EkoSkola Malta

ERASMUS+ project ESD Train the Trainer towards the Green Deal

27 educators working in various colleges and networks in Malta were involved in three different training mobilities focussing on Education for Sustainable Development and the EU Green Deal in Athens, Greece with an opportunity to meet and collaborate with other educators from Greece, Cyprus, Spain and Italy. This ERASMUS+ project cofunded by the European Union was coordinated by the EkoSkola team at Nature Trust – FEE Malta.

The first mobility was aimed at giving educators more confidence in using technology and adapting its use to promote ESD topics.  It mainly consisted of learning to produce animations,  that, is short videos, to drive a message across.  They had the opportunity to interact with other educators and university students from different countries and different ages, discuss different approaches and perspectives and also through hands on workshops produce such animations.  Participants were then asked to share their experience with other educators to widen the exposure experience.   Those more adventurous later went a step further and guided their students to do the same. Animations focussed on sustainable mobility, being Eco-Warriors, local farming – farm animals and fruits and vegetables grown, the great Pacific garbage patch, reusing and upcycling, saving marine life, etc.

The second mobility was a Train-the-trainer course on Marine Litter Education.  Participants in the mobility had various opportunities to learn about marine litter and single use plastics, meet various other educators from different countries, students, share experiences and resources and create new ones. They also had the opportunity to learn about the related EU law on marine litter, design a beach monitoring and cleanup event, use the resource educational pack “Know, feel, Act! to Stop marine Litter”, design related games, do interviews with locals including fishermen, taverna owners, port facilities and local authorities, visit a plastic recycling factory BLUECYCLE, HELMEPA, the Centre of Environmental Education of Lavrio, SHEDIA HOME, make crafts using tubes and tires by CONVERT ART, do role play about making Behavioural Changes in plastic consumption, visit a school, do a beach cleanup and collect related data, watch an underwater cleanup demo.  They also met up with MEDASSET to learn about marine litter threats for animals especially turtles.  Well a very packed mobility,  which also resulted into outreach to over a hundred other educators in Malta and the creation of an educational resource pack full of related lesson plan and activities: https://online.publuu.com/565180/1275791

The third and final mobility was focused on Education for Alternative Water Resources. The educators participating in this mobility learned about the Alter aqua educational resources, non conventional water resources, various other water related materials and programmes of MIO-ECSDE, followed a water tour in Athens exploring Museums, Sites & Monuments, visited the Marathon Dam and its water museum and a water supply and sewerage company, learning about different water and wastewater treatment systems, did a guided study visit of Erasinos River – a NATURA2000 site experiencing ways to do educational sessions for different ages and abilities around wetlands, marshes, meadows and linking to biodiversity.  All this was done linking to various curriculum and extracurricular themes in the company of other educators from Greece, Cyprus and Spain. This mobility also resulted in the production of an educational resource pack including various creative lesson plans and activities which provide students, young people and the community in general with lots of insights and other learning opportunities about the importance of water, our dependence on it and how to use it wisely and sustainably: https://online.publuu.com/565180/1275798

Those interested in obtaining a copy of the lesson plans and/or animations are kindly asked to send an email to [email protected]