Dunkelsteinerwald school project – concept

The world of fairytales combined with a hike in the Dunkelsteinerwald © Elisa Besenbäck

The idea to boost awareness of the region amongst young residents came about in the Dunkelsteinerwald micro-region. The aim is to strengthen both identification with the Dunkelsteinerwald and longer-term ties to the region. For this reason, a concept for integrating regional topics into the curriculum at local primary schools will be developed.

The Dunkelsteinerwald working group is a micro-region comprising the six municipalities of Bergern im Dunkelsteinerwald, Dunkelsteinerwald, Hafnerbach, Haunoldstein, Neidling and Schönbühel-Aggsbach. One challenge facing this group is that the municipalities belong to different political districts. The region also has to hold its ground between the towns of Krems, St. Pölten and Melk as well as the Wachau. In order to anchor identification with the Dunkelsteinerwald region, awareness of the region should be boosted amongst the young residents of the Dunkelsteinerwald.

There is a total of eight primary schools in the region, which have already expressed great interest in the project. In the coming school year, teachers at the regional primary schools will attend workshops to discuss which regional aspects could become part of the curriculum. Aspects such as hiking, fairytales/legends, Dunkelsteiner rosehips/wild roses, nature conservation (forest education) or culture and history (various ruins, churches, ...) could play a role here.

The involvement of educators is intended to ensure that the contents meet practical needs and that they will actually be used in lessons. The creation of a concept should provide instructions for implementing the developed topics and contents, which will take place in the next phase of the project.

Discussed in the project selection committee: 04.04.2018
Project promoter: ARGE Dunkelsteinerwald - Verein für Regionalplanung
Funding level: 80%
Project duration: 07.05.2018 – 31.07.2019
Supported by the federal province and the European Union (LEADER).