<< Background >>The Centre Forestier and the project partners applied for this project due to the identified need to improve the competences of their VET trainers and to implement in their training new pedagogics producing higher results and higher satisfaction among the trainers as among the trainees.The project is the continuation of the BLEFT project ( Erasmus+ KA2 2018-2021) during which the concept of learner-centric approaches and gamification were learnt by the partners and applied to blended-learning. The project consists in applying those approaches to face-to-face trainings in order to achieve the need identified above.Through the learner-centric approaches, the partners intend to tackle the following difficulties identified during face-to-face VET trainings : -Lack of motivation-Establishment of a participative learning environment-Establishment of a true trainer-trainee connection-Adaptation of the trainings to trainees with different learning styles-Adaptation of the trainings to trainees with learning and concentration difficulties ( DYS, TDAH notably)-Talking efficiently to trainees about safety-Conducting a training course by videoconference-Introducing digital tools in face-to-face trainingsFinally, an ultimate need is tackled through this project : the need to put forward and raise awareness on sustainable and climate-friendly forestry among the population, here more specifically among VET trainees as a part of the population generally not targeted by communication on sustainable forestry.<< Objectives >>By implementing the 2ForT project, the projects partners aim at the following :-Improving forestry trainings in Europe through the use of learner-centric approaches tested and approved for a VET target group-Improving all VET trainings in Europe as the learner-centric methods and tools experienced and promoted through the project are transferable to all VET trainees-A raise of awareness of a new part of the European population on sustainable and climate-friendly forestry and forestry workAt mid-term, the project should produce the following main impacts : 1)Higher quality of forestry professionals, who are more passionate by their job, more efficient and work more safely, thanks to higher quality trainings who really got to them. Resulting in a better adaptation to the forestry sector needs, less accidents and higher recognition of forestry workers due to a high respect of forestry sustainable management and ability to explain what it is.2)Higher quality of professionals coming from VET education, thus satisfying the needs of the professions3)Higher understanding of forestry and forestry work in Europe<< Implementation >>In order to achieve these objectives and desired impacts, the projects partners will produce 4 output results : -A list of methods and tools for implementing learner-centric approaches to VET trainings, experimented and approved-Practical guidelines videos on how to implement those approaches to a face-to-face training session-An online training course for VET trainers on learner-centric approaches, taking support from the list and videos created before hand-A training session curriculum on sustainable and climate friendly forestry and forestry work, designed for VET trainees from divers sectors using the methods and tools worked on during the project, and created in a way to make it possible for any trainer to deliver the sessionThe creation of these output results will be supported by the organisation of 5 transnational meetings and 2 learning activities of 5 days dedicated to the trainers from the participating organisations, during which they will contribute to create the output results while training and learning from each other.The dissemination of the outputs will be done through continuous communication activities as well as through the organisation of 2 multiplier events by partner, one focused on the online training course and the other on the training session curriculum on sustainable and climate-friendly forestry and forestry work.<< Results >>The project partners are expecting the following results and outcomes : -An online training course for VET trainers used and generalised among all VET training organisations-A training session curriculum on forest and forestry regularly used in VET training organisations and pushed forward by local, regional and national authorities due to the importance to educate the population on forestry as conducted in Europe-The strengthening of the forestry trainers’ community created through many projects led together at European level.-The development at mid-term of a VET trainers’ community dedicated to sharing experience, information and improving training skills, that could also lead to the development of new projects

<< Background >>The European forestry sector is an essential element of the socio-economic dynamics of many rural and isolated areas. Forests, an economic resource but also a symbolic and heritage resource, are at the heart of a fragile balance in European regions. It enables certain territories to maintain activities that are essential to their survival, in particular by offering employment opportunities that help to anchor populations and maintain the life of these territories. At the same time, the environmental requirements of sustainable forest management have become criteria of excellence for the management of forest resources. Forestry professions must be integrated into the fight against climate change and foresters are in the front line to face today's environmental challenges. By training the foresters of tomorrow, forestry training stakeholders play a key role in forest management. By disseminating knowledge and values, vocational forestry training is able to have a direct impact on those in the forest who will be involved in the changes to come. Today, the forestry sector actors note that the European forestry training centres are not perfectly adapted to the needs of the realities of the economic and social dynamics as well as the requirements linked to the environmental challenges of the European forestry sector. Forestry professionals have difficulties in recruiting a workforce that is too small and insufficiently qualified, particularly in the fields of safety and sustainable forest management. The academic authorities that finance training need to optimise their efforts to concentrate on training that is best suited to contribute to socio-economic dynamics in the context of sustainable development. Learners, future forestry professionals, need to improve their skills in order to respond to the realities of the professions. Forestry vocational training centres need to increase the number of candidates for their training courses and to better disseminate the skills and know-how that are at the heart of their professions. Supported by forestry vocational training centres and by centres specialising in certification, our project proposes to act directly on forestry vocational training centres. As a tool for disseminating know-how, values and ideas, these centres, which are currently deficient, have a lot of room for improvement. We wish to give them the means to effectively implement the necessary means to train real actors in the territorial dynamics of forestry and the fight against climate change.<< Objectives >>We want to support forestry training centres in the implementation of their training plans. Our objective is not only to improve the quality of forestry training but also to provide guarantees of the level of excellence of forestry training centres. While the academic authorities are responsible for the educational content, the training centres are responsible for its implementation. It is precisely this capacity to implement training plans that we wish to act upon. In order to achieve this general objective of guaranteeing and increasing competence, we will achieve a specific objective. This is to provide ourselves with a capacity to evaluate training centres in their implementation of training plans. To do this, we will define the criteria of Good Practice necessary for both this evaluation and for improving the quality of our professional training. More precisely, it is a question of building a tool that will make it possible to improve the implementation of training plans by acting on the practices of training centres. Our aim is to work on six major essential dimensions of the work of training centres. These dimensions are areas in which training centres are generally recognised as deficient and in which they have significant room for improvement: the environmental, pedagogical, material, safety, networking and promotion dimensions. Our aim is to harmonise training practices on the basis of criteria of excellence. In order to make the most of the potential for improvement in each forestry training centre, we will create a tool that can be adapted and disseminated on a European scale. This tool, which will define the standards of good practice in forestry training, will have to respect the numerous specificities of the different forestry territories while allowing the dissemination of common and harmonious Good Practices. In the long term, with the help of these tools, we will be able to accompany the evolution of European training centres towards the implementation of excellent training practices.<< Implementation >>The CFPPA A-C and its partners are all forestry training centres or certification bodies specialising in the forestry sector. Our activities are articulated in a bottom-up approach that integrates the actors in the field in a co-construction process. We will include the different actors in the sector and first and foremost the forestry trainers themselves. This approach is a guarantee of the relevance of the criteria selected. It will also guarantee the acceptability of the tools developed during the project by those who will eventually have to implement them. Furthermore, forestry training centres are part of very specific local contexts in which the integration of a harmonisation approach may prove counterproductive. Thinking about the implementation of our project in terms of articulating both the local and the European levels is crucial to preserve the relevance of our project. In a very concrete way, the identification of Good Forestry Training Practices is a work that has already been the subject of previous international cooperation projects. These projects have worked on specific themes and have produced innovative results. We would like to re-use these results. We would like to be able to analyse them, pool them and give them coherence. Our work will not only propose a synthesis of this work, but will also propose to reuse these results and to disseminate them by integrating them into a single tool that we will make operational. To do this, we will produce five concrete tools. Firstly, we will take stock of Good Practices. This involves drawing up a general overview of the innovations to be integrated, creating sheets for each innovation and then analysing the way in which the training centres have integrated them. Based on this work, we will develop a quality standard that will reference the Good Practices. We will also lay the organisational foundations for the implementation of a future certification system. Such a certification system will make it possible to provide guarantees in terms of excellence for training centres that are committed to improvement. Finally, the creation of an operational tool that will take the form of an evaluation grid and a recommendation guide will give concrete expression to this work. This tool will make it possible to meet the evaluation needs of forestry training centres. Nine Multiplier Events will support this production throughout the project. The Multipliers Events will allow the working groups to meet experts and benefit from their feedback on specific themes throughout the project. The second objective of these Multipliers Events is to strengthen a network capable of supporting the dissemination of our tools. Throughout the project, they will allow the dissemination of ideas while guaranteeing feedback. A tenth Multiplier Event will bring our project to a close. This international event, built as a large-scale communication operation with specialist audiences, will reinforce the dissemination of the results on a large scale. It will give concrete expression to our project by presenting the operational tools and contributing to their dissemination. It is during this event that a basis will be proposed for the creation of a certifying entity capable of using our tools for their use in European training centres. Such an entity will have, thanks to our tools, a capacity not only to evaluate the capacities of forestry training centres to implement training plans, but also a capacity to propose solutions for the implementation of Good Training Practices in training centres. Finally, such an entity will ensure the excellence of the training centres.<< Results >>Our ambition is to produce several Intellectual Outputs that will together form a reference framework. This reference framework is an operational tool that will allow the evaluation of training centres and will serve as a guide in a possible improvement process of the implementation of training. As a first step, after an inventory of existing initiatives, a report will be drawn up listing the Good Practices for forestry and arboriculture vocational training. This will allow the elaboration of information sheets on each of the identified practices. They will detail the innovations and the possibilities of their implementation in forestry training. In a second phase, the identification and selection of Good Practices will lead to the drafting of a document describing a reference system of Good Practices. Finally, an evaluation grid and a recommendation guide for training centres will be produced. This will serve as a basis for the implementation of the certification system at the end of the project. The implementation of these tools and their dissemination to forestry training centres will therefore directly address our main objectives. Our tools will have a direct impact on the implementation of training programmes. Therefore, we expect a progressive improvement in the quality of forestry training as our tools are disseminated. In the end, it is the learners who will be better trained. Our graduates will enter the labour market with skills that are better adapted to the expectations of employers, but more broadly to the environmental requirements of our time. In concrete terms, this progression towards excellence will allow a better visibility of the training centres. This will meet the expectations of the academic authorities and enable them to optimise their actions to boost regional development. By helping to raise the profile of forestry professions, this progression towards excellence will also improve the attractiveness of training centres, attracting more candidates and making it possible to make up for our shortfall in applications. The project will lead to a process of recognition and dissemination of the Quality framework by the actors of the forestry vocational training. This tool will, if necessary, be improved and disseminated on a European scale. The dissemination, facilitated by the steps taken throughout the project, could lead to a process of labelling. Such a certification could be part of a process of creating centres of excellence in forestry training certified at the European level. Thus, our work is part of and participates in a logic of developing excellence in the field of forestry vocational training.

The Forestry EduTrainer project created the first European training for forestry trainers.I/ BackgroundThe project was born from a survey conducted at European level on the forestry trainers’ qualification. Its results allowed the project partners to draw a situational analysis of forestry training in Europe : forestry trainers with comparable profiles ( technical experts who turned to training at one point in their career), diversity in their trainer training ( or absence of specific training), a need to gain more pedagogical and/or methodological competences. The consequences of such a situation: no worker mobility, national ( or binational) training framework, lack of capacities to transmit competences efficiently linked to a shortage of pedagogical/methodological competences, aggravation of forestry work dangerousness. II/ ObjectivesTo solve this problem, Forestry EduTrainer created 6 Intellectual Outputs for the creation of a specific training for forestry trainers, efficient, shared and laid on good practices. These Intellectual Outputs followed the usual order for creating a new training: -Creation of the Competence Standard-Creation of the Training Standard-Elaboration of the training course divided in modules and subobjectives.-Work on the way to deliver the training: transfer of the training course onto a learning platform and creation of digital materials-Experimenting with the training, and training of the future trainers on this training: the EduCoaches-Ensuring the sustainability of the training course and its future developmentIII/ Partnership and participantsThe Forestry EduTrainer project was lead by 7 well-known organisations in Europe in the wood and training sectors:-Le Centre Forestier de la région Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, France, coordinateur-Centre Tecnologic Forestal de Catalunya, Espagne-Kuratorium Fur Waldarbeit Und Forsttechnik (KWF) GMBH, Allemagne-Landerbetrieb Forst Brandenburg/Waldarbeitsschule Kunsterspring, Allemagne-Natuurinvest, Belgique-Scuola Agraria del Parco di Monza, Italie-Jyväskylän koulutuskuntayhtymä, FinlandeEach of these organisations dedicated to the project experts in forestry training and/or blended-learning, project managers and technicians in charge of the translation of the training course.Also took part to the project and the experimentation of the Forestry EduTrainer course a total of 31 forestry trainers coming from 6 European countries.Finally, the multiplier events organised by all project partners allowed to target more than 150 people coming or not from the forestry sector or from partners’ countries, potential future trainees on the course thanks to the organisation of events held face-to-face or online.IV/ ActivitiesThe Forestry EduTrainer partners realised 6 Intellectual Outputs by creating and disseminating divers’ surveys and through intense research, and by sharing their knowledge.During the 3 and a half years of the project (prorogation due to the pandemic), the project partners met 18 times, whether online or during transnational meetings.A total of 7 experimental trainings were organised, whether or not funded at European level. They allowed to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the training course and work on their solving.Finally, 11 multiplier events were held.V/ Results, impacts and benefits at long-termThe Forestry EduTrainer project has thus succeeded in creating the first European training for Forestry trainers and in ensuring its sustainability.The training answers the needs identified in the situational analysis, by offering to the forestry trainers a singular training in Europe created thanks to collective intelligence and good practices, et mainly focused on the pedagogy and methodology needed in forestry training. The Forestry EduTrainer training is proposed by recognised organisations at national and European level, which will provide it at European scale and work towards its improvement through the sustainability strategy worked upon. Many trainers and/or forestry training organisations have already expressed their interest in the Forestry EduTrainer training.At mid and long-term, the benefits of Forestry EduTrainer will be a better qualification of forestry trainers as well as trainings of higher quality, thus permitting more efficiency and work quality in the next-to-be forestry professionals as well as a diminution of the number and gravity of accidents.

Although blended learning is an education program that is known and used in several domains, it was not yet used -and so very much innovative- in the forestry sector. During this project 21 forestry expert from ES, FR, Au, De and Be have been trained in developping innovative, interactive online learning materials. They have developted digital learning materials for professionals from the forestry sector. The developed digital training modules were combined into so-called “training lines” specifically developed for forestry professionals, covering subjects and expertise that they need today in order to stay on top of knowledge and expertise in their domain. Thanks to the participation of an agogic training expert in blended learning and specialized forestry training institutes (FTI) from different European countries, transnational exchange of expertise -which was necessary to reply to the specific training needs of forestry professionals- was possible.Before this project the participating FTI's mainly developed and transmitted expertise via classical teaching and handbooks. A part of the trainings included already sometimes basic online support (for example with introductory texts, background documents or by making available the presentations used during the training) via their websites. But with this project of Blended learning the European Forestry sector (EFS) has entered the world of blended and online learning. The developed digital learning materials, which are available in different digital formats were widely disseminated amoung the different networks of the participating Forestry partners within this project, in order to make an extensive implementation of online content into classical training schemes possible. Thanks to the experience of Katholiek Onderwijs Vlaanderen, partners have been able to level up their basic online support into professional development of digital training materials on the one hand and online and blended teaching and learning on the other hand. As a result blended learning and teaching has became more commonly used and known in the EFS. This has increased the scope of forestry professionals that could be reached thanks to (partly) online exchange of knowledge. Throughout Europe, forestry professionals have specialties of their own, and innovative techniques arise at local level, specific to the country/terrain conditions/ … Despite the local differences, specific expertise is of high interest for forestry professionals elsewhere in Europe. The use of digital training materials facilitate now the exchange of expertise and the accessibility to knowledge within the sector and between professionals, not only on local or regional level but also on European level and beyond. Professionals are now aible to consult the digital content whenever they want, without traveling, avoiding important investment of money, time and traveling. Indirectly, the results of the BLEFT-project contributes to the greening of the professionalism of the EFS. In addition, professionals can now easily select the training modules replying to their specific need. So thanks to the use of blended learning, several barriers have been reduced. The partnership has developed digital learning materials in English and in the national language(s) in order to overcome language barriers.For an important part of the forestry professionals guidance was necessary in this foreseen digitalization of the trainings and training materials. The national networks of the partners have been used in order to reach the regular clients and well-known contacts of the sector. The existing relation of trust with the sector has facilitated the introduction of this innovative training method. The extended network including different types of actors from the sector all over Europe has spread the project results beyond the participating partners and countries.During the project, a public project website/page and partner networks and regular communication means were used in order to inform interested parties on the progress of the project. The developed project website, which is also published on the European Platform for Project Results, ensures that the developed training lines – consisting of several separate modules in different digital formats - will be publically and freely available, also after the project has ended. Also the guidelines and tutorials on how to create online content have been recorded and made publically available for any other interested party via this platform and via links on partner websites to this centralized platform.

The project has addressed the challenge to elaborate a new professional qualification that includes all the competences of the European Chainsaw Certificate developed by the European Forestry and Environmental Skills Council (EFESC). Some EFESC members (Belgium, France and Spain) and new partners (Bulgaria, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia) has collaborated to elaborate the proposal with the support of other entities and training centres as associated partners.The aims of the project are fulfilling the demands of the industry and to:Reduce accidents & fatalitiesReduce associated economic & personal costs related to accidentsImprove & enhance operator skills and efficiency in the workplaceEnhance operator mobility and employability throughout EuropeImprove & expand delivery of existing vocational training and assessment standardsEncourage & promote life-long learning and continuous professional developmentImprove transparency and recognition of skills and qualifications in Europe.Training centres, teachers, trainers, universities, industry among others interested in improving/updating professional qualifications have been invited to participate in meetings and project meetings as “key actors” and at the multiplier and dissemination events. So, more than 300 participants have validated the two intellectual outputs. Regarding the undertaken activities: -CTFC with the support of all the partnership has dealt with the coordination, planning, financing, and encouraged partnership to ensure the good development and implementation of the project.-13 virtual meetings + 4 TM have taken place to ensure the good development of the project, to discuss, to exchange information, to learn from each other, to collaborate and to go together in a higher step. - The dissemination records summarize all the information, promotion and dissemination activities developed during the QualityForest project. E.g.: The leaflet, project and partner’s websites, press releases, meetings, conferences (national and international), social networks and others. - All project activities have been monitored and evaluated by partnership and participants. All partners have written a country report to detail what are the next steps to implement the outputs developed in each country. -Two outputs have been created within the project: a flexible occupational standard named Forestry operations – Forestry maintenance and conservation activity/work in natural spaces (O1) and its Learning and assessment guide (O2). The two outputs have been created thorough 3 steps: 1. Preparation of the design & elaboration 2. Adjustments & validation 3. Translations and validation of translations. The 12 multiplier events organised within the project, apart of other dissemination events described at the dissemination records, have been useful to present, share and discuss the intellectual outputs of the project with a wider audience and to get the support to implement them in the different EU countries. The results attained within the framework of the project: two intellectual outputs, a site at Eduforest website with the information and results of the project, about 15 press notes and articles on newspapers, magazines and blogs, and 12 conferences -one conference per multiplier event- to share knowledge and experience with participants.Impact attained until November 2019:-Better visibility and promotion of the activities of all partner organisations.- All partnership will continue working together to obtain the desired impact of QualityForest project in the next coming years and to start new projects together. - Trainers/teachers/assessors, who have participated at multipliers events, have acquired new methodologies and have started to use the Learning and assessment guide. - The national meetings, multiplier events, the dissemination events have helped to raise awareness among decision makers and general public of the importance of sustainable forest management and the added value of professional qualifications. One example is that the collective negotiation of the agreement among ACETREF (Asociación Catalana de empresas de Trabajos Forestales), UGT and CCOO unions signed in October 2019, promotes and accepts the European Chainsaw Standards by EFESC included in O1 and O2 (Competence unit 1) of QualityForest Project. http://icqp.gencat.cat/ca/detalls/Noticia/Centre_Tecnologic_Forestal_de_CatalunyaACETREEF participated at the Multiplier event that took place in Barcelona. - O1 and O2 have been accepted by EFESC. - Specifically, on CTFC: 2 training centres have been accredited as assessment centres.Regarding longer-term benefits: If this occupational standard and the Learning and assessment guide are accepted by national authorities & CEDEFOP, and the methodology of O2 implemented in training-assessment centres by their trainers and assessors, it will represent an improvement for the professionalization of forestry sector in Europe.