SUPER’s successes in providing learning opportunities for adult professionals have been astounding. You can hear all about it from some of SUPER’s past participants:
- SUPER in Ballymun, Ireland
- SUPER in Graiguenamanagh, Ireland
- SUPER in Assen, Netherlands
- SUPER in London, England
- SUPER in Winterswijk-Kotten, Netherlands
What is The SUPER Project?
The Skills Upshot Pro-Environment Education and Responsibility (SUPER) project is an endeavour to improve adult education by developing available learning opportunities in the areas of sustainability and environmentalism. Led by InEuropa, GAP International’s Italian member organisation, it is funded through the European Erasmus + Programme (under the KA1 call).
SUPER has been a fantastic opportunity for InEuropa to get to know GAP International members in depth, learn more about their activities and create strong relationships among staff from both organisations. The mobilities that were established have helped renew InEuropa’s commitment to further develop the dimension of environmental education, education in sustainable development and environmental behaviour programmes, and to innovate methods of contributing new ideas and approaches to the network.
What is Erasmus KA1?
The SUPER project was funded within the Erasmus + Programme under the KA1 Adult Education call. This call entails all forms of non-vocational adult education, whether they be of a formal, non-formal or informal nature.
Projects under KA1 include:
- Teaching and training assignments: staff deliver education or training in a partner organisation abroad;
- Structured courses or training events: staff participate in structured courses or training events abroad to support the professional development of adult education staff;
- Job shadowing: staff undertake a job shadowing experience in an adult education organisation abroad.
Objectives and Host Organisations
The objectives of the KA1 Mobility proposal were directly related to InEuropa’s interest in creating and widening European environmental education opportunities within the company, in particular:
- Improving teaching competencies with new training methods, tools and approaches;
- Improving environmental sector skills by deepening environmental know-how to innovate sustainable educational processes and contents.
All 7 staff members of InEuropa who are experts in EU project design and management and facilitators for environmental education and behavioural change were involved in structured courses and/or job shadowing according to their specific expertise.
The SUPER project has allowed InEuropa to capitalise and further build upon its ties with the GAP International network. Among the past host organisations, InEuropa has chosen several other GAP International member organisations before, including GAP UK, GAP Ireland, Cork Environmental Forum and Aarde-Werk de Stegge. (Aarde-Werk de Stegge is a farm located in Winterswijk-Kotten, Netherlands that was directed to InEuropa by GAP Netherlands as a success story in the field of soil management and restoration.)
InEuropa’s partnerships have suited the organisation well in strengthening its environmental education dimension through means like:
- Acquiring more technical and scientific skills and new concepts in regards to air and soil;
- Implementing InEuropa’s sustainable development programmes and sector-training practices;
- Learning how to activate community engagement;
- Acquiring competencies in social media campaiging and principles of environmental behaviour change theories.
Learning Outcomes
As the SUPER project has continued and grown, InEuropa has been able to successfully achieve the expected learning outcomes outlined below.
Competencies:
- Innovation capacities, i.e. the ability to adapt effective practice examples of environmental programmes to InEuropa’s adult target audience and other cultural audiences;
- Facilitation skills, in particular the involvement of mediators, the creation of direct links with target groups and the activation of community engagement through media campaigns and invitations to take action;
- New training techniques such as storytelling, practical activities, outdoor activities, mind-mapping and the use of technology in teaching and learning;
- Skills in measuring the environmental footprint;
- Language and social marketing skills;
- Teamwork and collaboration;
- Influence on policy through targeted communication, i.e. sharing evidence on the wider social and economic benefits of pro-environment action.
Knowledge:
- Awareness of the potential links between the UN Sustainable Development Goals and environmental programmes;
- Experimental knowledge of the consequences of climate change and technical practices for soil protection;
- Understanding and implementation of motivation and empowerment theories;
- Best practices of social enterprises in developing sustainable tourism, cultural opportunities and environmental education for disadvantaged groups;
- Environmental policies in the EU;
- Best practices of self-organised sustainable local communities in the EU.
Want to learn more about the SUPER project? You can find stories, photos and more from InEuropa here.
