The Community of Practice at UCM (in Slovakia) has 9 members and is expanding its membership and reach. During the first meeting we introduced the CoP LOESS objective, goals, planned activities, target group and possible pain points, we explained the role of CoP and our expectations in connection with the project. 

The discussions of the Slovak Community of Practice focused mostly on the current situation of soil health and the state of soil education. 

Our members are from both the higher education and the research community as well as from civil society. We focused on connections between people with different backgrounds, focused on various scientific disciplines and come from different sectors. This gives us the opportunity to insight into the topic from different perspectives and points of view. The CoP brings together multiple actors from various disciplines and sectors to allow different insights into soil health education. 

Currently, the experts represent very functionally diverse units, including all levels of education, research organisations, regional policymakers, and NGOs. 

The meetings were mostly the exchanges of individual views and sharing of personal interests in soil, especially in soil degradation, lack of interest in integration of soil education into the national curriculum and exploring local soil community background. 

The Slovak CoP plans to grow by including new members to gain some opportunities to enhance our knowledge and perspectives as well as bring new ideas. 

Key insights:

• soil-related education in state curriculum is not sufficient (it barely appears)
• soil health issues are only part of the natural sciences 
• lack of interest in soil-related issues in society 
• the absence of soil education in social science 
  
  

Problem: soil degradation, soil pollution, organic carbon change, soil erosion, lack of interest, insufficient soil education