Swedish-Scottish Learning Exchange Takes Place in the GSA Biosphere
The Galloway and Southern Ayrshire Biosphere Partnership has international connections with UNESCO Biospheres around the world. Members of the GSA Biosphere team attended the EuroMAB conference in Germany earlier this summer to strengthen partnerships and share learning, and have also hosted learning journeys welcoming other UNESCO Biospheres to southwest Scotland.
In 2023 there was a visit to the GSA Biosphere from a delegation of Swedish Biospheres. During this visit, we made a lasting connection with Vänern Archipelago with Kinnekulle. The GSA Biosphere team had delivered an educational exchange earlier in the year in which Gelston Primary in Dumfries & Galloway partnered with a school in Iceland. The success of this project and the activities developed by educators and pupils provided inspiration for a similar project with another international Biosphere. Vänern Archipelago with Kinnekulle were keen to come onboard for this exchange.
The Swedish-Scottish learning project took place in spring 2024, with two schools in East Ayrshire and two schools in Götene, Sweden. Logan Primary near Cumnock partnered with Prästgårdsskolan, Götene, and St Patrick’s Primary, Auchinleck, connected with Ljungbackenskolan, Götene. Staff from the UNESCO Biosphere organisations in each country visited their local schools to teach the pupils about their Biosphere. The first session was about wildlife and habitats, and pupils creating postcards featuring some of these animals and environments. In the second session, classes learned about special places in their Biosphere and created a map highlighting some of these. The maps were folded using a Turkish map fold – quite a fascinating skill for young people to try. All the wonderful artworks were then sent across to the partner schools, giving pupils an insight into the similarities and differences between Sweden and Scotland and learn why our respective UNESCO Biospheres are so important to learning and conservation.
The feedback from young learners in both countries has been excellent. The children really enjoyed taking part in such a hands-on project and having the chance to find out more about places far away and their own UNESCO Biospheres as well.
“Thank you so much for involving us in this project. The children from Sweden have done such an incredible job and we are really impressed with their English! Their standard of drawing is out of this world. After reading the cards we went on to research the different places they told us about. We are now all wanting a holiday to Sweden!!” Nicole Dunlop, Logan Primary School
“We had a lot of fun with the projects. Our pupils did their very best and have been very curious to see what our Scottish friends sent for them.” Sofia Hildingsson, Ljungsbackenskolan
The GSA Biosphere Partnership’s work with schools is part of a programme supporting lifelong learning and nature connections. We have developed a number of free resources for educators and activity leaders, including Learning for Sustainability and Blue Biosphere toolkits, and an Activity Booklet for Scouts and Guides. We also offer accredited Carbon Literacy training and community-based learning workshops via our Biosphere Footsteps initiative. For more information on any of the above, including to request hardcopy resources for your school or organisation, please get in touch via info@gsabiosphere.org.uk.