The Rural Education project contributes to achieving the objectives defined within the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) from 2020 onwards. The European Commission has defined clear objectives for the CAP 9, which will be taken up and addressed within the project by strengthening the players in rural areas and by the innovative educational formate "RuralAcademy". The three key policy objectives will be covered. Health, Food and antimicrobial resistance, as well as efficient soil management, are part of the educational content, as the teaching companies in which the educational content is taught have to practice socio-ecological agriculture. In addition, the project will help to make the switch to socio-ecological agriculture more lucrative for farms, even at the structural level. This is where the project comes in: To strengthen rural structures in a sustainable way and to disseminate this knowledge within the educational Content and to pass it on to a large number of people. By coupling with eco-tourism and communicating educational content as a second pillar, the project also leads to ensuring viable farm income among operators. The central element of the project is the innovative educational Format of the "RuralAcademy". The adult education centre is carried almost to rural areas, whereby the actors in rural areas act as visual participants themselves and pass on their knowledge and experience to interested parties. Linking it to tourist offers creates a pleasant and unique learning atmosphere. In addition, rural actors will be strengthened and encouraged to apply innovative and sustainable formats in order to be able to communicate elements of them as educational content. Many people also carry it to urban regions due to a lack of educational provision in the countryside. With the help of the Rural Education project, the potential of rural areas and its actors are now being used to attract those interested in learning to the countryside. The focus of the project, and thus as a central outcome, is therefore the development of a curriculum with the overtopic "living and acting sustainably." The educational provision within the curriculum is diverse and divided into four broad topics: Eco-Tourism, socio-ecological agriculture, saving old knowledge and linking of urban and rural structures. The educational format is aimed at two target groups. First of all, the operators of selected farms need to be trained thematically and at the intermediary level. It is also important to ensure that the structures of the farms meet the requirements of eco-tourism. Within the three trainings, rural actors are trained in the subject matter, the technical training and the structural requirements. If the quality is assured, practical educational offers are offered to those interested in learning at the rural area. Combined with theoretical content accessible online, the participants complete the various modules. The education courses are described and collected in Output 2 in a database that is open to the public. By linking with the already existing interactive online platform "Karte von morgen", a larger target group is reached. In order to develop a high-quality curriculum, it is constantly being further developed, expanded and reviewed during the project. The main purpose of the review is the three multiplier events where content from the curriculum is offered in order to evaluate the content together with stakeholders and representatives of the target groups. The content of Output 3, on the other hand, ensures a constant expansion of Content. At the end of the project there is a high-quality curriculum, which is used by qualified persons to train those interested in learning on questions about sustainable life. Once the structures of offering and implementing this innovative educational format have been created, farms will also benefit beyond the end of the project. Similarly, the institutions involved will continue to benefit from the curriculum and experience gained, either taking over the curriculum themselves in practice or using content from it in further educational projects.
The overall goal of MAREA was to raise awareness of sustainability. The project set-up also strengthened rural areas, addressed a change in awareness of sustainability through the educational formats, and preserved traditional knowledge. All of these secondary goals can be attributed to the overall goal. In the project itself, a large number of people actively dealt with the topic of sustainable living and were thus encouraged to take action. In addition to the people involved in the built places of learning, people were inspired and enabled with the curriculum to become "Rural Guides" and thus also actively promote sustainable thinking and acting. In the long-term objective, adult education plays a key role. With the project, the project partners have strengthened the active people in rural areas and qualified them to become educators. The places of learning in interaction with the Rural Guides will continue to carry education into the rural areas in the future with assured quality of the teaching formats and reach a large number of people interested in learning, especially adults, through the connection with tourism and other educational formats.
The future is in the rural structures! These are the insights of the European Commission with regard to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) after 2020. CAP aims to develop rural communities. MAREA has addressed exactly this goal: strengthening rural areas by making visible and promoting the potentials located there. By combining educational formats and tourism, the project has served several aspects noted in the CAP objective. The developed curriculum in interaction with the established places of learning not only informs about sustainability topics, but also makes them experienceable. The RuralAcademy with the developed curriculum is an excellent tool to create a new sustainable awareness based on local knowledge. The connection to adult education in the field of lifelong learning was essential and the basis for the curriculum, because education contributes to a sustainable change of consciousness. And sustainable change of consciousness is what the project "MAREA" and the RuralAcademy that has been developed and established as a result are all about.