Safe Climbing is a project that aims to improve safety in arboriculture around Europe. The idea for the project started when horticulture teachers and landscapers in Iceland started contemplating what could be done to improve safety for those working with a chainsaw while felling or pruning trees. The reason for that was a series of accidents in the past few years that have caused alarm in the professional community of landscaping and forestry. After some inquiry they found out that there were others in Europe in the same or similar shoes although in more populated countries the problems were larger (i.e. In Slovenia there are on average 16,4 deaths per year in arboriculture related work and the numbers are rising). The partners in this project are all specialized in different parts of the solution to this problem such as climbing and rigging, chainsaw maintenance, ECVET course descriptions, distance education, as well as being familiar with the business of arboriculture. They intend to work together to create innovative digital and interactive study material along with distance education solutions that should increase access to education in arboriculture, provide study material that meets the needs of a larger group of students and prepare students in a better way to get international certification in arboriculture enabling them to work in other countries within Europe and Canada. The study material is an E-Book on arboriculture that includes instructional pictures and videos and is tailored to meet the needs of students with disadvantages such as dyslexia or attention deficit disorder. The book will also include an interactive part that leads students to on-line tests after each chapter that yields an instant result so the students can reread the parts of the chapter they did not get a sufficient result for. This is a model that is innovative in study material and we see as the future. The other innovative part of this project is incorporating e-learning and distance education into practical courses like arboriculture. To minimize the students time on campus, away from work and family, we intend to set up courses that meet the needs of students that have a hard time staying away from their duties for long periods. By meeting the needs of students in this way we anticipate increased number of students seeking education in arboriculture and that should in effect lower the number of accidents with time. There are two big groups of students we are trying to accommodate in this project:The first is students with various reading and attention disadvantages that have a hard time reading massive textbooks and dry material. By providing digital material with the text divided into little pieces and complimented with pictures and videos we allow these students a better chance of getting through the material. The same is to say for students with attention deficit disorders that can not concentrate on long texts and need a active environment. These students are an increasing large part of the student body and they need to have material that suits their needs to be able to graduate and get sufficient scores on tests. Digital material suits young students well as they are more prone to reading on tablets, phones and computers rather than carry heavy textbooks.The second group is people that are going to school later in life. They usually have demanding jobs, families and a long line of responsibilities that they can not easily leave to go to school. Schools can be few and far between them and that means even longer time away for those students that need to travel a long way to school or even move to complete their studies. We intend to meet the needs of this group by constructing courses that will be offered through distance education so that students can minimize the time they spend at school. Students will get study material and information through and online E-learning platform as well as projects they need to solve and an exercise plan (physical exercises to prepare for climbing). Once they have finished their preparation they will come to school to finish their practical studies with the teachers.Our goal is to create study material and courses that can benefit students all around Europe (and further) to improve safety and reduce the chance of serious accidents in arboriculture. We know there is need for the material and we hope it will be used in many (or most) arboriculture schools in Europe. In the future we hope the E-book will evolve into a SmartBook so the videos and tests can be fully incorporated into one document and we will continue our work after this project ends to make that happen.
The idea for applying for an Erasmus+ grant came up quickly as the opportune way to transfer knowledge and skills between countries when the Agricultural university of Iceland (AUI) and University of Copenhagen (UCPH) had met and talked about setting up climbing courses in Iceland. In the application process they decided to include a school in Slovenia, SGLS Postojna, in the project since they had very competent climbing teachers and they needed assistance in increasing safety in climbing and forestry in their country. The next partner to enter the cooperation was the Administration for occupational safety and health (AOSH) in Iceland. The last partner to come into the project was Naturbruksgymnasiet Osby from Sweden. They had very competent climbing teachers and were in need of study material for their courses. A year into the project time they left the cooperation after some administrative trouble at their school. The main objectives of the project were to create quality, accessible, digital study material for arborists as well as setting up guidelines for courses and distance education options. Safety issues and recommended work methods were tackled in the study material. The AUI was in charge of writing course descriptions and introducing and setting up distance education options for the the test courses completed during the project period. They have vast experience in this field being the only school focusing on agriculture and horticulture in Iceland and students often living far away from school. The UCPH brought to the project over 40 years of experience in teaching forestry and climbing as well as plain chainsaw work. The teachers from UCPH participating in the project have been involeved in teaching in this field all over Europe and the world, including Africa and Australia. SGLS Postojna is one of only two schools in Slovenia that teach forestry and climbing. The two teachers involved in the project are the only two teachers that have been certified on a European level (through the ABA) in Slovenia. Their aim has been to increase safety in forestry and climbing in their country for years and it was going slowly. Therefor we saw this project would be a good opportunity to host a conference on the subject in Slovenia and the teachers would gain study material and insight into how these things are run in the other participating countries. The AOSH in Iceland has not had a good way to focus their energy on the forestry sector in Iceland as well as monitoring those who use chainsaws in their work. Their involvement in this project was a good way to give them good insight into the work of arborist and create checklists and tools that the AOSH can use for inspections in the future. The main activities undertaken in the project were the production of the two outputs, e-book and course descriptions, then the three seminars held during the project time as well as two multiplier events. The e-book and course descriptions results are available for reading and downloading on the projects website. The first seminar held was about distance education held at AUI in Iceland. Teachers and staff from UCPH, SGLS Postojna and Osby came to learn about the experience of teachers and students at AUI as well as learning about different e-learning platforms such as Moodle. The second seminar was held at Osby in Sweden where students and teachers from Iceland, Denmark, Slovenia and Sweden learned the basics for tree climbing. They had previously been learning at home through Moodle to prepare for the seminar. The third and last seminar took place at SGLS Postojna, Slovenia. There the students and teachers from Iceland, Denmark and Slovenia learned more technical work related to climbing with a chainsaw and spurs. At that seminar some of the students got assessed and certified for chainsaw work and climbing within the ABA certification system. The first multiplier event was held in Slovenia, 2018, about climbing and safety, it was a two day event with a climbing competition on the second day. A small multiplier event was then held in Iceland, 2019, about drafts for courses for arborists intended to be setup at AUI for 2020. The conference ended with a climbing exhibition. The responses from attendees at the multiplier events have been very positive and people seem to be very interested in being able to access material like this online. In Iceland people are waiting for courses to be ready for teaching in 2020 and many have expressed interest in learning to become arborists. The event in Slovenia has sparked an interest amongst people to educate themselves better in climbing as well as attending regularly seminars and conferences for continuing education purposes. We see a good impact in Iceland and Slovenia after the completion of this project where safety and climbing has become more talked about. At UCPH the main impact is now having the tools to setup distance education in various forms at their school.