GREENTRACE Training Course in Italy

Starting on 12 April 2024, the GREENTRACE training phase in Italy ended on 29 May 2024 with a positive feedback from our participants. The course was attended by 9 youth workers, including youth leaders, sports experts and environmental educators.

The training took place in non-formal learning contexts, in outdoor settings such as large sports facilities, including green spaces and parks, where participants could try out sports games at the same time as mindfulness experiences in real connection with nature.

From the very first training days, the focus was on a deep understanding of the main topics of the project: how to create a new connection with nature through outdoor sports and sustainable behaviour through youth participation and exploration.

After the initial team-building days, the training activities were based on effective sustainability education methods developed by the partners in the first phase of the project.

Our youth workers have often emphasised the importance of addressing certain issues such as life skills and environmental awar

eness among young people through sport and outdoor activities, as well as the difficulty of identifying ways to improve skills through a multidisciplinary method.

In line with the GREENTRACE proposal, participants had the opportunity to familiarise themselves with environmental literacy sessions, which enabled them to understand how to adopt a sustainable lifestyle and enjoy the outdoors without harming nature or themselves and in respect of all environmental dimensions.

Much effort was put into the design of the educational programme, improving their skills in learning planning, adopting the main elements of the learning cycle process to achieve different learning objectives (sports, environmental and soft skills) for different target groups.

During the training, the main skills assessment tools to test the development of young people’s competences in nature were also presented. The participants selected them for each outdoor activity during the design session.

The strengths of the GREENTRACE training method in Italy are as follows:

• The course topics were treated with short theoretical inputs, leaving much more time for practical approaches, stimulating debate among peers and with the trainer to find solutions to the scenario-based activities proposed;
• The training proposal provided the opportunity to work extensively on aspects of life skills (teamwork; creative and critical thinking; leadership; effective communication; empathy) and pro-environmental behaviour through sport and outdoor activities, putting the participants at the centre and allowing them to experience the topics covered from the outset;
• The methodology made it possible to use the creativity of our youth workers: our group of participants defined their own activity cards to be tested with youth groups in order to stimulate these new skills in young people;
• Numerous opportunities were created for peer-testing the activities, both in the briefing phase and in the debate management: this session allowed discussions on how to improve the quality of the outdoor games. The importance of planning and implementing all steps of the activity according to the defined learning objective, as well as the organisational aspects of these activities according to the target focus and the facilities and environments in which they are carried out.
• The opportunity to familiarise themselves with the different tools for assessing youth skills (observation reports; self-test questionnaires; post-training feedback questionnaire) by first testing them on themselves and their peers.

Very soon we could see our youth workers at work, testing their new outdoor educational activities with youth groups.

These experiences will be visible to all thanks to the GREENTRACE platform that is being prepared.