Schools and Educational Environments

Educational settings play a distinctive role in shaping long-term soil awareness. 

Programmes associated with the Eco-Schools network, implemented across many European countries, integrate environmental stewardship into everyday school life. Activities such as school gardens, soil monitoring, and circular resource management could provide students with direct, experiential encounters with soil systems.  

In Portugal, for example, several Eco-Schools have developed “Bio-Hortas” (biological gardens), where students engage with soil through cultivation practices inspired by ecological principles. These spaces function not only as learning laboratories, but also as environments where soil can become tangible, observed, and discussed. 

Through such initiatives, soil literacy develops alongside practical responsibility and environmental reflection.  

© Soil education activity in the European Research Night in Fábrica da Ciência, Portugal, by Ana Machado, Aveiro university