Tackling skills gap in the wildlife conservation sector: WildSkills EU Erasmus Project

Project Title

Tackling skills gap in the wildlife conservation sector: WildSkills EU

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 higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Natural sciences; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Pedagogy and didactics

Project Summary

The WildSkills EU project will address the skills gap identified by employers responsible for biodiversity monitoring & climate change mitigation. Here there is a mismatch between employer needs for early career staff to possess both ‘practical wildlife survey and identification’ and ‘communication and stakeholder engagement’ skills and the absence of this training from Higher Education pathways. This project is a collaboration linking practitioners from Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), teachers from Higher Education and students seeking employment. These 3 groups will co-create and test innovative and accessible distance learning packages to address these skills gaps using a virtual learning environment that combines the use of physical equipment with online webinars and livestream technologies, delivering quality assured, endorse accreditation. The project will train staff and student teachers/trainers in delivering this unique model, test it on virtual mobilities and share the good practice established as a result.

The objectives of the project are:
1. To co-create, develop and test 6 distance learning modules addressing employer skills gaps in ecology with key elements translated into native languages
2. To test and re-test a new digital pedagogy of distance learning skills delivery and assessment leading to employer and HE recognition on 60 virtual mobilities
3. To train 8 staff & 36 student trainers in new digital learning and assessment pedagogy
4. To establish a platform for sharing pedagogy best practice with practitioners

Project target audiences are: staff and student teacher/trainers (to learn the pedagogy) and current or recent students who want the ecological and transversal skills to help them gain employment.

The project will facilitate staff/students co-creation of both the learning content and distance delivery of 6 learning modules that address practical skills gaps in ecology, communication and stakeholder engagement skills.

Module 1: Nature Conservation in Action (overview): Ambios Portugal, PT
Module 2: Wildlife surveys using camera trap: Ambios UK
Module 3: Bird identification and survey: UoEvora, Portugal
Module 4: Tree identification and survey UoPadova, Italy
Module 5: Communication skills Barn Owl Foundation, Hungary
Module 6: Stakeholder Engagement WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature), Hungary

Numerical indicators are the following:
Learning package for students: 6
Intensive Study Programme for Students: 1
Joint Staff Training programmes: 1
Intensive Study Programme for Students: 1
Number of physical mobility for staff: 20
Number of physical mobility students recruited for the project: 36
Number of virtual mobility students recruited for the project: 60
Project website: 1
Project Virtual Learning Environment: 1
Multiplier Events: 7
Multiplier Events: 0 –> 234 participants
Dissemination presentations (one at each university): 3
Dissemination publications (two in each countries): 8

A key result will be the recognition of learner acquired skills. Quality assured credit will be awarded using the European Credit System for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET) and European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) systems. This will mean that the learner will be able to accurately describe the value of their learning by using e-badge meta data that will include reference to these systems and details of where, when, who was involved, learning outcomes achieved and, crucially an endorsement of the training from employers.

An e-badge is a logo graphic with a hyperlink to a webpage or file which contains meta data on the achievements of the learner. It goes beyond a traditional certificate of achievement by including details such as dates and durations of learning, learning outcomes achieved, practical activities undertaken, trainers/teaching involved and any formal recognition, endorsement from employers and links to HE micro-credentials. It can also include further links to Europass and Europass Certificate supplements. Our active intension is that external employers will add their endorsements by the end of the project and that training program will be formally accredited within the teaching of the Universities of Padova and Evora.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 295790 Eur

Project Coordinator

Ambios Ltd & Country: UK

Project Partners

• Gyöngybagolyvédelmi Alapítvány
• UNIVERSIDADE DE EVORA
• WWF Magyarország Alapítvány
• Ambios Portugal – Associação Científica para o Desenvolvimento Sustentável e a Conservação da Biodiversidade
• UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI PADOVA