Is nature conservation included in the training of teachers and educators? The contribution of the SOFIA educational platform

In the context of education for sustainable development, ecology can play a pivotal role in transforming human society. In this framework, the present paper addresses the training of Italian teachers and educators in ecological topics, with a special focus on nature conservation – a topic that has garnered increasing attention in recent years. The analysis centres on Italy’s national training platform for schools, Sistema Operativo per la Formazione e le Iniziative di Aggiornamento del personale della scuola (SOFIA) – a unique platform in terms of relevance within the Italian education system. Our findings reveal a notable lack of attention to ecological topics, particularly nature conservation topics, within its training programs. We also observed that keywords such as “ecosystem”, “ecology” and “climate change”, used to identify courses on SOFIA, are often used in ways that diverge from their ecological roots. This issue is explored in the context of a rapidly evolving educational culture, where traditional ecological terms appear to be losing their effectiveness in identifying educational areas with a focus on ecology and nature, while acquiring different connotations altogether in other disciplines. The current polysemic usage of these keywords significantly complicates the identification of courses strictly focused on ecological topics for teachers and educators seeking their further training. This difficulty is even more significant in the context of ecological content with a special focus on nature conservation, where educational offerings are already limited. The paper concludes with a reflection on educational approaches that affect the availability of courses aimed at T&Es.