Blended Sustainability Training for Livestock and Animal Food Production

We applied for the project to address the crucial, complex, and mutually threatening relationship between the livestock sector and climate change. Existing agricultural vocational education (VET) curricula were deficient, lacking comprehensive content on climate change mitigation, adaptation, and sustainable animal production. A needs analysis confirmed that sustainable livestock was not a separate course but only a module within existing lessons, and that students and teachers lacked sufficient knowledge about the EU's Farm-to-Fork strategy and the livestock sector’s emission reduction targets. The project addressed the need to train a qualified workforce capable of implementing enterprise-based solutions for sustainability and filling the skill mismatch in the labour market.

The primary objectives were to: -Contribute to EU targets on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving food safety, and supporting the Farm-to-Fork strategy. -Increase the knowledge and skill levels of VET students, technicians, and farmers by developing educational materials focused on sustainable livestock and food production. -Prepare VET students better for the job market in agricultural vocational high schools. -Ensure the adaptation of enterprises to new conditions by providing a sustainability specialist workforce. -Bring innovation to VET by creating the first online platform, curriculum, and mobile application focused on sustainable animal husbandry in the partner regions.

The key activities implemented in the work packages included: -Creating educational content for an online learning management system (LMS). This content covered environmental impacts, sustainable animal husbandry, sustainable animal-based food production, and new technologies in agriculture. -Developing and piloting a new agricultural high school elective curriculum in sustainable animal husbandry. -Organizing an LTTA on automation systems and sustainable livestock in Slovakia. -Providing practical training and on-the-job observation activities in cooperation with agri-businesses in Croatia, Romania, and Turkey. -Organizing an international student-teacher joint workshop (LTTA) in Turkey focusing on practical business-school cooperation. -Developing an online case pool of application to integrate practical training with distance learning. -Developing a digital flash cards application to include game-based learning on the topic of sustainable animal husbandry. -TPMs to strengthen collaboration between partners -eTwinning project to spread the project impact to non-partner schools, students and teachers.

- An e-learning platform (PR1) was created to provide accessible online education on sustainable animal husbandry. - An elective curriculum for agricultural high schools (PR2) was created to integrate sustainability topics into vocational education. - A sustainable livestock case pool (PR3) was created to provide real-life examples and best practices for teachers and students. - A digital flash cards mobile application (PR4) was designed to support interactive and flexible learning. In addition to these products, a permanent education network was established between vocational high schools and universities to encourage ongoing cooperation, support new studies, and improve the quality of vocational education in agriculture.