The mathematician Ms. Argyri Panagiota successfully completed the training course Erasmus+ Youth in Action entitled “Shape Your Landscape”, which was held in Tzurmala, Latvia, from 21 to 27 May 2019, and the organizer was the National Erasmus+ Coordination Unit for the Latvian Youth Sector.
Erasmus+ is the EU Programme for Education, Training, Youth and Sport for 2014-2020. The aim of Erasmus+ is to improve the key competences and employability as well as the modernization of education, training and youth. Regarding Youth sector, Erasmus+ gives the opportunity to young people, informal groups, youth workers and youth organisations to travel abroad and participate in Youth Exchange projects, implement Volunteering Projects and participate in seminars and meetings on a European level. The aim of these projects is to allow young people to be part of the European Union, learn about its institutions, be active citizens and contribute to the improvement of the quality of youth work.
Youth and Lifelong Learning Foundation (https://www.inedivim.gr/) is appointed as the National Agency of the Erasmus+/Youth in Greece, as well as the State Scholarships Foundation (https://www.iky.gr/), which is the National Agency for the fields of Education and Training.
The aim of this training seminar was to empower youth workers and other educators to use place-based education approach in their work and to support them in developing competences that will help them reimagine how different places can be used as learning spaces and resources.
The 24 participants from different European countries (Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Holland, Portugal, Slovenia and Turkey), through original group and experiential activities, created action plans on how to transform any environment in learning space and how they can use this approach in the context of working with youth and informal education. Training was linked to the ETS (European Training Strategy) model in the framework of a European Training Strategy for youth workers, which has been put in place to promote an active reflection on how to learn and teach.
One of the main conclusions of the seminar is that teaching and learning approaches based on the place can act as the main stone bridge connecting the experiences with real life, for the introduction of innovative methodological teaching practices in all disciplines. Finally, such international mobility programs based on actions with a strong intercultural character and with an impact on local communities are a very important added value for the quality upgrading of education.