Project Summary

Permaculture is a method of designing sustainable systems that has been used worldwide for the last 35 years. It brings knowledge from various fields (horticulture, agriculture, architecture, economics etc) together under a set of ethics and principles to enable people to create sustainable homes, neighbourhoods, farms, businesses and more. It has a strong emphasis on practical action, personal empowerment and seeking creative solutions to seemingly intractable problems.

The Learning Partnership aims to support the professional development of permaculture teachers. This relates to the Leonardo programme in 3 ways:

1. Increasing teachers’ own skills for employability;
2. Improving the quality of vocational education & training that those teachers deliver;
3. Developing the capacity of organisations to deliver courses, and thereby employ permaculture teachers.

There will be 7 mobility activities during the project, serving multiple functions:

1. to provide a forum for exchange of best practice;
2. to provide teacher training/continuing professional development;
3. to share information about various national permaculture education systems & qualifications frameworks;
4. to establish a pan-European network of permaculture teachers & organisations for curriculum development;
5. to promote cultural exchange and celebrate the diversity within the network;
6. To produce a permaculture teachers’ handbook.

This is a large partnership, which will create project co-ordination challenges. However, the partner organisations are united by a common ethical framework, set of guiding principles & working practices. The individuals are united by a passion for their profession and a can-do attitude, and we firmly believe that we will succeed in making such a large partnership work.

http://permateachers.eu/