A Critical Review of Forestry Education

Abstract

The forestry profession has traditionally believed in the application of technical knowledge to the solution of practical problems. However, growing public interest in the environment and concern for forests has led to demands for public involvement in the decision making process. Foresters are no longer trusted professionals but are expected to negotiate and then implement a workable consensus in a polarized political environment. A growing crisis of confidence in the ability of forestry professionals to do this has led to accusations that higher education is no longer providing career relevant forestry education. The response has been attempts by universities to increase either the breadth or the intellectual rigour of forestry degree courses on the assumption that it is a lack of knowledge that has caused this crisis. But this misses the point that the real failure in forestry education is the continuing dependence on technical knowledge and a failure to promote an ability to solve problems in situations of uncertainty and conflict where theory no longer provides the answers. Forestry may have much to learn from medical education where problem-based learning has provided a means for students to acquire professional skills.