Craft Skills for Garden Conservation

<< Background >>Our experiences from previous projects had proved to us that transnational collaboration is valuable. “Differences are a good base for innovation” is a saying we have based some of our EU-funded projects on. In this project, we wanted to join forces with like-minded and ambitious actors in Europe who are keen to make a difference within the field of Vocational Education and Training. The focus of this project was on horticulture and cultural heritage, and how to best support lifelong learning by creating flexible learning pathways for vocational skills within garden conservation. With green spaces playing a major role in our health and well-being during the covid crisis, it is ever more important that we have the skills to protect them from climate change, as well as the knowledge of sustainable techniques to reduce carbon emissions whilst doing so. Heritage gardens encapsulate a significant amount of the natural and cultural capital that sustains humans during a time of crisis: tranquillity, beauty, productivity and biodiversity. Safeguarding these values require specialised knowledge and skills. << Objectives >>Through the CSGC project we aimed to address this problem by identifying best practice in the various fields of Garden Conservation and sharing it through various bodies of Vocational Education and Training as well as professional horticultural associations. Whilst some countries have retained expertise in certain specialisms, others have not and were searching for guidance, whilst yet more have been researching the increasing relevance of historic techniques to our current challenges. This is important knowledge and skills that requires broad dissemination if we are to build and retain the necessary expertise in Europe. << Implementation >>In this project we set out to test and utilise mixed reality and virtual learning to allow a wide range of participants to engage and share the experiences. An all-day winter webinar introduced each topic, followed by a range of videos to explore the practical skills required. The ambitions of creating specialised mixed reality content were set a side because it would require some special equipment and competence to the target group. A smaller number of participants travelled to selected craft skills centre to attend practical workshops during the green season from May to September often using sustainable transport options, to practice key skills and exchange knowledge. This experience was then shared back with colleagues and fellow students. The CSGC website, accessible from https://gardenconservation.eu/ was set up during the first months of the project and will remain the central hub for sharing best practise and learning in the community also beyond the project period.<< Results >>Each of the 9 topics are presented and available through dedicated video resources generated from the webinars and workshops. Through these audiovisual materials, learners and educators have access to in-depth learning materials that feature relevant expertise in various fields. These best practise videos have proven to be useful in the Vocational Education and Training-field (VET) already through testing by the teachers involved and positive feedback from the community. The videos have attracted a fair amount of attention, with over 34,000 views on YouTube. The virtual tours gives other perspectives and create attention in another way. The Summary video, tell the story about the project, the experiences and the project results. Unique learning outcomes (LO), based on the European Qualification Framework (EQF), have been developed for each of the 9 topics to ensure the curricula remains readily available and can be shared, thus enabling lifelong - and flexible learning. The LO’s are relevant for course-development and an important base for the ambition for developing an international education in the future.