<< Objectives >>PONICS VET Expanded aims to support the development of a VET curriculum (EQF 5) on hydroponics-based agriculture and hydroponics technology. Knowledge, skills, and competencies will be mapped to ISCO-08, ESCO, EQF, NQFs, and EU frameworks. The curriculum will be designed according to the ECVET structure of modular units and sets of learning outcomes, and its qualification assessed, transferred, validated, and certified in relation to the ECVET key principles.<< Implementation >>PONICS VET Expanded will define a new VET curriculum on hydroponics-based agriculture and hydroponics technology based on modular units of LOs, a Massive Open Online Course on hydroponics-based agriculture, a Blended specialisation course, and a work-based learning period for 30 VET learners.<< Results >>PONICS VET Expanded aims at increasing the employability of VET learners in the hydroponics sector, supporting the upskilling and reskilling of a qualified and mobile labour force. Moreover, it aims at filling the skills gap in the hydroponics technology labour market, fostering the uptake of digital skills in the agricultural sector, and increasing its attractiveness.

"<< Background >>A fair and sustainable society, with a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy cannot be achieved without a workforce to support it. That is why it is necessary to prepare the workforce for the skills requirements inherent in green jobs and to ensure that industries and workplaces do not face a shortage of adequately skilled workers. The EU is the world’s leading producer of wine and, like any other agri-food industry, both contribute to climate change and is affected by climate change.Environmental competences are essential for the wineries workforce and surrounding society, in order to ensure a positive ecological footprint of the activities carried out in this farming sector. Upskilling is, therefore, necessary to reap the benefits of the aforementioned ecological strategy.The need for a competence framework that identifies the ""green"" knowledge, skills and aptitudes has already been claimed by the EC. The wine sector can not be left behind. And linked to the competencies to be identified, a wine sector competence-based training that enables the workers to acquire the competences is particularly necessary.<< Objectives >>The aim of 'Green Vineyards' project is to raise the knowledge, skills and aptitudes of workers in the wine sector, addressing the challenges of climate change. The project objectives are:a) To identify the environmental competences required by the workers to ensure a positive ecological footprint of the activities carried out. b) To identify common gaps in the workers' knowledge, attitudes and skills, to better address their training necessities.c) To provide personalised training for wineries sector staff, according to the identified skills gaps and making the required training available 24/7. d) To facilitate access to training, creating a friendly and accessible online learning environment for all workers of wine sector.e) To raise awareness of climate change impact in the key sector of wine production.f) To improve the climate literacy of rural communities. g) To disseminate the expected outcomes in order to transmit the created knowledge all over Europe, making the knowledge and technology transfer from the wine sector to other agri-food sectors as smooth as possible.<< Implementation >>“Green Vineyards” project will identify the key environmental competences needed in the wine sector workforce to achieve an immediate and positive impact on climate change. It will comprise the identification and analysis of knowledge, skills, and attitudes required to work in a sustainable economy. The project consortium will also identify the best practices in upskilling workers. All this identified knowledge will be put into practice through a course, that split into modules, will have two different approaches: a) the identification of existent open educational resources, and b) the creation of specific contents, to jointly create a repository of learning contents that will satisfy workers training necessities.To support the acquisition of the required skills, a self-assessment tool will be developed. It will permit the workers to identify the competences they lack and will suggest the most adequate training to acquire those competences, through personalized training itineraries.A Training platform will be specially built to collect all the course contents, facilitating open access to the modules, the escalation of both the courses and final users, and the sustainability of the overall approach.The learning scheme will be tested, piloted by approximately 300 participants, and subsequently improved.A certification tool will be put in place allowing final users to obtain evidence of the competence achieved, improving their competitiveness within the labor market.A transferability scheme will be put in practice to disseminate project results in all educative sectors, as well as other agri-food sectors and industries.<< Results >>In two years and half of intensive work, the project will produce the following tangible results:a) An environment-oriented Competence Framework, usable not only by the whole wine sector but transferable to many other sectors.b) A catalogue of best practices, interventions put into practice by sector stakeholders, such as wineries, trade unions or cooperatives to showcase how these organisations re-skill or upskill their workers to acquire environmental competences. c) Multimedia resources, based on the catalogue of selected practices. 5 ad hoc created videos will be produced. Td) A self-assessment and recommendation tool, showing workers which competences they lack and proposing the most appropriate training itinerary.e) A complete set of appropriate training materials, specifically tailored to acquire the identified competences.f) An online Learning Hub, a brand new multi-platform site, responsive, that will permit universal and free access to the contents, methodology and outcomes. This will allow the use of mobile devices daily, whenever, wherever. g) A transferability Toolkit. a step-by-step guide that will describe and plan the transfer of the Green Vineyards methodology and contents. The results will be openly licensed to allow the re-use and/or modification by third-party organisations.After having tested the learning scheme by 300 workers, the sector will get a specially created tool to improve its workforce capacities to participate in a more 'green' and sustainable economy, enhancing at the same time the overall society awareness about climate change."

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One Health is a concept initially promoted by FAO, OIE, and the WHO, that seeks to join forces to combat public health threats arising from interactions between animals, humans, and the environment. The COVID-19 pandemic has once again demonstrated the importance of the animal-human-health interface in the emergence of infectious diseases. Although not all zoonoses (diseases which can be transmitted to humans from animals) cause pandemics, most pandemics have a zoonotic origin, and knowledge of the determinants associated with them must form the basis of prevention strategies. However, so far this approach has been confined only at a broader policy level and to the academia, with research that have not yet been able to spill down to the agricultural vocational education and training sector, and to the workers that should actually use this framework with their interaction with animals and the environment. To bridge this gap, LIVET aims at developing and pilot testing an innovative VET curriculum at EQF 5 level focused on the management and practical application of the One Health principles into the livestock farming and animal husbandry sector. The project will develop an xMOOC at EQF 5 level on the adoption of the One Health approach into the livestock farming sector; three Specialisation courses at EQF 5 level on Animal welfare, Zoonoses, and Antimicrobial use and resistance; an Autumn School on One Health, Resilience Skills, and Integrated Risk Management; and a period of work-integrated learning for 60 learners. The project will also develop a new One Health Advisor qualification profile, and a VET curriculum related to such profile. The target groups of the project are graduates of agricultural technical vocational education institutions, undergraduate students in agriculture or veterinary science who have not completed their degree yet, advisors, consultants, technicians or supervisors of livestock farms, and specialised livestock workers with management roles.