Summer madness

Well, it has certainly been a busy summer for the BGCI education department. We are all finally back in the office and working on the various projects that have been covering our desks for the past couple of months. Not that we have necessarily been out having fun in the sun - oh no, much work has been rolling on.

As a quick summary - have a look at the detailed blog entries for more details:

- Julia went off to Paris to SBSTTA for an in-depth review of the GSPC

- Sarah went to the 4th World Environmental Education Congress in Durban, South Africa

There are stories on this on the BGCI news pages
- How do we ensure learning in a changing world?
- MEERA - Making evaluation easy
- Emphasis on eco-schools
- Creating Partnerships

- Then Sarah and Julia had meetings with the lovely people from Durban Botanic Garden - Martin Clement and Chris Dalzell about organising BGCI's 7th International Congress on Education in Botanic Gardens - which they are hosting, probably in November 2009.

- We also met with some of the team from SANBI and WESSA (Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa) to discuss the possibility of running an International Diploma in Botanic Garden Education in Southern Africa - a very exciting project we are developing.

- Sarah had a few days in the Philippines working on a funding project and guide training workshop with Siit Arboretum and Makiling Botanic Garden in Los Banos....again have a look at some news articles for the latest from these two sites

- Designer labels all the rage at Siit Arboretum
- Growing garden guides

Since then, holidays in France and Wales, and back to the office for the new school term!

There's no rest for the wicked though, as Sarah is off to Palermo, Sicily, Italy to present at the Italian Botanical Society conference next week and Julia is off to Latvia - so keep your eyes peeled for reports from those when we get back.

The rest of the botanic garden community has been busy though - make sure you are signed up the monthly Education E-updates newsletter to keep in touch with your colleagues around the world.