Education, Community Learning & Practical Engagement
The National Community Landscape Framework recognises education as a practical, community-based process.
Learning should not be limited to classrooms, documents or information campaigns. Communities learn through participation, observation, stewardship and shared responsibility.
Community Landscapes can become living learning environments where schools, families, residents, researchers, volunteers and organisations develop practical knowledge together.
Purpose
This page establishes the role of education, community learning and practical engagement within the National Community Landscape Framework.
Its purpose is to encourage learning through direct participation in Community Landscape projects, including planting, composting, monitoring, food literacy, environmental restoration and long-term stewardship.
Learning Pathways
Schools
Schools may participate through gardens, tree planting, seed collection, composting, pollinator projects, environmental monitoring and outdoor learning.
Universities
Universities may contribute through research, student placements, environmental assessment, data collection, evaluation and evidence-based improvement.
TAFE & Vocational Education
Vocational education may support skills development in horticulture, landscaping, arboriculture, nursery operations, environmental management and community project delivery.
Community Workshops
Workshops may support practical learning in gardening, composting, seed saving, tree care, water-wise planting, soil improvement and biodiversity support.
Practical Engagement
Planting Days
Residents, students and volunteers may participate in structured planting activities that build ownership and practical environmental knowledge.
Stewardship Activities
Ongoing activities may include watering, mulching, weeding, monitoring, seasonal care and reporting landscape needs.
Citizen Science
Communities may assist with observing pollinators, birds, plant growth, soil condition, flowering periods, rainfall patterns and landscape performance.
Harvest & Food Literacy
Where appropriate, harvest activities may support learning about seasonal food, responsible sharing, preparation, nutrition and community food resilience.
Intergenerational Knowledge Transfer
Community Landscapes provide opportunities for knowledge to move between generations.
Experienced gardeners, retirees, horticultural groups, cultural knowledge holders, educators, parents and young people can all contribute different forms of understanding.
This transfer of practical knowledge strengthens community identity, supports continuity and helps ensure that landscapes remain cared for beyond the first generation of participants.
Participation as Education
The Framework recognises that participation itself is a form of education.
When people plant trees, care for soil, monitor biodiversity, grow food, recover organic resources or contribute to community stewardship, they develop practical knowledge that cannot be gained through information alone.
This approach strengthens both individual understanding and collective community capacity.