ANNIE (Aquaponics, New Novelty In Education) is essentially the combination of Aquaculture and Hydroponics. Both aquaculture and hydroponics have some negative aspects. Re-circulating aquaculture needs to have excess nutrients removed from the system, normally this means that a percentage of the water is removed, generally daily. Hydroponics requires expensive nutrients to feed the plants, and also requires periodic flushing of the systems which can lead to waste disposal issues. This nutrient rich water in both systems needs to be disposed of and replaced with clean fresh water. When both systems are combined, these negative aspects are turned into positives, as the nutrient rich water from the aquaculture system is recirculated into the hydroponics system to grow produce. This water is then filtered (clean) into the aquaculture system.Many different species of fish can be grown in an aquaponics system, and the species selection will depend on a number of factors, including climate; freshwater or saline loving fish and plants; the density of fish per cubic metre and fish stratification preferences (the preferred water depth of different species). Aquaponics systems can be used in ‘local for local’ food production situations, is biological and organic and aquaponics need no extra toxic additions like antibiotics, manure or artificial fertilizers, and don't need weeding.Aquaponics has a significant reduction of water usage, compared with traditional growing methods. Plants grow faster and the whole year round; healthier food is produced because of a reduction in chemical applications; water usage is reduced and is cleaner (with only 10% of recycled water lost by vaporization, reducing the water footprint); reduction of transport, reducing the CO2 footprint. Aquaponics will be one of the solutions to the food shortages the world is facing.‘To satisfy a peak global population of 9.7 billion people in 2050, agricultural economists project that total agricultural demand will increase by 60 percent to 100 percent compared with 2005 levels’(Zeigler, M.M (2017) http://www.globalharvestinitiative.org/2017/03/sustainably-doubling-agricultural-productivity-the-right-global-goal-for-2050/)Objectives: This project is a starting point to change regional food production strategies all over Europe. As well as the potential applications for urban areas, this project is also applicable for rural areas. Education played an important role in this project, because this teaches the workers of the future and makes them aware of emerging food problems.The main goal of this project is to expand a network between educational institutions, food producers and local governments. Schools can integrate this topic into current curricula and on any EQF level. ANNIE increased this network where education providers, farmers (business) and governments worked together to raise awareness of water scarcity, water purity and food productivity issues.Number and profile of participating organisations: 13 organisations, Agri Vet- schools EQF level 1-4; Vet schools A.D.; Applied Science Universities, Secondary Schools with LLL-aspects; Business & Development Consultants and Entrepreneurs.Description of undertaken main activities: National: founding of aquaponics platforms in which knowledge and skills are shared, founding aquaponics training centres to provide information and share knowledge and skills; raising awareness by organising workshops for pupils, students and staff within the institutions and outside with partner schools; training activities in the project by the experienced company LandingAquaculture, an international company in aquaculture. There were 4 Steering group meetings and 3 partner meetings and an ANNIElympics, the final meeting was an event in which all participants participated in frivolous items related to fish and plants, healthy and safe food and innovations.The final result included the creation of a database of shared documents to be used to assist start-up aquaponics projects; leaflets in all languages with basic information about aquaponics; 4 training centres (ES,NL, RO and PT) to provide workshops and short training events on aquaponics; 2 working models for educational events; exposures on school days and at national and international meetings like European Parliament, European Committee of the regions (CIFEA MdS) and meetings about sustainability; World Food Day 15th of October 2017 NL; 2 instruction films available for everybody (on YouTube); 4 master classes organised by students.5 Students will graduate on aquaponics through ANNIE. Thousands of people know about aquaponics because of the ANNIE project. Longer-term benefits: new partnerships, a continuation of the partnerships in a new project with the partners, the pioneers become experts in aquaponics in education, pioneers became trainers.

<< Objectives >>MAKE IT HAPPEN gathers 10 complementary partners (France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Portugal and Belgium) committed to promote and develop inclusive European mobilities for VET learners with disabilities. The project aims to support the mobility operators to enlarge their actions to VET learners with disability. It also works toward supporting VET organisations and social educational organisations to give their learners with disabilities Erasmus+ opportunities.<< Implementation >>RESEARCH PHASE with the design of the chart and the development of the methodology1 JOINT STAFF TRAINING with 17 staff to be trained on the METHODOLOGY1 IMPLEMENTATION PHASE to put the methodology into practice: 26 learners with disabilities will go abroad for a VET mobility with 16 accompanying tutors. Preparatory visits will precede those VET mobilities (14 staff)4 TRANSNATIONAL COORDINATION MEETINGS to monitor the project’s progress18 MULTIPLIER EVENTS to promote the results<< Results >>COMMITMENT CHART with INSPIRING PRACTICES, a GLOSSARY, a COMMITMENT on shared vision and values of inclusive mobilityMETHODOLOGY with GUIDELINES/TOOLS, a 25h-TRAINING COURSE piloted with 17 staff, 26 mobilities of VET learners with disability and 16 accompanying peopleNETWORK OF 100 SOCIO EDUCATIONAL & ECONOMICAL ACTORS, 9 NETWORKING ACTIVITIES, 18 MULTIPLIER EVENTS promoting inclusive mobilities to 330 peoplePROMOTIONAL TOOLS with 8 LOCAL VIDEOS, 1 MAKE IT HAPPEN VIDEO, 1 TEASER, 1 WEBSITE

The partnership project, Give New Life to Environmental and Cultural Heritage: revitalisation of parks, undeveloped urban and rural areas, was implemented by six partner organisations from Poland, Italy, Portugal, Estonia and France. There were three VET schools and three NGOs related to education and training in the field of space planning, management and maintenance. We worked against the pandemic, adapting to new conditions and surprising situations. The project was coordinated by the Association for Agriculture and Forestry Education EUROPEA Poland, and the partnership consisted of highly internationalised organisations with an established track record, who supported those just starting out with their experience.Our activities met the training needs of the professional staff of the schools and their pupils. After three years of the project, our goal of increasing competence in the field of spatial development, or revitalisation, has been achieved. We’ve seen a delightful and constant growth of similar activities, seeming to acknowledge that the world has noticed a need to live in harmony with the space in which one lives and functions. Now, with 85% of the population living in cities and metropolitan areas, many residents are increasingly desperate to find places that encourage relaxation, meditation and share responsibility for the planet simultaneously.The regeneration sector of parks, and undeveloped urban and rural areas, is an important driver of economic and social development. Our consortium has gathered the best practices and made strong efforts to develop innovative training tools to support VET professionals to be better and more effective in what they do in both formal, and especially informal, education with their students or employees. Note that the informal education element is being increasingly used in a growing employment sector, such as regeneration, which we promote as “giving new life to natural and cultural heritage.” The aim of the project was to collect and transmit information about places in need of regeneration, to share best practices in the project partners' countries and across Europe, to develop innovative tools for VET professionals and pupils/students, and to stimulate the professional development of VET teachers, trainers and mentors. In this way, the project contributed to the development of VET in the partner countries and Europe, and it supported the social and educational value of European cultural heritage. Schools from regions with green areas in need of development or revitalisation, e.g. after natural disasters, abandoned areas, were invited to join the project. Around 300 people were directly involved in the project, and the dissemination activities covered a group several times larger. Special attention was paid to the inclusion of people with fewer opportunities. Partners held four international meetings and two short-term staff training sessions. There were a total of seven online meetings. Each partner organised dissemination and promotional events and carried out local activities.The main products of the project were an E-book and a set of virtual lessons/tutorials. These tools can be used by staff, trainers, students, associated partners and other stakeholders. The materials use both formal and informal education methods. This will disseminate informal competences in VET teaching and among people interested in or responsible for the space, who will develop competences for understanding regeneration as a landscape of memory, myth, freedom, expression and cultural embeddedness, embedded in sustainable development.Participants of the events learned about native and other experiences of natural and cultural heritage. As a VET partnership we developed competencies in teaching techniques, living lab approaches and project work methods. The three-year cooperation sparked creativity, new contacts were made, we worked in an international environment, and we improved our communication and cooperation skills.The pandemic certainly tested project management skills and improved crisis management competences. The visible effect, at both a local and national level, is to inspire more people of all ages to protect cultural and natural heritage. The project activities involved staff, pupils and local authorities, not only those professionally linked to vocational training. The project motivated people to take action based on the project’s results.The desired effect at a national, regional and European level is to increase both formal and informal learning, and to support vocational education and training. A potential long-term benefit is that we have created long-term transnational networks of organisations involved in VET. These networks will contribute enormously to the inclusion of cultural and natural heritage in spatial planning.

"""Apply green pedagogy: SDGs implementation by floristry"" Erasmus+ VET strategic partnership project will support Erasmus+ Programme horizontal priority ""Environmental and climate goals"" and implementation of United Nation Program of Sustainable Development Goals initiated by United Nations in 2015. Project partners will exchange experiences in the field of floristry, horticulture, landscape design, green pedagogy and SDGs in VET.The objectives of the project are:1) to increase professional level of VET teachers, trainers and mentors;2) to exchange good practices between different institutions working in VET with green pedagogy, SDGs and floristry;3) to offer teaching materials for everyday work in floristry; 4) to support synergy and cross-sectoral cooperation in VET;5) to develop international cooperation and dialogue.The project will maximize participants vocational competencies and partners collaboration with a view to strengthen the dialogue between different types of organisations in order to improve the respective working skills and quality of training. It will make provision for the use of different learning instruments to engage professionals in the new aspects of Erasmus+ Programme. There are three VET schools (from Slovakia, Czech Republic and Portugal), two grass-roots NGOs working in VET (from Estonia and France), network of VET schools EUROPEA Polska and SME (from UK) involved in this partnership. Partners have different experience in floristry sector and VET and will share them with other partners. The added value in term of European impact is the synergy between formal and non-formal education related to vocational education and training. The main target group is this project consist of VET teachers, trainers and mentors (more than 20 participants). Also VET students and learners will participate in local and dissemination activities (more than 300). Associated partners and other stakeholders will be involved in dissemination activities with during face-to-face events and use of media and social media (more than 1000). Participants with fewer opportunities will be involved in this project.This project will reinforce links between different stakeholders, promote innovative practices by supporting personalized learning approaches, collaborative learning and critical thinking, strategic use of Information and communication technologies (IT) and innovative learning methods. Participants will increase vocational competencies in floristry, reinforce creativity and innovation, cooperation with labour market and response to demands in floristry fields.Partners will organise four transnational and two short-term joint staff training events, local and dissemination activities with aim to exchange good practices, the best of them will be collected in the project E-Handbook. Different formal and non-formal methods will be used by participants (lectures, presentations, workshops, study visits, discussions, reflections, testing of materials, video making, etc.).The framework of this project is focused on intangible results of vocational education and training for florists staff and educators who will be multipliers of gained competences for students/learners. By the end of the project, staff members, educators, students and learners of partners' organisations will become highly qualified professionals with international competencies - knowledge and skills in traditional and innovative floristry education. Participants will learn how floristry support implementation of SDGs. As the main product and tangible result, project partners will create an E-Handbook ""Flower compositions for different occasions"" with good practices of flowers' decorations in own countries, flowers compositions for different occasions: Christmas, Easter, birthdays, funerals, weddings, interior design, memorial days, national holidays and special occasions. Focus will be on local and European flowers. Among results generated by partners there will be study materials in vocational education and training. All these will be the main result of this project.Project partners will raise awareness about Europe 2020 strategy, Erasmus+ Programme, SDGs and green pedagogy. The desired impact will go beyond the project lifetime and beyond this project partners organisations towards wider general audience. It will have an impact on integration of good practices on local, regional, national an international levels."

Being a necessity of the modern world, speaking foreign languages is also one of the key skills putting VET learners ahead as a requirement of the international job market. According to CEDEFOP, the European Council Recommendation of 2018 defines foreign language skills as one of the key competences for life-long learning. Strengthening foreign language skills in initial and continuing VET is among the European Union priorities for 2015-2020. As a VET organization offering hospitality and catering education, fostering the professional language skills of our learners is one of the most important educational aims for our school. Being lack of language skills related to their professional field poses a huge obstacle for learners in finding job opportunities. Problems related to lacking foreign language skills are especially felt by the learners from front-desk and service departments since they are in face-to-face interaction with guests. Before the project, we have conducted a need analysis and implemented surveys on different groups: learners in initial VET, employees in continuing VET and VET staff. The results have shown us that we need to generate new resources and content enriched with digital tools for professional language education. The project aims to produce professional English resources on front-desk and service education for learners, employees and educators in initial and continuing VET. The project activities will serve to generate two intellectual outputs: an e-learning portal and a mobile application as open educational resources. To achieve these outputs, the project will be conducted in the partnership of five partners. Three VET schools with hospitality and catering departments will generate the pedagogical and linguistic content of the outputs. The fourth partner is a software company that will bring added value to the project by producing the technical infrastructure of the outputs. The last partner is a higher education institution with tourism and ICT departments which will act as a quality assurance unit for the project. This complementary partnership will enable the production of innovative educational resources. The intellectual outputs will serve as open educational resources fostering professional language education with a content-based and digitally enriched approach with a focus on speaking and communication skills in English. They will fill the resource gap in professional language teaching for hospitality and tourism fields in VET.Throughout the project, there will be three transnational meetings: a kick-off meeting in November 2020 in Turkey, a progress meeting in October 2021 in Romania and a final meeting in October 2022 in Portugal. The issues and activities related to project implementation and management will be handled in these meetings. Each partner organization will send 2 participants to each meeting. As a requirement of the meetings, participants will be assigned among the staff members taking responsibilities in project implementation and management.Two Learning Teaching and Training activities are planned in the project. These LTT activities will bring added value to the project as they are structured in a way contributing to the production of intellectual outputs.The first LTT activity will be held in April 2021 in Turkey. The linguistic and pedagogical content of the outputs will be completed in this activity. For this reason, 2 VET schools (from Romania and Portugal) and the higher education institution will send participants for this LTT activity. VET schools will assign two English teachers and 1 VET teacher as participants and the higher education institution will assign 1 tourism faculty member and 1 quality control member.The second LTT will be held in May 2021 in Greece. The technical infrastructure and design of the intellectual outputs will be completed with this LTT activity. Only the higher education partner (Vısshe Uchılıshte Po Menıdzhmant) will send 4 participants into this LTT activity. Three participants will be chosen among the faculty members from the ICT department and the other participant will be an assigned quality control expert.Multiplier events will be held by the 3 VET school partners after the finalization of intellectual outputs. They will serve as extensive dissemination activities strengthening the sustainability of the project results.The project outcomes are supposed to affect wider target groups such as VET learners, VET and language teachers, front-desk and service employees, sectoral stakeholders, associated partners, higher education institutions with tourism departments. Therefore, dissemination activities will be conducted in an extensive manner in order to ensure the sustainability of the outputs. We believe that the partnership will achieve the project results to reach policy/decision-makers in ministerial level and this will enable the use of intellectual outputs as education materials in VET education.