Empirical Consideration about the Fields of Forest Education

Abstract

The practice of forest education has spread, expanding the subjects of study. The concept has been organized for terms used in forest education and their definitions; but what the field of forest education covers has not been fully discussed. On the other hand, in the field of education, the basic concepts related to lifelong learning have been classified into formal, non-formal and informal learnings. This study aimed to ascertain what forest education includes based on this classification. Practices in each category were investigated by using the literature search method. The results showed that the field of forest education consists of five categories: 1) general education targeted at citizens, 2) specialized education targeted at specialists in forests and forestry, which are both formal education, 3) social education and forest extension targeted at citizens, 4) forest extension and vocational training targeted at specialists in forests and forestry, which are non-formal education, and 5) informal education including home education, targeted at citizens.