Programme: Erasmus+
Action Type: Strategic Partnerships for vocational education and training
Project Reference: 2017-1-FR01-KA202-037444

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The forest sector offers a variated number of jobs opportunities within wood harvesting: loggers, forest machines operators, tree surgeons, entrepreneurs of SME who employ forestry workers and so on. All over Europe, different training possibilities exist for all these professions through VET and Lifelong Learning.

All these trainings need and employ Forestry Trainers who teach and train young and adult learners (i.e. students and apprentices) to become forest workers and to put in practice knowledges, and most of all practical techniques of wood harvesting, according to different specialisation.

Forestry training is essential for every worker who intervene in the forest for wood harvesting activities, not only because of the knowledges and because of the techniques that need to be mastered and implemented by learners (i.e. future forestry workers) according to the rules of Sustainable Forest Management (SFM), but also because of the safety rules and requirements that every forestry worker has to respect and apply when he is working in the forest.

Forestry harvesting operation are extremely dangerous. Heavy and sharp machines (e.g. chainsaws, strimmers, tractors) are forestry operators’ daily working tools. Today, thanks to the advancements in safety equipment, we may have reduced the number of small workplace injuries, but the number of deadly accidents in the workplace remains elevated in many European countries. This is why proper forestry and safety training is fundamental for every forestry worker, and forestry trainers play a key role within this process.

Thanks to previous exchanges, the partnership of Forestry EduTrainer has realised that technical forestry trainers have very different backgrounds and qualifications among European countries. Thus, the Centre Forestier held a survey among different forestry organisations. All the surveyed organisations reported that a specific training for forestry trainer is lacking in their countries (Austria, Belgium, Finland, Germany, France, Italy and Spain). In some countries, some general trainings exist at higher education level as a complement to specific forestry trainings. Otherwise, palliative solutions are implemented: e.g. Italian forestry trainers are trained in Switzerland.

As showed by this analysis, most of the forestry trainers employed by VET centres are highly experimented forestry technicians and professionals, but they are not systematically qualified to acquire teaching and pedagogical competences to apply to forestry training. They have become forestry trainers either because other experienced forestry trainers assisted them, or because they achieved a complementary qualification to acquire teaching and pedagogical skills.

Hence, a specific training for forestry trainers is lacking in all the surveyed countries, and in most of European countries. In consequence of the key role that trainers have in forestry training, especially within safety requirements, a special training standard for forestry trainers has to be developed.

This training course will gather together the best and the most innovative training practices already applied in Europe or to be applied in the forestry training sector. The training course for forestry trainers, which will lead to the ECFT, will be issued through a distance-learning platform. The training course will be designed using a minimum number of conditions and EU- forestry training standards (core curriculum), with special features according to national specificities and 3 different forestry subjects: manual logging, mechanised logging and skidding. The course will not focus on the basic and technical knowledges / capacities about forestry works. Our objective is not to train a person to become a forestry worker. The course will rather focus on training/pedagogical methods and tools to apply by trainers in the forestry-training sector.

The European certificate of Forestry Trainer and the annexed tools developed to issue it (especially the Distance Learning Platform) will allow:
- Beginner forestry trainers, recently employed by a forestry training centre, and also forestry trainers who started as forestry workers and became trainers, to benefit from a specific training, designed from European common standards, to acquire, improve and perfect the necessary teaching and pedagogical skills to properly train forestry workers.
- Individual candidates who wish to become forestry trainers, to benefit from a specific training to become forestry trainers and to work in all those forestry centres that recognise the ECFT.
- Forestry VET centres and other organisations that employ forestry trainers to dispose from a new training course to improve the teaching and training skills of their trainers.

4th international meeting - Spain - November 2018
The meeting was held at CTFC (Solsona, Catalunya).

3rd international meeting - Finland - September 2018
The project team held its 3rd meeting at GRADIA in Jÿvaskÿla and in Jamsä (Finland). Using the competences standard of a forestry trainer, the partners have been working on the training standard. Innovation was everywhere!

2nd international meeting - Germany - February 2018
The project team held its 2nd meeting at KWF. The European Certificate of Forestry Trainers is on track. The list of competences of a forestry trainer is impressive!

1st international meeting - France - November 2017
The project was officialy launched during an international workshop with all stakeholders held in La Bastide des Jourdans.

Foresry EduTrainer in the Italians media
Tecniko&Pratiko N.131 OTTOBRE-NOVEMBRE 2017...

#ForestryEduTrainer

Forestry EduTrainer

CENTRE FORESTIER de la région Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (Promotor)

Contact : Christian SALVIGNOL salvignol@centre-forestier.org Tel. +33.490.77.88.00 Pié de Gâche F84240 LA BASTIDE DES JOURDANS www.centre-forestier.org

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Evelina CASTELLANA Project manager castellana@centre-forestier.org Tel. +33.490.77.80.01

Centre Tecnològic Forestal de Catalunya (CTFC)

Contact: Rosa RICART rosa.ricart@ctfc.es Tel +34.973.481.752 Ctra de St Llorenç de Morunys 25280 SOLSONA (SPAIN) www.ctfc.cat

Kuratorium für Waldarbeit und Forsttechnik (KWF)

Contact: Joachim MORAT Joachim.Morat@kwf-online.de Tel +49.6078.78551 Spremberger Str. 1 64823 Groß-Umstadt (GERMANY)     http://www.kwf-online.de

Dr. Andrea TEUTENBERG andrea.teutenberg@kwf-online.de Tel +49.6078.78576 Spremberger Str. 1 64823 Groß-Umstadt (GERMANY) http://www.kwf-online.de

NATUURINVEST - INVERDE

Contact: Petra DETIENNE Training coordinator petra.detienne@vlaanderen.be Havenlaan 88, bus 75 1000 BRUSSEL (BELGIUM) http://www.inverde.be

Valentijn DE COCK Trainer / Assessor valentijn.decock@vlaanderen.be Havenlaan 88, bus 75 1000 BRUSSEL (BELGIUM)

JYVÄSKYLÄN KOULUTUSKUNTAYHTYMÄ

Contact: Kari KYTOMAKI kari.kytomaki@jao.fi Viitaniementie 1 40101 Jyväskylä Keski-Suomi (FINLAND) www.jao.fi

Minna KAUKONEN Project manager minna.kaukonen@jao.fi

SCUOLA AGRARIA DEL PARCO DI MONZA

Contact: Pio ROSSI Coordinator of forestry training courses p.rossi@monzaflora.it Viale Cavriga 320900 MONZA Lombardia (ITALIA) www.monzaflora.it

FORST BRANDENBURG

Contact: Christian Gohl Tel.033929/508042 Mobil: 0172/1508864 Christian.Gohl@lfb.brandenburg.de SB Arbeitslehrer Waldarbeitsschule Kunsterspring Kunsterspring 3 - 16818 Gühlen Glienicke www.forst.brandenburg.de