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Post: Resilience in South African forestry education: An emerging educator’s perspective

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Educators that attended one the Forest21 curriculum development workshops hosted at Fort Cox College of Agriculture and Forestry and facilitated by Nelson Mandela University. Attendees comprised of educators from the five HEI institutions that offer forestry qualifications in South Africa as well as from the three partner institutions from Finland and Norway.

Resilience in South African forestry education: An emerging educator’s perspective

The South African forestry industry has a long, 112-year history of formal forester education. For most of this, the forestry education system in the country has been resilient and technically superior with regards to traditional and core forestry competencies. It has, however, become undeniable that the forester of today, and the future, needs a much broader skill set from that required in the previous century, as alluded to by Mgaga and Scholes (2019).

This change in the required skill set for today’s forester has been driven by multiple factors including global environmental change, rapid advances in technology and social consciousness. In many countries this has led to significant changes in governance and management approaches that are not only focused on biological ecosystems. Developing professionals that are optimally functional in today’s era and into the future implies that forestry education must include knowledge and skills development pathways that address issues such as cultural and social values, traditional knowledge and rights of forest communities, contributions of trees and forests to local people and the evolving forest business economy (Rekola et al. 2022). While forest education institutions build capacity for these adaptations, the immediate consequence is that the forestry sector / industry already experiences the poor and or moderate preparedness of the graduates entering the workforce. This industry usefulness gap bounds along political, social, and economic aspects with a recent addition to this list being a professional who can navigate big data and data analytics-driven management systems. As can be expected, non-technical competencies such as leadership ability, negotiation and mediation and an understanding of economic and business realities have become crucial.

Changes in employment trends and the need for further training and education within the forest sector to maintain a strong cadre of skilled foresters is a unifying theme. There is a need to revamp and rebrand the forestry profession to attract the most talented and interested students to study and eventually manage forests. It is necessary to ensure that the curriculum delivered to future professionals is not outdated and too narrowly focused but is flexible to continuously integrate key emerging topics. Notably so, a curriculum encompasses three aspects, that is, the knowledge content that is presented, the way it is presented, and the way the student’s understanding of the knowledge is assessed. The implication here is that the stakeholders of an education such as industry, society and government are by default involved in crafting what knowledge should be presented, however, a substantial portion of the curriculum delivery story lies with educators who must be adequately capacitated and supported to continuously connect with the other education stakeholders to ensure optimal curriculum delivery.

The South African forestry education context recognises the capacity development of educators and higher education institutions as a key priority. This will enable collaborative and purpose-built educational experiences that develop graduates that are better suited to quickly adapt and become successful forestry professionals. If there is a point in the life cycle of a forestry professional where industry, academia, government, and society must engage in pre-competitive collaboration, it is in the development of future professionals.  There is much to be gained from communally developing forestry professionals. As we say, “It takes a village” or “You are because I am”. This does not necessarily mean that individual merit, achievements, or contributions are unrecognised or discouraged, it emphasises collective ownership and cooperation.

Some of these priorities are starting to crystallise with projects such as Forest21, a joint project for strengthening capacity in South African higher education in forestry. The collaborative project was implemented between five higher education institutions (HEIs) in South Africa that have forestry qualifications. Applying climate smart forestry as a theme and problem-based learning (PBL) as the teaching methodology, one of the biggest wins of the project is that it has created a platform for forestry higher education institutions to collaborate. With the support of the forestry industry, given that the PBL teaching methodology requires that students are steeped in real world contexts, the project has also brought emphasis to educators on the need to connect their students to their future worlds of work. It contributes to developing non-technical competencies that are often lacking in our recent graduates. 

When I joined the Forest21 project team in 2021, a key question we grappled with was the value of steeping our students, especially our undergraduate students, in real industry problems and whether this risks us being a nuisance to the industry? Our take-off point was that students will not have the capacity nor the experience to solve problems. What I have learnt is that, while it is largely true that students cannot solve real world problems, it is not that which matters, but rather their education and development that must be integrated with the world in which they are expected to make a difference as soon as they graduate. This greatly reduces the psychological and operational management distance that they must cover when they start working.  It also makes for innovative graduates, a characteristic that is expected from young professionals but is often another unmet expectation.  A salient point to the success of students during this time was the intentional willingness to mentor and support that we received from industry partners. Forest21 is winding down its activities in 2024, official successes and stories from what was achieved will continue to be documented, some of which can already be accessed from the Forest21 website.

 As such, forestry education like any other industry focused education field is always challenged with remaining relevant for the societies and industries it serves. South African forestry education has maintained resilience, from substantial government involvement until the 1980s, to strong industry and government support to this day. As we face employability and innovation challenges within the sector, it is important to note that challenges are just developmental stimulants. Projects like Forest21 have stimulated the forestry education sector after the recent zoonotic pandemic plunge and we must maintain momentum. Communities of practice that  include, but are not limited to, fora for academia, industry, society and government, the continued coordination of forestry education outcomes and quality by industry bodies like SAIF and FSA  and the facilitation of platforms that promote dialogues regarding curricula design, academic program identities and pedagogical techniques remain crucial going forward. Above all, may we all find the heart to continue to develop our future professionals for the next century and beyond.

References

Mgaga, P., & Scholes, M. C. (2019). Does tertiary education in South Africa equip professional foresters for the future?. Southern Forests: a Journal of Forest Science81(4), 377-385.

Rekola, M., & Sharik, T. L. (2022). Global assessment of forest education: Creation of a Global Forest Education Platform and Launch of a Joint Initiative under the Aegis of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests (FAO-ITTO-IUFRO project GCP/GLO/044/GER) (Vol. 32). Food & Agriculture Org.

Tatenda Mapeto
Nelson Mandela University, Department of Forestry and Wood Technology, Faculty of Science
Email: tatenda.mapeto@mandela.ac.za

Source: Nelson Mandela University, Department of Forestry and Wood Technology, Faculty of Science

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Resilience in South African forestry education: An emerging educator’s perspective

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