Safe Climbing Erasmus Project

Project Title

Safe Climbing

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for vocational education and training

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Open and distance learning; Agriculture, forestry and fisheries; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

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.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 289356 Eur

Project Coordinator

LANDBUNADARHASKOLI ISLANDS & Country: IS

Project Partners

• Srednja gozdarska in lesarska sola Postojna
• KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET
• Naturbruksgymnasiet Osby
• Vinnueftirlit ríkisins (Administration of Occupational Safety and Health)