The partners' shared vision was and is that every child in Germany and Austria should be able to learn about and experience the natural value creation process of food as part of their elementary or school education in order to develop self-efficacy and future competencies in terms of green skills. The project aimed to prepare a collective approach to decision-makers in the education sector across borders and subsequently involve other EU countries.
The demand for seminars and webinars on educational gardening has risen sharply in recent years. The lack of gardening experience among teachers has proven to be a major obstacle. Initiatives such as the Gemüseackerdemie offer a great opportunity: teachers receive on-site and long-term practical help with gardening work with children - from raising the funds to the practical creation and planting of the beds. Not only the children learn here, but also the teachers. It was important to learn about current initiatives in both countries and initiate a constructive dialogue in order to share experiences and strengthen the goal of ‘A school garden for every school’. By further developing existing initiatives through networking, exchanging knowledge and good practices as well as mutual motivation, ‘gardening with children’ was given a higher priority so that it can be implemented in the curriculum in the long term and not just as an optional subject. Awareness of the value of the pedagogical gardener was also communicated well through events.