the professional practice, has created a very nice niche. It is a current and important topic that we are working on, and I am quite proud of that.”
Nature-inclusive society
According to Jetske, the question of how we can accelerate the transition to a nature-inclusive society is not only important in green vocational education. The question actually arises in all sectors, as the Nature-Inclusive Collective shows, but also for everyone in everyday life. “Fortunately, many people, organizations and companies are already taking action to become more nature-inclusive. We want to delve into what is needed to strengthen this development, and investigate which ways of learning are effective. For example, is it about knowledge, competencies or the relationship between people and nature? These are great questions that we are working on.”
Small steps
Jetske hopes that in the coming years everyone will become a little more nature-inclusive. “You actually hope that we make ourselves redundant. Very small steps ultimately make big strides.” Jetske emphasizes that it is almost unethical to do nothing and continue as usual. “We all want our children and grandchildren to have a future. And it all has to be within the boundaries of the planet.”
Text: Aeres UAS / Jan-Willem Noom
Photo: Aeres UAS
