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EduSTA project logo, honey comb shapes in different colours.
Academy for Sustainable Future Educators (EduSTA)

Sustainable Future Educator – Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Programme in Prague

A big group of people outside on the grass, some wearing a mask.

Today's teacher is not just an educator, he/she is rather a renaissance person who should manage multiple activities and roles simultaneously – he/she should be able to communicate with pupils with special needs, collaborate effectively with assistants for special needs pupils, with study and career counsellors and members of his/her school community; the teacher should know how to quickly integrate pupils of other nationalities in his/her lessons. A modern teacher is also partly a project manager, a psychologist, a mentor or a "partner" who knows how to listen to pupils and perceive their needs and concerns. The teaching profession is very interesting, diverse and creative, but on the other hand it is a very demanding profession.

That is why a team of teachers of social pedagogy and psychology from the Institute of Education and Communication with support of the EduSTA team from the TAMK Tampere and a teacher from the AERES Wageningen (EduSTA external evaluator) decided to prepare an intensive course titled “Sustainable Future Educator”.

A varied programme prepared in cooperation with some faculties of the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague and the most know Czech NGO “People in Need” was run in classrooms or beautiful garden of the Institute of Education and Communication, the campus of the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague and the National Park Czech Switzerland. The course, conducted in the form of experiential outdoor pedagogy, focused on various didactic methods, such as collaborative learning, project education or teaching through documentary films took place from 9 to 14 September 2024.

The programme content was linked directly to the EduSTA project goals, principles and values. During this week, students “touched” all 17 goals of European Sustainable Development.

A total of 24 future teachers, it means students of pedagogy from Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Finland, the Netherlands and Slovenia had the opportunity to:

  • acquire principles of learning for sustainable development and outdoor pedagogy,
  • prepare team teaching units on current environmental topics,
  • learn mindfulness techniques,
  • try different exercises to relieve stress and prevent burnout syndrome,
  • empathise with the feelings of a student with visual or hearing impairments through simulation games.

One of student of this programme evaluated the programme by these words:

“This was an excellent opportunity for individual and group reflection on how we can apply teaching methods that connect inside and outside the classroom. The opportunity to explore outdoor pedagogy through Nature Art Therapy in different contexts and age groups was a wonderful experience for me.” – Student

The short-term Erasmus+ BIP “Sustainable Future Educator” course was an intense week full of getting to know each other, sharing, learning, working in teams, playing games and getting new experiences. The last two days in Czech Switzerland were quite challenging – the weather during trip to National Park Czech Switzerland was not pleasant, there was constant rain, but the students and teachers from the Belgian, Bulgarian, Finnish, Dutch and Slovenian universities manged to survive in nature!

It was a week of unexpected situations in the form of strikes at Brussels airport, bad weather and the threat of floods. But we still believe that the international students enjoyed this intensive programme.

To sum up this blog post we would like to share opinion of one of the participating students:

“The social experience of the BIP-week was the most essential part for myself. Great value of connecting with people around the Europe!”– Student

People in a group photo in outside setting in front of a building.
People playing a game outside gathered around the table.
Five women reading a map in urban setting.
People gathered around a table.
People in a classroom.

Author and photos: Barbora Jordánová