YPEF 2015/2016

International Contest ”Young People in European Forests”

Rules of the Contest

Participants  

1.      The Contest is open to young people from European countries in the age group determined by the National Commissions, but not less than 13 and not more than 20 years at the beginning of the school year 2015/2016.

2.      Participants take part in teams of three. All participants are expected to speak English. 

Contest Commissions  

3.      Each organization participating in the YPEF contest 2016 may be represented in the YPEF International Commission.

4.      The YPEF International Commission and YPEF National Commissions will supervise the course of the contest directly.

5.      The YPEF International Commission may, if necessary, make changes in its composition.

6.      YPEF National Commissions may, if necessary, make changes in their compositions.

7.      Participants of the YPEF 2014/2015 European (Final) stage may support the work of the YPEF International Commission in the field of promotional and organizational activities concerning the YPEF contest.

8.      Participants of the YPEF 2014/2015 national stages may support the work of the YPEF National Commission of their own country in the field of promotional and organizational activities concerning the YPEF contest’s national stages.

Goals 

9.      Important basic goals of the YPEF Contest are:

Ø  Development of youth activity and integration by education;

Ø  Promotion of young people’s knowledge about forests and forestry in Europe;

Ø  Familiarizing young people with the concepts of forest and the various relationships between biotic and abiotic components;

Ø  Promotion of understanding of the value of forest ecosystems in different European countries;

Ø  Raising the awareness about sustainable management of ecosystems among young people .

10.  The teams get the necessary knowledge by themselves (non-formal education), share this knowledge and present results to their colleagues participating in the contest during preparations for national stages and during the European Final. The course and organization of the workshop during the final stage will train the participants to cooperate and discuss the problems of nature and environment above state borders and barriers.

Stage 1 – National  

11.  The national organizations represented in the YPEF International Commission from a given country will be jointly responsible for the organization of the National Stage Contest.

12.  National stages are based on:

Ø  The official YPEF booklet – published on www.ypef.eu website – that refers to the nature, forests and forestry of the countries participating and Europe.

Ø  Other additional materials – digital (online) or analogue publications – about the nature, forests and forestry of the country organizing the national stage provided of the YPEF National Commission and made available to the participants as standard learning material.

Ø  Multiple choice questions, designed to test for general knowledge on forests and environmental issues. For each question four answers are prepared and there is only one correct solution. The YPEF National Commission independently prepares the list of national stage questions. Each team of participants in the national stage of one country shall answer the same list of questions.

Ø  The National Commission may supplement the questions by other activities: e.g.  

Ø  Multimedia presentations (.ppt, .pptx, .pdf) or posters prepared by teams of participants. Topic of the presentation is the same for all the teams and concerns the European forests and forestry 

Ø  An outdoor team parcours with several different activity places in the forest, where the teams have to solve tasks related to forestry. 

13.  The YPEF National Commission independently prepares the list of YPEF national stage tasks that can be different in different phases of national stage.

14.  The National Commission may prepare new questions for the National Stage test. The new questions must correspond with the text of the official YPEF booklet or additional materials provided by the YPEF National Commission and made available to the participants as standard learning material.

15.  Participation in the Contest is voluntary and does not need to cover all the members of an institution. (e.g. school, youth club, etc.)

16.  The YPEF National Commission of each country may organize a national final. However, this is not mandatory. The National Commission qualifies the best teams to the national final (if there is one organized). The criteria of promotion to the national final as well as the number of teams/finalists are up to the decision of the YPEF National Commission.

17.  The National Stage Contest will be held in each country on a convenient day between the 1st of February 2016 and the 15th of September 2016.

18.  In case it is necessary, a run-off contest may be organized to select the winning team of a national final. YPEF National Commission will appoint the place and time for the run-off. The list of test questions for the run-off will be selected by the YPEF National Commission .

19.  The team with the highest total score in the National Stage will be invited to represent their country at the European (Final) Stage.

20.  The detailed rules of the National Stage Contests will be established by the YPEF National Commission in each country.

21.  The International Commission may accept national forest contests organized in a different way as an YPEF national stage.

Stage 2 – European Final  

22.  The participants of the European Final Stage Contest are expected to represent the knowledge and promotion of the nature of their home countries in their international teams. (see 23.)

23.  The national teams from all countries meet in the host country - Latvia. On the day of arrival the teams will be rearranged in order to have new teams with all mixed nationalities. These international teams are selected by drawing. The teams consist of three members; each member of the team has to be from a different country. These international teams will do all parts of the European Contest together.

24.  The European Contest consists of three parts:

Ø  The first part is a test consisting of at least 40 multiple choice questions. The questions will be selected by the YPEF National Commission of the host country and remain confidential to anyone else until the final test taking place. The questions are based on the official YPEF booklet – published on www.ypef.eu website – that refers to the nature, forests and forestry of the countries participating and Europe.

Ø   The second part is an outdoor team parcours with several different activity places in the forest. In this part of the contest the teams have to solve tasks related to forestry. The essence of the tasks are presented by the host country at least one month earlier than the International final. Written aids to the tasks which may be required should be provided to the participants in English.

Ø   The third part of the European Contest is preparation of a poster on a given topic and delivering a presentation on the topic depicted on the poster. The international teams are given a minimum of 6 hours to prepare the poster and the presentation. The topics will be prepared by the National Commission of the Final’s host country. Each international team is provided with a laptop and learning materials. The final presentation of the poster for one team is max. 15 minutes. Tutors will be available to help the teams with their tasks and with computer issues. Teams may continue to work on their presentations during their spare time. Teachers and other guides of the teams are not allowed to help the teams in preparing of their presentations.

The evaluation will be made basing on the following rules:

Ø  maximum score is 100 points, out of which:

-          40 points can be scored for the paper test

-          20 points can be scored for the outdoor activities

-          40 points can be scored for the preparation and presentation of the poster

Ø  The poster’s presentation is evaluated by both the YPEF International Commission (weight of 75% of the marks) and the international teams of the European final stage (weight of 25% of the marks).

Ø  For evaluation of the presentation the following criteria are to be used:

-          content (understanding of the topic, personal statement, explanation of the topic)

-          poster (layout, use of graphs and images, relevance of information)

-          delivery of the presentation (audibility, speed, contribution by all group members)

25.  The winner of the YPEF European Final Contest 2016 is the team which gets the highest total score from the test, the outdoor activity parcours and the poster presentation.

26.  In case two or more teams get the same total number of points, the score from the presentation shall decide about the winner.

27.  The host country for the YPEF European Final Contest 2016 is Latvia. The Final Contest will take place at the end of September or beginning of October 216.

Support

28.  National Stages and the European Final may be supported (in financial or participation form) by other institutions from a given country.