Over 65 years ago, our deep love for nature inspired us to establish SPNI. Every day since, we have shared the magic of nature with thousands of children, families, and adults on Israel’s hiking trails.
We believe that real environmental change can only take place when people feel a deep sense of connection with and responsibility towards nature. Nature does not belong to anybody—each and every one of us is a part of nature. Our modern lives, so disconnected from nature, make the natural world seem distant and foreign. We believe that by fostering a deeper knowledge of nature, we can help our society become more connected to Israel’s unique landscapes and better equipped to protect its wildlife.
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We have organized hikes throughout Israel for many years. During this time, we have learned, experimented, grown, improved, and helped develop Israel’s network of hiking trails. Educational hiking is a rapidly-evolving field; we invest heavily in developing our content and training methods, and we provide continuing education programs for our guides. SPNI has been at the forefront of Israel’s hiking world for many years and remains a leader in this field.
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The Jerusalem Educational Hiking Conference
This year, we aimed to improve the guidance provided on annual school trips to a “five-units of study” level of difficulty, under the auspices of the Ministry of Education. We kicked off the new year with Israel’s first ever educational hiking conference, in collaboration with Beit Berl Academic College, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, and the Ministry of Education’s “Field-Nation-Society” department. Over 400 delegates from across Israel attended the conference, conducting detailed discussions about the future of educational hiking. During the conference, we launched SPNI’s Educational Hiking Prize.
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The conference was the first step in our plans to engagement decisionmakers in a process to change the state of annual school trips. Our goal is to ensure that future generations of Israeli children experience a safe, content-rich, meaningful hike on Israel’s nature trails as an integral part of their studies.
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Annual school trips are an integral part of the Israeli school experience in certain grades. With the right leadership by nature guides and an experience that truly engages students, we believe that the annual trip can be a life-changing experience and not simply a social event.
Educational Journeys
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More and more elementary schools are partnering with us to change the way annual school trips are perceived. Together with our affiliate Megalim Eretz (“Discover the Land”), we guide hundreds of thousands of students and teachers on educational journeys that turn the annual school trip into a valuable and meaningful experience.
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These journeys promote educational values and stimulate awareness, knowledge, and activism on behalf of nature, society, and Israel. The journeys are the starting point for an ongoing process that nurtures vital educational values in Israeli schoolchildren.
Our educational journeys have the power to reach all of Israel’s diverse social groups and populations. This year, we organized the journeys as part of our work to advance Israel’s youth. For many of the young people on the program, the journey was the first time that they had been close to nature; it was their first opportunity to experience an extended trip away from home, to have an encounter outside of their usual social group, and to enjoy new landscapes, ideas, and discussions.
Annual School Trips
This year, more elementary schools than ever before have chosen to organize their annual school trip through SPNI and Megalim Eretz. We have adapted our annual school trip curricula to comply with the Ministry of Education’s core programs. We specialize in creating an optimal experience for students, where they are treated as equal partners rather than as a passive audience listening to the nature guides. The guides themselves make use of cutting-edge teaching tools to develop a personal connection with students and teachers, and to encourage them to engage with the information they are given. As an environmental organization, our focus is on protecting nature and the environment in Israel. We believe that when students have a positive, meaningful personal experience on their annual school trip, it can inspire them to become good citizens and environmental activists.
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Field Schools
In the early 1960s, we had a dream: to establish a “field school,” a center for learning, exploring nature, and teaching.
In 1963, we opened the Ein Gedi field school, the first of its kind in Israel. Today, SPNI runs twelve field schools across Israel, from Kibbutz Dan in the north to Eilat in the south.
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Our field schools are located in diverse areas with unique ecosystems. Our guides, young and old, have deep connections with these local areas and their wildlife, using their knowledge, skills, and passion to lead hikers on local trails and natural attractions. Nine of our field schools also offer overnight accommodation; in 2019, these field schools hosted 250,000 visitors, including schoolchildren, summer camps, tourists, organized groups, and families who chose to spend their vacation as close as possible to nature and to take advantage of our guides’ extensive knowledge.
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Environmental Education: “Children Leading Change”
We believe that real environmental change and activism can only occur through ongoing learning that inspires a sense of wonder and love for nature. We run our environmental education programs in a large number of schools and kindergartens across Israel and through them, we seek to inspire children to develop a sense of affinity and belonging to their local environment. We work with local communities to help foster engagement, commitment, and responsibility, and to empower young people to contribute and take positive action for the environment. Our “Children Leading Change” program helps shape the next generation of Israelis and given them the tools to identify problems, work together to resolve them, and inspire other activists.
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In 2019, approximately 35,000 children from across Israel’s socio-economic spectrum took part in our ecological education activities, where they learned about biodiversity, urban wildlife, and sustainability. The children “adopted” nature sites, went on hikes, and set up temporary biodiversity spaces. We run the Children Leading Change program in formal and informal education frameworks in large cities, SPNI communities, and towns in Israel’s periphery.
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This year, we enjoyed successful collaborations with local authorities, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Ministry of Education, and school educational teams.
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This year, the outdoor and urban woodland activities we conducted in Herzliya preschools were nominated for the Ministry of Education’s Prize for Unique Contributions to Education.
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This is a new and particularly successful continuing education course for preschool teachers on how to engage children in outdoor spaces and urban woodlands. The activities we teach are designed to inspire preschool children towards sustainable living and participating in urban nature activities that foster knowledge, skills, and values. They in turn connect and share these benefits with their local community.
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Each week during the school year, the children go outside to explore and learn about the environment in a natural setting near their preschool. The children’s outdoor learning and experiences are then directly linked with studies in the classroom, giving teachers an opportunity to promote sustainable life choices.
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To help strengthen local community ties and encourage other preschools to visit outdoor spaces, the teachers also get involved in various initiatives, leading sustainability projects such as adopting local woodlands, planting bulbs and local wildflowers, and introducing a set of reusable dishes and cutlery that can be loaned out to families for events in order to reduce the use of disposable items.
Training Our Guides
For decades, we have trained nature guides to lead educational hikes, promote the proper use of natural resources and land, and deepen their knowledge and love of Israel’s natural landscapes. We consider our guides to be invaluable in our educational work with children, youth, and adults. In 2019, we established a rich training program for hundreds of hike leaders, tour guides, and environmental educators. Our courses, continuing education programs, and workshops are based on SPNI’s decades of knowledge and field experience. They are not only popular among our own guides but also among independent guides and those from other environmental and hiking organizations, including the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and Lotem (an organization that makes hiking accessible for hikers with additional support needs).
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Guides who undertake professional training through our courses and continuing education programs obtain a high level of knowledge and professional tools that last them a lifetime, enriching their academic studies, training, further education, and professional work.
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Mainstreaming Environmental Values
SPNI has an implementation team whose role is to lead teaching programs in preschools and schools across all sectors of Israeli society. They provide school staff with tools to drive personal and educational change, and to embed sustainability within their lifestyles, teaching methods, and educational practices. Our implementation work combines institutional training and personal guidance to transfer knowledge, tools, and applied experience obtained in our training courses into teaching that promotes sustainability as a lifestyle. The concept of implementation views localism as a diverse, experiential, and valuable learning space. It highlights local issues and the fact that there are various levels of “place,” as well as offering opportunities to effect change. Our implementation team undergoes annual training that addresses global and Israeli sustainability issues, nature conservation issues, and tools for guidance and activism.
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Teacher Training
The goal of environmental education in general, and of our Sustainability Education Program in particular, is to raise awareness among teachers and students about the ecological crisis, its causes and possible solutions, and to promote behavioral change and sustainable choices in schools, homes, and communities. Our courses provide up to 60 hours of instruction and are geared toward teachers specializing in Land of Israel studies, sustainability, and environmental conservation. This year, we ran 15 courses in the north, south and center of Israel.
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“Tav Teken” Tour Guide Courses
SPNI’s Arabic-language community offers five “Tav Teken” tour guide courses that provide professional knowledge for educators and tour guides as well as skills for continued independent study. The courses also offer tools on navigation, outdoor leadership, and managing tour groups.
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Bioresearch
We are meeting a growing number of elementary school students who are keen to expand their knowledge of nature and biology. Run by naturalists and subject experts, our science trips at our field schools emphasize individual research and learning within a natural environment. The students get to experience a “lab outside the lab” and many tell us that the science trip was the highlight of their studies.
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Holidays and Summer Camp
During the summer and other school vacations, we run day programs for younger children, and sleep-away camps for older ones. Every year, our field schools open their doors to thousands of children and youth who want to have a unique experience, to learn and have fun, and to connect with nature. In these programs, children learn about nature and the outdoors, explore the environment, and make new friends. The programs are run by our professional guides, and many children choose to come back to us year after year. This year, our summer schools and camps hosted tens of thousands of children and young people.
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Eretz Ahavti (“My Beloved Country”)—Hiking Trips for Adults
Hiking with SPNI is for all ages. As part of our Eretz Ahuvati program, we run high-quality tour programs for adults, led by our finest guides. This year, approximately 42,000 people participated in the Eretz Ahavti program.
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“Yarok” Tours
We also offer a range of high-quality leisure trips. Every weekend, our guides accompany hundreds of Israelis on nature tours.
This year, we were delighted to meet the growing number of companies and organizations who joined us for team-building experiences and activities on Israel’s trails. On these trips, employees enjoy quality time together and experience a connection with nature both as individuals and as a team. More and more companies are choosing to join us for these activities while helping us protect nature in Israel.
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