Alternative Curriculum Education out of the Wild Erasmus Project

Project Title

Alternative Curriculum Education out of the Wild

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 2014

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Quality Improvement Institutions and/or methods (incl. school development); Early School Leaving / combating failure in education

Project Summary

There is a gap in the provision of support for secondary school, school-based, environmental and outdoor vocational learning targeted at students who demonstrate challenging behaviour or have a strong desire to engage in learning through the outdoors.
Young people must now remain in education until they are 18, meaning that the outdoor learning context will be of importance, relevance and inspiration to these same young people who are, on average, more likely to become ‘Not in Employment, Education or Training’ (NEET).

It is also recognised that high quality opportunities for these groups of students may enable them to gain the skills, experiences and attitudes to access further education, jobs and careers in the outdoor/environmental sector. Meanwhile, these contexts are often more engaging for more vulnerable students than the traditional 14-19 curriculum.

Alternative Curriculum Education out of the Wild (ACEWild) aims to train and support educators (in collaboration with local specialist providers) so that they can provide long term, high quality, environmental and outdoor learning opportunities specifically tailored to young people demonstrating challenging behaviour (including those that have made a specific choice to learn in the outdoors) and which is of direct relevance to their future careers and further educational opportunities.

ACEWild provides a transferable, school-based model which supports the professional development of teachers and provides practitioners with the tools and inspiration that they need to develop and implement their own school-based programme. This framework will take educators through a process; from identify young people’s needs to how educators can meet these needs through an ‘Alternative Curriculum’, specifically in partnership with local ‘education and employment’ partners.

The project achieved this aim through two areas of work:
1) Action Research: The 3 countries involved delivered, in partnership, 2 sets of 12 sessions aimed specifically at more vulnerable young people; using outdoor and environmental/sustainable resource use/green economy themes. This research was key to developing an informed model of practice that was well-evaluated and based on diverse partner experience, including sharing of the most innovative ideas, approaches, practices and solutions.
2) The development of resources that can be used for training, or directly accessed by practitioners through a website (Open Educational Resource) www.acewild.eu; These resources comprise of a range of ‘tried and tested’ educational activities and approaches (including session plans, evaluation methods (including Social Return on Investment), case-studies, heath, safety and welfare information), using environmental and outdoor learning contexts with various local education and employment partners.

Over the 2 years (2014 – 2016) the programme brought 7 organisations, across 3 countries together 4 times;
• Norfolk County Council, UK; Environmental and Outdoor Learning Team, based at Holt Hall, with extensive experience supporting schools to become more sustainable; providing teacher training, residential experiences for young people and leading European projects in the area of resource management and outdoor learning.
• Aylsham High School, UK; An innovative school, further developing their growing expertise around supporting vulnerable young people to reach their potentials through using outdoor learning contexts.
• Susted, UK; A small enterprise specialising in consultancy, support and training with a focus on sustainable development. Susted has worked with a range of schools, vocational colleges, universities and enterprises, in addition to being involved in a large number of multinational projects.
• Goldcrest Outdoor Education Ltd, UK; A small business specialising in providing best-practice outdoor and environmental education to Norfolk schools and communities, within their local environment.
• RCE Rhine-Meuse, Netherlands; A Regional Centre of Expertise in Education for Sustainable Development for the Netherlands and the EU region; comprising of 4 universities, 10 municipalities, 3 provinces and 20 primary and secondary schools.
• Sint Jans College, Netherlands; A city-based college known for its innovative approaches and technology.
• RCE Oldenburger Münsterland e.V., Germany; A Regional Centre of Expertise in Education for Sustainable Development for the district of Cloppenburg and Vechta in Germany, targeting its activities to formal and non-formal educational organisations which focus on youth and young adults.

As a result of the above, we have better informed teachers, with the tools they need to enable school-based education provision that meets the needs of more vulnerable young people. Also that the target young people will not only have a curriculum which is more suited to their specific needs, but will also be of direct relevance (& inspiration) to their future employment.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 120726 Eur

Project Coordinator

Norfolk County Council & Country: UK

Project Partners

• RCE Oldenburger Münsterland – Kompetenzzentrum für Bildung zur nachhaltigen Entwicklung e.V.
• Stichting Expertise Centrum Leren voor Duurzame Ontwikkeling
• Goldcrest Outdoor Education Limited
• Stichting LVO
• Susted
• Aylsham High School