What is ʻĀina-Based Education Certification?
A grassroots, ground-up effort!
A new professional development and capacity building project to elevate the prominence of ʻāina-based education (ABE) statewide, making it a more accessible and affirmed profession that honors Hawai'i's unique environment, culture, and people who mālama and aloha ʻāina.
The ʻĀina-Based Education Certification (ABEC) program will be designed to serve both formal (classroom teachers) and non-formal educators (e.g. educators at non-profits and government agencies) as well as students grades 10 and up. Diversity and inclusion will be fundamental, potentially reaching teachers and students from communities throughout Hawaiʻi and involving a wide range of partner organizations to provide outdoor and hands-on training opportunities. While this project is centered on professional development, its impact could be systemic, elevating the prominence of ABE and making it more accessible and commonly practiced. ABE can ignite passion for conservation careers and build a long-term conservation ethic for Hawaiʻi that is needed perhaps more than ever before.
In 2022, with the Hawaiʻi Alliance for Environmental Education, we researched best practices for environmental education certification in other states and also conducted an opinion survey, answered by more than 170 individuals including students and teachers from across Hawaiʻi. While it was not a scientific survey, the results provide direction in forming the pilot program. High priorities that emerged are: expanding relationships among ʻāina-based educators and community partners to reinforce place-based learning, and ensuring that education integrates Hawaiian culture and language as well as nurtures collective responsibility for environmental stewardship.
A new professional development and capacity building project to elevate the prominence of ʻāina-based education (ABE) statewide, making it a more accessible and affirmed profession that honors Hawai'i's unique environment, culture, and people who mālama and aloha ʻāina.
The ʻĀina-Based Education Certification (ABEC) program will be designed to serve both formal (classroom teachers) and non-formal educators (e.g. educators at non-profits and government agencies) as well as students grades 10 and up. Diversity and inclusion will be fundamental, potentially reaching teachers and students from communities throughout Hawaiʻi and involving a wide range of partner organizations to provide outdoor and hands-on training opportunities. While this project is centered on professional development, its impact could be systemic, elevating the prominence of ABE and making it more accessible and commonly practiced. ABE can ignite passion for conservation careers and build a long-term conservation ethic for Hawaiʻi that is needed perhaps more than ever before.
In 2022, with the Hawaiʻi Alliance for Environmental Education, we researched best practices for environmental education certification in other states and also conducted an opinion survey, answered by more than 170 individuals including students and teachers from across Hawaiʻi. While it was not a scientific survey, the results provide direction in forming the pilot program. High priorities that emerged are: expanding relationships among ʻāina-based educators and community partners to reinforce place-based learning, and ensuring that education integrates Hawaiian culture and language as well as nurtures collective responsibility for environmental stewardship.
Why ABEC?
- Empower Educators
- Recognize and Reward ʻāina-based education
- Uplift student engagement in stewardship
- Cultivate next generation leadership
- Build the conservation career workforce
Opportunities to earn an ABEC
Opportunities coming soon!
How to get involved
If you are interested in any of the following;
- Interested in being an ABEC participant (educator or student)
- Would like to be on the Advisory Group (i.e. if you are an experienced ABE educator, administer, or student seeking to support the program)
- Want to be a mentor & "subject expert" for our applicants to receive ʻike from you
Mahalo NUI to NOAA BWET Hawaiʻi, Kamehameha Schools, Hauʻoli Mau Loa Foundation, Hawaii P-20, and Kupu for being core supporters of this initiative through grants and in-kind support.
Teachers in Action
Mālama Learning Center and Green Firebreaks at Pālehua
Keiki o ka ʻāina mālama āina
Mālamalama Pālehua
ʻĀina Based Education- Molokaʻi
ʻĀina Based Education - Oʻahu Teachers & Trees
The Moʻolelo in the Mural - Nānākuli Ea
Mālama Learning Center and HĀ