The International Teachers’ seminar organised by Südwind, the EAThink Austrian partner, brought together primary and secondary school teachers from 12 European and 2 African countries in Vienna, Austria. The goal of the seminar were for participating EAThink teachers to exchange good practices and education strategies; discuss and clarify follow-up activities after the completion of the project in December 2017; and advocate for Global Learning in a roundtable debating on the necessity of Global Learning in formal education systems.

A delegation of 3 Cypriot teachers, Ms Maria Christodoulou (Home Economics teacher) from the Lower Secondary School of Agios Athanasios, Mr Neophytos Neophytides from the Primary School of Limassol 6^th and Ms Simoni Partakidou from the Primary School of Likavittos, travelled to Vienna and shared with their peers fruitful experiences from their involvement in the project. At the beginning, the key note speaker, Dr Melanie Pichler from Alpen Adria University, delivered a presentation about food in a globalized world, emphasizing –among others– on controversial issues such as the land grabbing and concentration and flex crops. Teachers also had the opportunity to attend workshops offered by various partners to role play, discuss and deepen on topics of their own interest: alternative food systems for sustainable agriculture, the transnational cooperation strategy of Nutella, climate change, migration and food security were only some of the workshops offered by the EAThink partners.

During the 2nd day, teachers were divided in small groups and visited projects and initiatives dealing with alternative approaches of food consumption and production. The Cypriot delegation visited the Adventure and Children´s garden (City Farm Schönbrunn), an urban adventure garden children, adolescents and adults, and got an impression of their innovative work: this Farm offers a wide range of programs and events from practical gardening workshops through guided gardening grounds to the tasting of vegetables rarities. At the seminar’s final session, teachers had the opportunity for further exchanging, networking and developing in an open space as part of which they arranged working groups autonomously.

Teachers highlighted the importance of this structured opportunity for discussion and sharing with their colleagues in other countries, since these events are very helpful for them and they can replicate good practice in their classes. Thus, after this experience, teachers can transfer their acquired knowledge to their colleagues back home and use the acquired skills and material in their own educational settings.

An article by CARDET

An article by CARDET