The ESTER project has been designed to meet the needs of European skills trainers and VET organisations. Recent European statistics highlight an unacceptable workplace fatality rate associated with skilled operations undertaken in the agriculture and forestry sectors of industry. The ESTER project will focus on key high-risk activities within those sectors. For example, falls from a height and machinery crush injuries are well-known risks which can be better prevented through quality training provision. Partners aim to build upon the successful work of previous projects which developed, for example the European Chainsaw Certificate (ECC), with an aim to provide a recognised European skills trainer qualification. In order to enhance training delivery, the ESTER project aims to facilitate best practice & high-quality instruction standards & techniques amongst VET providers and skills trainers of courses across Europe and beyond, exchanging knowledge, training innovations and expertise in the process leading to safer trainers and trainees.The ultimate project goal and key needs are as follows:1. Develop an innovative formal standardised European skills trainer qualification, registration and CPD process2. Develop innovative training materials for the benefit of trainers and trainees3. Reduce workplace fatality, incident rates and associated economic and personal costs within specific sectors of agriculture and forestry Achieving the key needs requires the following objectives to be met:1. Develop innovative European occupational standards for skills trainers in train the trainer (TTT)2. Improve transparency and recognition of trainer skills via innovative European qualifications accredited by ABA International3. Enhance trainer mobility and employability throughout Europe 4. Encourage and promote life-long learning and continuous professional development of registered European trainersProject Participants:The project team is a highly experienced and motivated partnership of industry and training specialists with a desire to improve training standards for the benefit of skilled operator safety in the sectors outlined.Project Activities:The project life-cycle includes a number of tasks required to achieve the needs and objectives. These include for example:• Industry consultations• Seminar presentations• Training the trainer events• Trainer upskilling and best practice events• Development of a European Trainer Skills Register-ESTER• Continuous project dissemination • International certification events• Production of new European training guidance materials The project will be undertaken in the following 3 stages:Stage 1: (Start-Up)Project management meetings: task lists, dissemination plans etc.Train the trainer meetings: upskilling, sharing best practice etc.Develop training standardsUndertake project promotional activitiesStage 2: (Implementation)Follow-up project management meetings:Train the trainer meetings: skills consolidation, practice new techniques, pilot test new qualifications etc.Develop new VET training materialsStage 3: (Certification)Live test new European certifications in partner countriesFinalise new VET trainer and trainee training materials Continued analysis, dissemination and enhancement of project products and goalsProject Impact and Long Term Benefits:The project will achieve its objectives including new training innovations in the sectors identified in VET skills safety at the European level. The key results will include:1. Establishment of new European skills register and trainer qualifications 2. Development of innovative training materials and resources3. Facilitating EU trainer continuing professional development and mobility4. High quality training provision supporting a reduction of EU accidents and fatalities in agricultural and forestry activities with the support of ABA International

The idea for applying for an Erasmus+ grant came up quickly as the opportune way to transfer knowledge and skills between countries when the Agricultural university of Iceland (AUI) and University of Copenhagen (UCPH) had met and talked about setting up climbing courses in Iceland. In the application process they decided to include a school in Slovenia, SGLS Postojna, in the project since they had very competent climbing teachers and they needed assistance in increasing safety in climbing and forestry in their country. The next partner to enter the cooperation was the Administration for occupational safety and health (AOSH) in Iceland. The last partner to come into the project was Naturbruksgymnasiet Osby from Sweden. They had very competent climbing teachers and were in need of study material for their courses. A year into the project time they left the cooperation after some administrative trouble at their school.The main objectives of the project were to create quality, accessible, digital study material for arborists as well as setting up guidelines for courses and distance education options. Safety issues and recommended work methods were tackled in the study material.The AUI was in charge of writing course descriptions and introducing and setting up distance education options for the the test courses completed during the project period. They have vast experience in this field being the only school focusing on agriculture and horticulture in Iceland and students often living far away from school. The UCPH brought to the project over 40 years of experience in teaching forestry and climbing as well as plain chainsaw work. The teachers from UCPH participating in the project have been involeved in teaching in this field all over Europe and the world, including Africa and Australia. SGLS Postojna is one of only two schools in Slovenia that teach forestry and climbing. The two teachers involved in the project are the only two teachers that have been certified on a European level (through the ABA) in Slovenia. Their aim has been to increase safety in forestry and climbing in their country for years and it was going slowly. Therefor we saw this project would be a good opportunity to host a conference on the subject in Slovenia and the teachers would gain study material and insight into how these things are run in the other participating countries. The AOSH in Iceland has not had a good way to focus their energy on the forestry sector in Iceland as well as monitoring those who use chainsaws in their work. Their involvement in this project was a good way to give them good insight into the work of arborist and create checklists and tools that the AOSH can use for inspections in the future. The main activities undertaken in the project were the production of the two outputs, e-book and course descriptions, then the three seminars held during the project time as well as two multiplier events. The e-book and course descriptions results are available for reading and downloading on the projects website. The first seminar held was about distance education held at AUI in Iceland. Teachers and staff from UCPH, SGLS Postojna and Osby came to learn about the experience of teachers and students at AUI as well as learning about different e-learning platforms such as Moodle. The second seminar was held at Osby in Sweden where students and teachers from Iceland, Denmark, Slovenia and Sweden learned the basics for tree climbing. They had previously been learning at home through Moodle to prepare for the seminar. The third and last seminar took place at SGLS Postojna, Slovenia. There the students and teachers from Iceland, Denmark and Slovenia learned more technical work related to climbing with a chainsaw and spurs. At that seminar some of the students got assessed and certified for chainsaw work and climbing within the ABA certification system. The first multiplier event was held in Slovenia, 2018, about climbing and safety, it was a two day event with a climbing competition on the second day. A small multiplier event was then held in Iceland, 2019, about drafts for courses for arborists intended to be setup at AUI for 2020. The conference ended with a climbing exhibition.The responses from attendees at the multiplier events have been very positive and people seem to be very interested in being able to access material like this online. In Iceland people are waiting for courses to be ready for teaching in 2020 and many have expressed interest in learning to become arborists. The event in Slovenia has sparked an interest amongst people to educate themselves better in climbing as well as attending regularly seminars and conferences for continuing education purposes. We see a good impact in Iceland and Slovenia after the completion of this project where safety and climbing has become more talked about. At UCPH the main impact is now having the tools to setup distance education in various forms at their school.

<< Background >>Among the 6 European Commission priorities for 2019-24, the European Green Deal is listed as first. According to the aim, Europe wants to be the first climate-neutral continent by becoming a modern, resource-efficient economy. In order to achieve this, there is an evident need to boost the efficient use of resources and to restore biodiversity and reduce pollution. Agriculture and food systems must be transformed away from wasteful, energy-hungry and exploitative approaches.Towards the European Green Deal objective, Regenerative Agriculture (a generic term covering also Conservation Agriculture and Biodiversity Enriching Agriculture) can offer substantial results for sustainable farming by enhancing biodiversity “above and below the ground surface”, thus contributing to increased water and nutrient use efficiency and to improved and sustained crop production. Regenerative Agriculture (RA) proposes new farming techniques that supersede the current concept of conventional agriculture and proposes sustainable management of the soil with significant environmental and economic benefits, especially suitable for arable crops. RA gives farmers the means to conserve and make more efficient use of natural resources, thus offsetting the destructive forces of agriculture against biodiversity. In the medium term, RA has also been proved to bring economic benefits to the farmer (like increase of yields, reduction of off-site problems, labour and fuel savings, as well as cost-savings in annual crops). According to ECAF (European Conservation Agriculture Federation) the environmental benefits of implementing Regenerative or Conservation Agriculture are substantial, undoubtedly contributing to the mitigation of climate change. These benefits include improvement of soil properties, increase of biodiversity, decrease of erosion or less CO2 emissions. Despite the number of obvious benefits, the adoption of RA is slowly spreading across Europe. Although the extent of RA lands has almost doubled from 2008 to 2018, it still counts only for around 3,5% of the total arable land and permanent cropland (www.ecaf.eu). There is also a considerable difference in the scope of adoption and RA practices between the EU members. While for example in Slovenia, the share of RA compared to the total arable land is almost 11%, in Ireland, Italy and Greece this ratio is around 3% (the EU average), and in Hungary (a country with a traditionally long history of agriculture) this rate is only 0,11%, one of the lowest in Europe. (ECAF, Eurostat 2018). These significant divergences support the high need of exchanging good practices and improving the farmers’ knowledge of and attitudes toward RA. Indeed, one of the main limitations is the lack of knowledge and skills on the topic. The proposed project will contribute to these needs by offering opportunities for knowledge and skills to students of Higher Education (future agronomists and farmers’ advisors) but also to farmers themselves and prospective farmers, who attend secondary vocational education.By aiming to introduce new practices, such as RA, not widespread in the EU, but popular in North and South America (https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2020.577723/full) the project aims to contribute to the urgent need to mitigate climate change through wise farming practices that help to conserve natural resources. Moreover, this project answers to the need for more knowledge and exchange of good practices by involving in the education effort 3 tiers of education, namely Higher, Secondary and adult education, aiming to diffuse the knowledge created in HE to the community more widely, and to the farming community more specifically. Innovative education methods and ICT tools will facilitate this effort and ensure transferability of knowledge and outreach to a broad range of target groups.<< Objectives >>The need to re-direct agriculture towards innovative approaches that would help to mitigate climate change is urgent and pressing. Students in the fields of agronomy, but also agroforestry and rural development, should be suitably equipped to look at such innovative approaches, which are often stemming from traditional methods, suitably revisited and redefined, so that they can lead, as professionals, the effort towards mitigating climate change. At the same time, farmers should be also helped, through non-formal and informal learning, to understand how they can change their farming methods to make them more environmentally sensitive, using natural resources wisely, without losing income. Regenerative agriculture (RA) proposes new farming techniques that supersede the current concept of conventional agriculture and proposes sustainable management of the soil with significant environmental and economic benefits, especially suitable for arable crops, thus offering farmers the means to conserve and make more efficient use of natural resources. The overall aim of this project is to create learning material, in the form of courses that can be taught face-to-face and online to agronomy students (and related fields of study) at university level, to vocational secondary education students of agriculture (and related fields) and to farmers and farmers’ advisors. The project objectives include: •Promote the principles and practices of RA across Europe. •Research and report on the already existing good practices of RA in the project countries and across Europe, identifying problems and attitudes that hinder further development of RA; as well as benefits for the farmers, that need to become more widely known; and create an RA Library of information, which will be constantly updated. •Create and pilot-test in HE a new and flexible methodology and educational content, for delivering RA courses to students of agriculture and related disciplines, with a view to equip future agronomists and related professionals with knowledge and skills to become leaders in RA, helping farmers to adjust their everyday practices accordingly.•Adapt and pilot-test the HE methodology, learning content and tools, so they meet the needs of secondary education students in agriculture and related professions; as well as the needs of non-formal adult learners, especially targeting farmers. •Design an interdisciplinary, digital open learning environment for all 3 tiers of education, hosting the learning resources created by the project, and offering interaction possibilities with local and national stakeholders and farmers’ communities, with the prospect of continuously enriching these resources through the active involvement of users.•Prepare and publish a Guidebook on RA Learning, addressing tertiary and secondary students and educators, trainers, advisors, other stakeholders in the field of agriculture and farmers themselves. •Disseminate widely the project products and results, through the dedicated REGINA platform and through the publicity and communication efforts of all project partners.<< Implementation >>The activities of the project are developed along 6 interconnected steps, which lead to a cohesive set of project products through the collaborative effort of the project partners. The activities are: A. Research and documentation of best practice on Regenerative Agriculture (RA) on the five participating countries and across Europe, so that a Library of information can be crated to support the educational activities of the project and provide a solid basis for designing a Higher Education learning programme that can be in turn diffused more widely to the education community and the community at large, by transferring existing and new expertise and knowledge to be created through the project. To create the additional knowledge that is needed to achieve the objectives of this project, surveys will be conducted amongst RA stakeholders, such as farmers' associations, national and regional authorities, development agencies etc, to provide documentation of the experience of these organisations and their views on the potential of RA. Moreover, a survey of good practice will provide documentation of the private farmers' achievements in the field of RA; and a survey of farmers in the project countries will help to identify their readiness for taking up RA and the problems and benefits they foresee by taking up this type of agriculture. B. Cooperative work amongst the partners to define the best learning methodology and learning tools that can serve the aims of the project, i.e. that can be applied at University level introducing innovative elements, but can also be diffused to the wider community of education and the community of farmers, to spread the benefits to society at large. The project proposal sets framework of requirements that should underlie such methodology and learning tools, so that they can be subsequently adapted to other tiers of education, being flexible and holistic. Moreover, ICT facilities and services will be created and educationally exploited through the project, specifically designed for the requirements of the devised methodology and its transferability to different education tiers, namely secondary education and non-formal adult education of farmers. C. Cooperative work amongst the project partners will examine carefully all the documentation collected through research, which will be complemented by the existing expertise of the partners and associated partners, and guided by the methodology already devised by previous activities, leading to the creation of learning content, initially for university students in the targeted disciplines and specialisations; and subsequently for secondary vocational school students in the field of agriculture and related subjects. D. Devising a set of ICT tools, to be hosted in an online learning platform, will be central to the implementation of the adopted learning methodology and the delivery of the learning content, serving the needs of students at all targeted tiers of education. This involves a series of activities that include technical expertise by ICT staff, expertise in creating eLearning courses addressed to Higher Education, secondary education and Adult learning; and expertise on delivering eLearning, especially to adults (farmers) who are not often ICT competent and need a special approach to bring them into using effectively ICT for learning. E. Piloting activities follow the consolidation of the learning content and learning tools, so that both the learning methodology and content will be refined and shaped in the most suitable way to serve the needs of learners. The piloting will extend to all targeted tiers of education and will concern both face-to-face courses and eLearning.F. Preparation of step-by-step instructions on the use of the REGINA online platform and the learning tools and learning content included in it; and publication of a Guidebook for teachers and learners which will be integrated in the online platform for easier use.<< Results >>The project results (PR) to be achieved by the project are: 1.Building a library of good practice in Regenerative Agriculture (RA) to use in multi-tier learning. This PR aims to create a library of information, including best practice in the participating countries and across Europe, to be integrated in the learning products and the learning process in the 3 targeted tiers of education, i.e. Higher, Secondary and Adult learning.2.Design a learning methodology and tools. This PR aims to design a learning methodology and appropriate innovative learning tools to introduce an interdisciplinary course of study on RA for university students, adaptable for secondary school study and adult learning, addressing major issues of our time focused on global climate change, soil health and enhanced ecosystem services, as well as food and water security.3.Create learning modules for Higher Education students, who attend, e.g. Agricultural engineering, Agricultural sciences, Agronomy, Environmental sciences, environmental engineering, Crop production, grassland management, Animal breeding, Soil science, but also sustainable rural development, regional planning and rural sociology4.Create learning modules for Secondary Vocational Education students, training young prospective farmers in RA and the main theoretical issues underlying such practices, but also in technical and practical issues that they will be called to fend when they start practicing.5.Create learning modules for non-formal Adult Education, by adapting the learning content for the previous two tiers, to shape a non-formal training schedule, suitable for farmers wishing to take up RA or improve their RA practices. For this, a short list of modules will be selected, and will be simplified and shortened, to shape a course that can be delivered both online and face-to-face, lasting no more than 30 hours. 6.Publication of a Guidebook on Regenerative Agriculture Learning, to provide a step-by-step guidance to teachers, advisors and students who wish to benefit from the online REGINA platform and the learning products it includes. 7 multiplier events are also planned, 5 national (one in each participating country) and 2 international, i.e an International conference and an online international webinar. A training of trainer’s seminar is also foreseen for the staff of the participating organisations.Certain intangible results are foreseen:The implementation of REGINA project is expected to contribute to high quality teaching in universities through an interdisciplinary approach, encouraging collaborative and integrative learning on the topic of RA. Also, it is expected to achieve high quality teaching and learning that addresses secondary education and adults. Moreover, a strong benefit is the diffusion of Higher Education knowledge to other tiers of education and the community at large, including the farming community. An additional result is the know-how exchange and collaboration between different stakeholders, such as education institutions, policy makers, local development agencies and social partners, representing the civil society in each country and in Europe more widely in the field of agriculture and farming. Such collaboration is of vital importance for bridging the gap of knowledge and bringing innovation to the primary sector, thus helping the spread of RA practices and their contribution to the mitigation of climate change. Moreover, by taking part in the project, teachers and researchers will improve their networking and knowledge-transfer opportunities, and they will increase the possibilities to see their education products applied more widely. On the other hand, farmers will gain knowledge on new -to them- sustainable methods and solutions for crop and land management issues, through direct contacts with the research and education sector.

<< Objectives >>Through the implementation of forest pedagogy programs, we want to improve academic achievements and the health and well-being of immigrant children and children with learning and behavioral challenges. Partner schools will include those programs in their curricula and train teachers to implement forest pedagogy programs adapted to children. By publishing these programs through Erasmus+ platforms, we will encourage the introduction of forest pedagogy programs in other EU countries as well.<< Implementation >>Based on the review of the situation with the partners, forest pedagogy programs will be designed, intended for working with children who face immigration/migrant challenges and learning and behavioral challenges. The programs will be implemented on a trial basis and included in school curricula. Teachers will participate in additional training on the topic of forest pedagogy. We will create a forest pedagogy manual with worksheets in 3 languages and spread it through Erasmus+ platforms.<< Results >>5 designed and piloted forest pedagogy programs with digital and green content adapted to vulnerable target groups of children; a teacher training program to implement these programs; 10 additional qualified teachers, 4 equipped classrooms in nature, 2 mobility programs, online manual with worksheets in 3 languages, include programs in curricula, international final event, publication of results on Erasmus+ platforms, 10 publications in the media.

<< Objectives >>The main goal of the project is to attract young people to libraries, because there is a large dropout of young users in both school and city libraries. With the project, we want to innovatively upgrade library activity and bring it closer to young people through various activities. Therefore, the goal of the project is to encourage creative writing and to produce an innovative creative program that also includes digitization and international cooperation and preservation of the mother language.<< Implementation >>With the project, we want to innovatively upgrade library activity and bring it closer to young people through:- new innovative programs of creative writing, art, literary workshops, reading club, gamification in the library, - the use of digitization in the presentation and use of books (book trailers),- appropriate equipment of a space close to young people (reading corner),- international networking for encouraging young people- involving immigrants in library activities<< Results >>The result of the project will be a publication on the implemented content in the form of recommendations for other libraries. Activities and content that will be tested during the project and will be recognized as good will be included in the annual work plan of the libraries and will be implemented even after the end of the project.An increase in visits to libraries by young people is also expected, who will stay in libraries for longer and borrow more materials.