Digitalization of Environmental Education as One of the Directions of

Socio-economic Development of the State

Natalia Olegovna Vedysheva

, Maria Mikhailovna Mukhlynina

, Anna Alexandrovna

Kozyreva

, and Ulyanova Tatyana Borisovna

Kutafin Moscow State Law University, 9, Sadovaya-Kudrinskaya str., Moscow, 125993, Russia

Institute of State and Law of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Znamenka str., 10, Moscow, 119019, Russia

National Research University «Higher School of Economics» (HSE University), Myasnitskaya str., 20, Moscow, 101000,

Russia

Law Institute «Russian University of Transport (MIIT)», 9, b9, Obraztsova str., Moscow, 127994, Russia

Keywords: Digital technology, economics, environmental education, legislation, sustainable development, digitalization.

Abstract: The aim of the article is to consider the problem of implementation of digital technologies in the system of

environmental education in the Russian Federation. To achieve the stated goal, the authors set a number of

tasks, in particular, to analyze the provisions of the Russian Constitution and the norms of the current

legislation in the environmental sphere, to consider issues of state environmental policy of the Russian

Federation in relation to the digitalization of environmental education in the framework of socio-economic

development. There are judgments that there is a problem associated with the lack of special laws (at the

federal level), regulating the state policy in the field of environmental education in the context of

implementation of sustainable development goals, and the authors note that the presence of a large number of

declarative norms of universality of environmental education has a negative impact on the process of its

formation. Analyzing existing technologies and digital solutions, the authors conclude that they allow creating

high-quality educational content (educational courses, programs, modules, etc.), which can be used for the

formation of continuous environmental education and awareness in the Russian Federation as part of both

government and non-government programs.

1 INTRODUCTION

Socio-economic development of the country is

currently impossible without achieving the strategic

goals of environmental security and rational use of

natural resources, which are carried out, among other

things, through raising the level of environmental

education and environmental culture of citizens.

These goals and tasks are reflected in the Constitution

of Russia and strategic planning documents.

Provision in Constitution of Russian Federation about

ecological education and upbringing, ecological

culture of citizens (point «f» 6 part 1 article 114 of

Constitution of Russia) gives a clear demonstration of

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state ecological policy direction which follows the

SDGs.

According to a number of authors, the place of

environmental education is clearly defined in the

system of legal education. Ecological-legal education

should solve the general task - formation of

ecological culture of citizens, active civil ecological

position and as a result - ecologization of legal

education. (Karakash. 2007).

The Law of the USSR «On Nature Protection»

dated October 27, 1960, played an important role in

the formation and development of environmental

education and enlightenment, thus, in accordance

with Article 18 of the law, it was stipulated to teach

the basics of nature protection in educational

Vedysheva, N., Mukhlynina, M., Kozyreva, A. and Borisovna, U.

Digitalization of Environmental Education as One of the Directions of Socio-economic Development of the State.

DOI: 10.5220/0010682100003169

In Proceedings of the International Scientiﬁc-Practical Conference "Ensuring the Stability and Security of Socio-Economic Systems: Overcoming the Threats of the Crisis Space" (SES 2021),

pages 38-42

ISBN: 978-989-758-546-3

institutions. Later the USSR Law «On Environmental

Protection» of 1991, the Federal Law «On

Environmental Protection» of 2002, the Ecological

Doctrine of the Russia «continued the work» and

provided the creation of state and non-state systems

of continuous environmental education and

awareness, the inclusion of environmental issues,

environmental protection and sustainable

development of the Russian Federation in curricula at

all levels of the educational process, the development

of a training system in environmental protection for

managers of various industries, e. g., the development

of a system of environmental education in the Russian

Federation. These norms sometimes remain

declarative and not always realized in practice.

Mukhlynina M. and Vedysheva N. address the issues

of the need for changes in environmental policy, both

at the level of the regulatory framework and at the

organizational and managerial level (Mukhlynina,

Vedysheva. 2020).

Current issues of legal regulation of the goals of

sustainable development and digitalization of

environmental education as one of the areas of socio-

economic policy in the Russian Federation are

reflected in the works Karakash I.I. (Karakash, 2007),

Mukhlynina M., Vedysheva N. (Mukhlynina, 2020),

Allen I.E. (Kozyreva, 2020), Gate N.A., Minyaev

A.O. (Grand-Clement, 2019) Pushkareva E.F. (Allen,

2011), Chalykh I.S. (Terentiev, 2021), Burkova L.N.

(Vedysheva, 2020), Misnik G.A. (Vershilo, 2008),

Fomenko V.L., Fitsai D.A. and others. However, a

number of issues relating to the judicial protection of

environmental rights remain underdeveloped.

2 MATERIALS AND METHODS

The methodological basis of this study has

traditionally been general scientific methods:

synthesis, analysis, induction and deduction. The

method of factor analysis was used to determine the

influence of various factors on the implementation of

digitalization of environmental education in the

Russian Federation.

The information basis of the study included

normative legal acts, documents of public authorities

and their officials, scientific works of Russian

scientists on the problems of digitalization of

environmental education.

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The federal state educational standard of basic

general education, approved by Order № 1897 of the

Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian

Federation on December 17, 2000, was clearly aimed

at the establishment and development of an

environmentally aware way of life of the student,

including the formation of the basics of

environmental culture, the development of

experience of environmentally oriented reflexive and

evaluative and practical activities. A great

contribution to the scientific component of this

process was made by the Russian Academy of

Education, which in 2017-2018 conducted research

aimed at updating the content of school

environmental education. It also developed new

approaches to the formation of environmental culture

of schoolchildren, which was embodied in the model

work program for basic and secondary general

education developed by it, on the integrated course

«Ecology», the methodological support of

interdisciplinary research in education. The orders of

the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia from

07.08.2020 № 894 and № 897 were approved by the

FSES of higher education - undergraduate and

graduate respectively in the direction of training

«Ecology and environmental management».

In Russia in recent years, especially in the

thematic years of ecology and environmental

protection (2013, 2017) one can observe active

development of environmental education and public

education. Thus, 72 subjects of the Russian

Federation carried out activities to develop the system

of professional retraining and advanced training of

civil servants in the field of environmental protection,

which is reflected in the State Report on the condition

and protection of the environment of Russia in 2018.

In the Kirov region in 2018 The Ministry of

Natural Resources of Russia together with the Federal

State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher

Professional Education «Vyatka State University»

developed an additional professional training

program «Professional retraining and advanced

training of public civil servants in the field of

environmental protection, resource conservation and

environmental safety», which is planned to adopt in

order to implement paragraph 77 of the Action Plan

to implement the Basic State Policy in the field of

environmental development of the Russian

Federation. In Novgorod Oblast in 2018 the regional

budget allocated funds for professional retraining and

advanced training of civil servants of the Ministry of

Natural Resources, Forestry and Environment of

Digitalization of Environmental Education as One of the Directions of Socio-economic Development of the State

Novgorod Oblast. In the Moscow region in 2018 for

the purpose of professional retraining and advanced

training of civil servants and technical personnel the

Government of the Moscow region developed a

number of educational programs, including in the

field of environmental protection, resource

conservation and environmental safety.

In our opinion the legal gap is the lack of special

laws at the federal level regulating the state policy in

the field of environmental education in the context of

the implementation of sustainable development goals,

the presence of a large number of declarative norms

on the universality of environmental education and

improving environmental culture, The law-making of

the subjects of the Russian Federation is developing,

for example, the Law of Kamchatka Krai dated June

21, 2010 № 473 «On environmental education and

enlightenment in Kamchatka Krai», the Regional

Law of Leningrad region dated July 18, 2016 № 62-

OZ «On environmental education, enlightenment and

forming environmental culture in Leningrad region»,

the Law of Yaroslavl region dated April 12, 2017. №

12-Z «On environmental education, enlightenment

and formation of ecological culture in the Yaroslavl

region» and the Law of the Republic of Altai of July

6, 2017 № 38-RZ «On environmental education,

enlightenment and formation of ecological culture in

the Republic of Altai».

These laws establish economic-legal and

organizational foundations of environmental

education. An important feature of these laws is the

development of basic concepts for our study, such as:

environmental education, culture, education. The

laws stipulate the powers of legislative and executive

authorities of this or that constituent entity of Russia,

determine the procedure for financing environmental

education activities, etc. The laws of the subjects of

the Russian Federation differently understand eco-

education and its system: for example, in the law of

Krasnodar Krai «On environmental education,

education and formation of environmental culture of

the population of Krasnodar Krai» environmental

education is understood as a continuous and

purposeful process of knowledge, self-education,

accumulating experience and personal development

aimed at forming values and standards of behavior,

skills and abilities in the field of environmental

protection and rational use of nature, in order to meet

the needs of the population.

Environmental education is provided at four

levels: preschool, school, higher and postgraduate. In

the law of Voronezh region «On environmental

education, education and formation of environmental

culture of the population of Voronezh region»

environmental education is understood as a

continuous process of education, training, self-

education, accumulation of experience and personal

development aimed at the formation of a system of

value orientations, behavioral standards, receiving

special knowledge on environmental protection,

nature management and environmental safety,

implemented in environmentally literate activities.

Here the system of eco-education does not include

the preschool level, but provides for the education of

students of general educational organizations and

organizations of additional education, training of

specialists with the levels of secondary and higher

education, environmental training of specialists in

various professions, advanced training and retraining

of officials, including in industry and agriculture,

teaching staff, training of highly qualified personnel

and specialists in the field of environmental

education.

In the law of the same name of the Kostroma

region under environmental education is understood

a broader concept: a purposeful process of education

and training, which is a socially significant benefit for

the intellectual, spiritual, moral, physical and (or)

professional development, which is carried out in the

interests of the individual, family, society and the

state, as well as the set of acquired knowledge,

abilities, skills, values, activity experience and

competence in environmental protection,

environmental management and ecological safety.

Unfortunately, in many subjects of the Russian

Federation there is no purposeful and consistent

regional policy on environmental education; no

special laws, policy documents providing a system of

management, coordination, funding of environmental

education at the regional and local levels have been

adopted.

It should be noted that existing technologies and

ready-made digital solutions allow the creation of

high-quality educational content (educational

courses, programs, modules, etc.), which can be used

for the formation of continuous environmental

education and awareness in the Russian Federation as

part of both government and non-government

programs. In this case, the created educational content

to be human-oriented and aimed at creating new

educational material in accordance with the needs of

the economy and society, as well as meeting the

interests of the harmonious development of the

individual, the disclosure of his creative potential. In

this regard, when forming educational programs in

the field of environmental education, it is necessary

to recommend teachers to transform lecture material

SES 2021 - INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC-PRACTICAL CONFERENCE "ENSURING THE STABILITY AND SECURITY OF

SOCIO - ECONOMIC SYSTEMS: OVERCOMING THE THREATS OF THE CRISIS SPACE"

into a video streaming series, create digital texts and

interactive modules.

International publications and research on the use

of digital technology show that its role in the process

of learning, efficiency in terms of time and perception

of the received knowledge, motivation to learn and

concentration is essential (Sarah Grand-Clement,

Axelle Devaux, Julie Belanger, Catriona Manville.

2019). A separate place is occupied by the

development of online courses and attempts to answer

the question of what courses really count as taking

place in an online format. According to experts,

online courses, with all the variety of terminology

(internationally used terms such as e-learning, digital

learning, online learning, distance learning) courses

where the proportion of content provided for the

benefit of the learner is more than 70-80% (I.E. Allen,

J. Seaman, Babson Survey Research Group. 2011).

In the COVID-19 pandemic, the education system

is faced with the serious challenge of ensuring the

legal rights of citizens, namely the right to education

that is universally accessible and free of charge, while

ensuring that the quality of teaching is not

compromised (Kozyreva, Nadtoka. 2020). In a

situation where educational institutions of all levels,

from preschool to higher education, were forced to

virtually close their doors and transfer the educational

process to a distance learning format, teachers were

actively engaged in testing various methods and

practices of teaching in a digital environment. The

results of a large-scale nationwide survey of teachers

indicate that universities have survived and

demonstrated a high degree of preparedness for an

emergency situation (Terentiev. 2021). The situation

is similar in the segment of secondary education.

In accordance with Presidential Decree № 474 of

July 21, 2020 «On the National Development Goals

of the Russian Federation for the period until 2030»

digital transformation is defined as one of the goals,

the realization of which requires achieving «digital

maturity» including in education. Digitalization of

environmental education will activate and improve

the continuous environmental education in the

Russian Federation and its subjects, thereby

implementing one of the directions of the state

environmental policy at the present stage. The

development of environmental education in the

Russian Federation contributes to the Sustainable

Development Goals adopted by all member states of

the United Nations in 2015, which are aimed at

protecting our planet, improving the quality of life,

and improving the prospects for all people around the

world (Vedysheva, Mukhlynina 2020). As N.A.

Vershilo rightly points out, «...in the light of the

Concept of Sustainable Development the ideal of

educational systems becomes the formation of a

personality with a certain inner freedom, which builds

its relations with the environment on the basis of

understanding its integrity. Society is called to set

these qualities through educational systems»

(Vershilo. 2008).

4 CONCLUSIONS

To summarize, we note that education is a continuous

process that is constantly being modernized. The

country's transition to a modern level of development

is impossible without new technologies in education

as well. Recent events related to the pandemic have

shown the "pluses" of digital education (with

"minuses" at first of a technical nature, lack of skills

in working with information bases, relevant

programs, etc.), providing the opportunity to obtain

the necessary theoretical knowledge in various fields,

including environmental protection, environmental

safety, implementation of the UN SDGs, namely

through digital technology provides equal access to

education in the Russian Federation, regardless of

social and other factors during the life time. First of

all, they are aimed at training specialists in the field

of environmental protection with higher professional

education, as well as advanced training and retraining

of officials, specialists of organizations, regardless of

the areas of activity in the system of postgraduate

education. Specialists working for state and

municipal authorities must be able to develop targeted

environmental programs, prepare draft regulations in

the field of environmental protection and

environmental safety; specialists in organizations

associated with the impact on the environment and

human health must know the natural resource and

environmental legislation of Russia, use BAT

reference books, monitor trends in international and

European law in terms of adaptation to climate

change, etc. Ecological education of such persons will

help to ensure the implementation of the rights of

citizens to a favorable environment, and the activities

of the relevant bodies and organizations - to

implement the principle of science-based

combination of environmental, economic and social

interests of man, society and the state.

SDG 4 provides for «Ensuring inclusive and

equitable quality education and promote lifelong

learning opportunities for all» we consider it

advisable to propose concluding a joint agreement

between the Ministry of Science and Higher

Education of the Russia, the Ministry of Digital

Digitalization of Environmental Education as One of the Directions of Socio-economic Development of the State

Development of the Russia, and the Ministry of

Natural Resources and Environment of the Russia,

providing for:

1. creation of methodological centers at

universities, where officials and specialists of

organizations related to activities that have a negative

impact on the environment and human health, as well

as teachers who implement programs in the field of

environmental protection and environmental safety

will receive advanced training;

2. development of a platform to improve the

qualifications of civil servants of the Russian

Federation engaged in environmental protection and

environmental safety (envisaged by the Action Plan

to Implement the Environmental Security Strategy of

the Russian Federation for the period up to 2025;

3. In the state information system «Modern

Digital Educational Environment» (Decree of the

Government of the Russian Federation № 1836 of

November 16, 2020), we believe it is advisable to

provide for the need to take environmental courses for

all users and all categories of students.

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SES 2021 - INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC-PRACTICAL CONFERENCE "ENSURING THE STABILITY AND SECURITY OF

SOCIO - ECONOMIC SYSTEMS: OVERCOMING THE THREATS OF THE CRISIS SPACE"