Chapter 20: SWOT Analysis of Education for Environmental Citizenship – Short Country Report SLOVAKIA
Vladislav Kaputa & Hubert Paluš

Abstract: This report summarises the views of experts in the area of environmental education in Slovakia. It introduces the SWOT analysis of Education for Environmental Citizenship. Six participants representing teachers, researchers and professionals working in government and non-government decision-making bodies responded to the questionnaire. The important outcome of the survey are remarks of respondents about unclearness of the terms used in the questionnaire. In fact, the differences between all the proposed kinds of education (Citizenship Education (CE), Environmental Citizenship (EC), Environmental Education (EE), Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), Science Education (SE), and Education for Environmental Citizenship (EEC) are not recognised in Slovakia. From a formal and institutional point of view, one of the main disadvantages is the formal status and position of Education for Environmental Citizenship within the educational system in Slovakia. In Slovakia, just the EE is a part of the State Educational Program in terms of goals, performance and content standards of education of almost all compulsory subjects and it is one of the cross-cutting themes. It is also a part of the National Education Program for all levels of education and could be an individual learning subject in school education programmes. ‘Formality’ could be seen to be an unsolved issue because Education for Environmental Citizenship is often only performed formally. Education for Environmental Citizenship focuses mostly on schools without having a broader impact on the public. Here, school managers and teachers are not properly motivated to develop environmental issues. On the other hand, several experts mentioned that non-formal Education for Environmental Citizenship is more easily applied, as any adjustments in formal education requires appropriate adjustments to legislation, directives and regulations related to school system.