Episode 76: The Reach of Freelance Environmental Education Professionals
If environmental education organizations do not open by the end of 2020, it is estimated that 11 million children will miss out on outdoor learning opportunities. This statement comes from the policy brief created by the Lawrence Hall of Science at the University of California, Berkeley. This policy brief is titled "A Field at Risk: The Impact of COVID-19 on Environmental and Outdoor Science Education." This policy brief is the result of a survey that the Lawrence Hall of Science and its partners conducted in April of last year.
Nine hundred ninety-five organizations responded to this survey. These organizations included science centers, museums, nature centers, school districts, aquaria parks, government agencies, colleges, universities, and some Botanic gardens too.
The information in this brief is not encouraging. The research group estimated that in addition to the 11 million children who would be missing out on outdoor learning opportunities, the 995 participating organizations may lose $600 million in revenue. The research group also estimated that approximately 30,000 employees would be furloughed or laid off. And that 37% of the organizations surveyed would not reopen.
And if this wasn't bad enough, it was estimated that more than one-third of the field may disappear. The survey conducted by the Lawrence Hall of Science took into consideration the fate of organizations, their employees, and the people they serve. It did not look at how the pandemic was affecting independent professionals in the field.
In early summer, I began to look at this specific aspect myself.
Welcome to Talaterra, a podcast about freelance educators working in natural resource fields and environmental education. Who are these educators? What do they do? Join me, and let's find out together. This is your host, Tania Marien.
I began this project with an assertion. My assertion was that freelance environmental educators are uniquely positioned to create change in their communities because of their ability to move through their communities. In the early days of my project, I created a survey. And what I learned from the survey is that freelancers are in fact, moving through their communities and teaching in all sorts of ways.
One of the questions I asked freelancers had to do with the venues where they worked. I listed answer choices that were the obvious venues, such as nature centers, zoos, museums, art galleries, and places like that. I also provided as an answer choice, a place where respondents could write in their own answers.
And to my surprise, I found out that freelancers worked at dozens of other types of venues. Those who completed my survey told me that they work at locations such as urban gardens, camps, churches, senior centers, libraries, book clubs, civic clubs, professional development workshops for teachers, and in business settings as well.
The responses I received to this question about venues, more than any other question in the survey, validated the hunch that started this whole project. The hunch that there is a story here, that independent professionals are working in communities in a lot of different ways. The next question to investigate is, how many people are independent educators serving?
I know that for myself during my previous endeavor, I didn't track the number of people I interacted with at community events. I was focused on conversation and engagement, not on clicking a counter. Because of this, and because I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who hasn't counted every interaction I've ever had, the number of individuals learning from independent environmental educators is something I would like to understand for the freelance projects.
Would you like to help today?
I'd like to invite you to a conversation about the reach of your programs before the pandemic, and the reach of the programs you've been leading during the pandemic.
While I know we won't be able to discuss exact numbers, this conversation is worth having and I'm hoping to compare notes with you and to get a sense of how many people we're engaging with when we're interacting with the public. If you'd like to share your experiences, please come by any of the Ask Anything get-togethers I'm holding during the month of February.
These get-togethers will be held at The Trailhead on Friday afternoons from 2:30 to 3:30 PM Pacific. I would love to meet you and would love to learn about your work and how you are engaging with the public. You can see the schedule of events at The Trailhead website. The Trailhead is an open forum for environmental education professionals, and you'll find a link to it in the show notes. I hope to see you on one of these calls.
If you're new to the podcast and unfamiliar with The Freelance Project. Let me take a moment to explain The Freelance Condition and Lifelong Learning in Communities project is an investigation into how freelance environmental education professionals contribute to lifelong learning.
You can learn more about it in an article I wrote for Legacy magazine, the magazine for the national association for interpretation. To receive updates about this project and Talaterra's other initiatives consider joining the mailing list. You can do this at Talaterra.com. And if you have any questions for me specifically, feel free to send a message or to leave a voicemail on the contact page of the website.
I feel that it's very important to understand how independent professionals work in the field, in order to understand the impact of the field overall. So if you would like to share your experiences, I encourage you to stop by one of the meetings during the month of February. And if you're listening to this episode after February 2021, please reach out.
I would love to hear from you. Thank you for stopping by today and listening to this episode. I appreciate your time.
Talaterra is a podcast for and about independent educators working in natural resource fields and environmental education. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with friends and colleagues. Thank you so much for joining us today.
LINKS
The Freelance Project in “Legacy” magazine
A Field at Risk: The Impact of COVID-19 on Environmental and Outdoor Science Education