The aim of the Strategic Partnership is to develop an e-learning course and interactive online portal “Sustainable food in kindergartens”, offering learning materials and OERs on sustainable food in kindergartens for pedagogues, kindergarten staffs, caterers and kitchen staff. The content of the developed English pilot course will be transfer and adapt it to the seven partner countries. New requirements for kindergarten pedagogues and staffsThe vocational profile of and requirements for pedagogues and staffs employed in kindergartens, children crèches and schools in Germany and other countries in Europe have changed radically in the past 10-15 years. In nearly all European countries the number of hours a child stays in kindergarten is increasing, in Germany the all day care up to 48,9 %. Pedagogues and kindergarten staff have to take over responsibility for a lot of new tasks and operational processes. One important topic is the care for food and full board service with 2-3 meals a day. The curricula of vocational training for kindergarten pedagogues do not contain training elements meeting the appropriate nutrition expertise requested. The project aims to enhance and complete the professional profile of kindergarten pedagogues and staffs by learning offers on sustainability of meals and food. Parallel to this the food issue is a good subject to strengthen the communication with parents and especially to force the integration of refugee families in the kindergarten society.New challenges by refugee childrenNew challenges for kindergarten staffs and manager rise for the integration of refugee children and families. Germany and many European countries have to integrate refugees from various countries. The kindergarten is the place where families with young children meet and where there is a way to integrate them into the European culture through direct interaction and knowledge exchange. But to integrate families as well as children from other countries kindergarten staff has to have basic knowledge about the eating habits, the religious background and rituals for not offending the children or the parents with our European consumption patterns. The project a puts a special focus on these needs.Main results and outputs• Guidelines and didactic concept on “Sustainable food in kindergartens” (O1);• Content for the training course (O2)• Online portal on “Sustainable food in kindergartens” with various OER in all partner languages (O3)• English pilot e-learning course “Sustainable food in kindergartens” (O4);• 7 versions of e-learning course “Sustainable food in kindergartens” adapted to all partner countries and languages (O5) • Test and Evaluation Reports (O6)• Dissemination workshops (8) in all partner countries (E1)• International NetworkThe e-learning course will comprise 5 modules and 15 learning units covering the following topics: Module 1: The key role of kindergarten staff to change food habits Module 2: How to raise quality and make food more sustainable Module 3: Outdoor learning as a good opportunity Module 4: Food taste and intercultural eating skills Module 5: How to communicate with and inspire parentsThe course will be evaluated during a testing phase with at least 15 participants in each country. They will test the e-learning course, modules and content as well as the online portal and give their assessment by interview and questionnaires.Target groups and partnersThe main target groups are pedagogues, cooking personnel, kitchen staff and chefs in kindergartens as well as caterers for kindergartens who need a specific education in sustainability and its aspects in nutrition and food system that they can transfer this knowledge to children and their parents. Another important target group which needs to be addressed are headmasters and personnel manager of kindergartens, decision makers in public administration, universities and higher schools educating (future) teachers, students and parents.The e-learning course and portal “Sustainable food in kindergartens” will bring a new and innovative field of skills and competence with a high relevance for the above mentioned target groups. A minimum of 250 persons should be reached in each country by the project activities. For dissemination purpose a European network, formed as a “Community of practice for sustainability in kindergartens” with stakeholders from the participating countries, will be installed. It will also give feedback on the content and applicability of the e-learning course.The partnerships consists of 8 partners from 7 countries – Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Slovenia and the United Kingdom. The partners are institutions with experiences and competences in different areas of sustainability and education and this partnership will cover a wide area within the European Union.
In the Strategic Partnership „Sustainable food for kindergartens“ 8 partners from 7 countries developed an e-learning course and interactive online portal, offering learning materials and Open Educational Resources (OERs) on sustainable food in kindergartens for pedagogues, kindergarten staffs, caterers and kitchen staff. The vocational profile of and requirements for pedagogues and staffs employed in kindergartens, children crèches and schools in Germany and other countries in Europe have changed radically in the past 10-15 years. In nearly all European countries the number of hours a child stays in kindergarten is increasing. Pedagogues and kindergarten staff have to take over responsibility for a lot of new tasks among others the care for food and full board service with 2-3 meals a day. The project accomplished to enhance and complete the professional profile of kindergarten pedagogues and staffs by learning offers on sustainability of meals and food. New challenges for kindergarten staffs and manager rise for the integration of refugee children and families. The kindergarten is the place where families with young children meet and where there is a way to integrate them into the European culture through direct interaction and knowledge exchange. But to integrate families as well as children from other countries kindergarten staff has to have basic knowledge about the eating habits, the religious background and rituals. Parts of the project’s results contributed especially to these needs. Target groups were pedagogues, cooking personnel, kitchen staff and chefs in kindergartens, caterers of kindergartens, who need a specific education in sustainability and its aspects in nutrition and food system that they can transfer this knowledge to children and their parents. Another important target group were headmasters and personnel manager of kindergartens, decision makers in public administration, universities and higher schools educating (future) teachers, students and parents. The partnerships consisted of 8 partners from 7 countries - Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Slovenia and the United Kingdom. The partners are institutions with experiences and competences in different areas of sustainability and education, this partnership covers a wide area within the European Union. The first results of the project are “Guidelines and a Didactic Concept for training on Sustainable food for kindergartens“ (O1). The guidelines support pedagogues and kindergarten staffs to apply the teaching materials, the e-learning course and other learning tools and OER of the portal. They are provided as PDF for download and print in all partner languages and English. The second result comprises the content for training course “Sustainable food in kindergartens” (O2) for 5 thematic modules with learning offers for pedagogues, kindergarten staffs and manager, kitchen staff and caterer. It is provided as PDF for download and print in all partner languages and English. The third result is the Online Portal „Sustainable food for kindergartens“ (IO3), available in all partner languages. It comprises a broad spectrum of interactive educational resources - the e-learning course, additional training materials, as well as interactive tools like videos, audios, photo galleries, blogs, chats, forums, assessments, working groups etc. The fourth result is the English pilot e-learning course „Sustainable food for kindergartens“ (O4). With 5 thematic modules it provides learning offers for pedagogues, kindergarten staffs and manager, kitchen staff and caterer. The course is based on learning materials and course content developed before. The course is provided at the online portal as OER and based on the Learning Management System EasyAdmin, which has been developed especially for this project. The fifth results are seven national versions of the e-learning course „Sustainable food for kindergartens“ (IO5) in all seven partner languages, shaped according to their particular national conditions, requirements and needs. It consists of 5 modules. Based on a testing with important national target groups and stakeholders and regarding evaluations revised final versions are published on national online platforms in each partner country. The sixth results comprises the Evaluation Report about the testing of the functionality of the e-learning course and online portal “Sustainable food in kindergartens” in practical application in all partner countries; and the evaluation of the results of the test. Furthermore the report includes the overall evaluation of the project, its results, transfer and dissemination, and the project management. Further results are dissemination workshops and multiplier events carried out for pedagogues, cooking personnel, kitchen staff and chefs in kindergartens, caterers of kindergartens and educational institutions and an international network established within the project.