- GIVE project supports VET providers in taking part in both green and digital transitions
- DESTINE project was present at the event as a way to keep updated to the latest news in VET education
Yesterday, Tuesday September 17, the GIVE Final Multiplier Event was taken place at Europen Vocational Training Association (EVTA) offices in Brussels, in order to disseminate and expand the reach of project results to stakeholders. The event marked the completion of two years of successful partner cooperation and implementation of the GIVE project, which supports VET providers in taking part in both green and digital transitions with awareness of their role. DESTINE project was present at the event as some one of our partners (Finnova Foundation) attended to the event, as a way to keep updated to the latest news in VET education.
The introductory speech was given by Tatjana Babrauskiené, member of the European Economic and Social Committee, which highlighted the importance of this initiatives that support VET and education. “The last crises has shown us that education is always one of the most affected sectors when cutting back resources”, concluded Babrauskiené. Another fact that Babrauskiené highlighted about the event was the confluence that this project was carrying out between digital and green skills, as digital transition will be “a value that every sector to get into”.
Afterwards, the floor was given to Susanne Nielsen, European Training Foundation’s (ETF) leader at GRETA (Greening Responses to Excellence Through Thematic Actions). Nielsen explained ETF’s main tasks, focused on helping EU neighbouring countries to reform their education and training systems, contributing to social and economic development and long-term stability in neighbouring countries. Also, Nielsen gave some hints about GRETA (Greening Responses to Excellence through Thematic Actions), that address the challenges linked to imparting green skills as a response to the twin challenges of green and digital transformations, achieved through the incorporation of ecological principles into VET.
The following part of the event consisted in a panel discussion about the importance of promoting greener digital habits in schools, companies, and institutions and the ways to do so. Giovanni Manisi (ENAIP FVG) agreed on the fact of the new paradigm that the COVID-19 pandemic brought. “After COVID, we worked on sustainability and digitalization and in ways to reach a greener digitalization”.
Next panellist was Léa Ichikawa, project manager in The Digital Collective, that introduced the Digital Competence Development System (DCDS) Methodology. This was part of an Erasmus + project pilot tested in 5 countries, in which the learning outcomes consisted on the identification of places to deposit obsolete and/or worn out ICT elements and measures to save energy and environmental resources).
Mathieu Rama, programme manager at ECOS, took the floor to talk about the work of this international NGO with a network of members and experts that advocate for environmentally friendly technical standars, policies and laws. In this case, Maza insisted in the need of using sustainable electronic products and batteries, as it is the fastest growing waste stream in the world and it triggers conflicts, human rights abuses, chemical pollution and environmental degradation.
The event concluded with the presentation of GIVE project’s context, results and challenges, introduced by the partners. Melisa Özdilek, project manager at My Green Training Box, presented the platform launched by the consortium, a digital training course to introduce sustainable IT to VET providers.
David Ekchajzer, co founder of Hubblo, pointed out the main conclusions of the project, focused on the carbon footprint. In this case, the project concludes that when referring to VET education, that travelling to attend a course has higher impact than domestic-energy related to the corse, even though this increases domestic-energy consumption. Other main conclusions were the impact of the lifespan of the equipment and the value of reducing the energy consumption of educational buildings.
Diogo Morais, researcher and professor at Universidade Lusófona, highlighted some of the recommendations that GIVE carried out, such as avoiding duplication, extending lifespan, promoting low carbon modes of transportation and controlling the energy use.
DESTINE project attended to this event in order to get updated to the last tendencies in the VET atmosphere. DESTINE celebrates the advances being made in VET Learnings and supports stakeholders who continue to research and carry out projects that support virtual education.
About ERASMUS +
Erasmus+ 2021-2027 is the European Union’s renewed programme in the fields of education and training, youth and sport, offering opportunities for all people and in all education sectors (School Education, Professional Training, Higher Education and Adult Education). This new Erasmus+ is more international, more inclusive, more digital and greener, supporting digital transformation, inclusion and diversity, as well as the environment and the fight against climate change. With a budget of more than €28 billion, it will fund learning-related mobility and cross-border cooperation projects for 10 million people of all ages and from all backgrounds. “This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.”
About DESTINE
The Erasmus + DESTINE (DivErSity and Tolerance IN E-Environment) project was born with the aim of promoting online professional training that ensures support for diversity, inclusion and tolerance, providing the necessary tools for all professionals and students to adapt to the e-learning methodology. DESTINE focuses especially on those vocational training students who need a learning environment adapted to their needs.