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TAP-TS Faces: Polytechnic University of Santarém
Welcome to yet another post of the "TAP-TS Faces" series! In this series of blog posts, we will be introducing you to the faces of TAP-TS, outlining their work with the project and their personal ambition related to the project. And in general, anything else that they're willing to share with us! For this post, we will be hearing from the team at Polytechnic University of Santarém (Susana Colaço, Neusa Branco, Bento Cavadas and Elisabete Linhares).
About us
We are a team of science education and mathematics education teachers from Polytechnic University of Santarém, with experience in initial teacher education courses. Our institution has a strong commitment with sustainability, expressed in several educational initiatives, and community outreach efforts.
What is your role in TAP-TS?
Our role in the TAP-TS project is to collaborate in the design, pilot and validation of a Learning & Teaching Package (LTP) dedicated to Sustainability and Environmental Education, for primary school teachers. Another task is the organization of Active Learning Events, in a hybrid format. These events include online and in-person moments, where participants can experience teaching and learning activities created under the LTPs.
TAP-TS is a community of teachers highly experienced in teacher education and sustainability. Belonging to this network allowed us to share practical experiences with other teachers with the same interests and concerns in addressing the urgent social and environmental global changes. We are experiencing a strong professional development and personal growth due to the opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration, provided by the TAP-TS project.
Can you share one of our achievements in TAP-TS so far?
Recently, we were awarded the prize of the “Best Poster” at the ATEE Winter Conference 2023, held at the University of Minho, from October 26th to 28th. The poster presented the work “Teaching sustainability for primary schools”, related with the TAP-TS project. We are very proud of this prize and for belonging to the community of the TAP-TS project!
TAP-TS Faces: CorEdu
Welcome to yet another post of the "TAP-TS Faces" series! In this series of blog posts, we will be introducing you to the faces of TAP-TS, outlining their work with the project and their personal ambition related to the project. And in general, anything else that they're willing to share with us! For this post, we will be hearing from the team at CorEdu.
Meet Eszter & Kerstin
Eszter is founder & managing director of CorEdu, certified trainer, European evaluator and founder of the bridal fashion label estorvin. With her work, she is committed to fair, inspiring and effective vocational training that broadens horizons, promotes talent and enables exchange across national borders. Her special focus lies on fostering entrepreneurship competences of secondary school students and integrating this approach into the regular school curriculum.
Kerstin is working at CorEdu as mobility coach and trainer, and she supports for example apprentices by the organization of their studies abroad. She is furthermore a founder of the online training platform “Mappenkonzept”, which trains students in their preparatory year for the admission to higher education in the design field. Kerstin is a graduate engineer for clothing technology with many years of experience in the textile and fashion industry.
What is your role in TAP-TS?
Eszter is a project leader at CorEdu and working on the development and testing of the LTPs for sustainable entrepreneurship education and Kerstin is supporting Eszter mainly in administrative issues but she also reviews the LTPs on entrepreneurship.
What are you most passionate about when it comes to TAP-TS?
Joining the TAP-TS project was a great opportunity to reflect our longstanding experiences in entrepreneurship education and education for sustainability from different perspectives and bring new ideas into this field. The great partnership with experts in the sustainability field allow us to learn from each other, to exchange good practices and through the outcomes of the project strengthen the European added value in education and training. Through our focus on sustainable entrepreneurship education we want to foster the entrepreneurial mindset of young people to develop creative ideas for current challenges, to take responsibility for future generations and increase their participation in shaping the future of our planet and society.
Where can people find you? (i.e social media)
Instagram: @coreduleipzig
TAP-TS Faces: Technical University of Darmstadt
Welcome to yet another post of the "TAP-TS Faces" series! In this series of blog posts, we will be introducing you to the faces of TAP-TS, outlining their work with the project and their personal ambition related to the project. And in general, anything else that they're willing to share with us! For this post, we will be hearing from the team at Technical University of Darmstadt.
What is your role in TAP-TS?
Technical University of Darmstadt (TU Darmstadt, Germany) is characterized by a high degree of interdisciplinarity between engineering, natural sciences, humanities and social sciences, which is reflected in both research and study programmes. At the centre of the new research area "Pedagogy of Digitality", which was founded in 2022, is the general pedagogical question of educational processes in the face of a world shaped by digital infrastructures. In particular, questions are addressed along the guiding premise of a more sustainable development of our society from three perspectives - ecological, economic and social. The new department was founded by the new professor Nina Grünberger, who was previously employed at the PH Vienna and was involved in a number of projects there. This means that experience and a great deal of thematic expertise will flow into the TAP-TS project and the associated creation of teaching and learning materials.
What are you most passionate about when it comes to TAP-TS?
As a team – PH Vienna and TU Darmstadt, we are interested in exploring how the two areas of sustainability and digitality are related, and what connects the two discourses. More importantly for TAP-TS, our aim is to establish which pedagogical approaches could be used for school education, specifically at primary level, to introduce the two subjects and educate the younger generation about sustainable use of technology, increase awareness of the impact of technology on the environment and society, and engage them in small actions for a more sustainable future.
We hope to contribute to TAP-TS with our expertise in media literacy and sustainability in the digital age as well as with our experience developed in the award-winning project on the life cycle of a smartphone called "ÖHA! - Ecologically sustainable media use at school and beyond" (https://oeha.phwien.ac.at). In 2022, we launched a new learning space called DINA Lab, which stands for “DIgitalität und NAchhaltigkeit” (Digitality and Sustainability), where we develop and test teaching and learning materials, and provide pre-service and in-service teacher training in the areas of sustainability, digitalization and media studies.
At the TU Darmstadt, we are already implementing the experiences of TAP-TS in teaching in the BA and MA in Education and in the teacher training programme. We are also setting up a NADI-Lab based on the DINA Lab at the PH Vienna and integrating it into the existing ComputerStudienWerkstatt at the TU Darmstadt. We are already working with TAP-TS learning materials in numerous projects and workshops with student teachers and in-service teachers.
Where can people find you? (i.e social media)
The PHVienna team consists of five people. On our websites, you can find further information as well as emails of our team members: Elena Revyakina, Klaus Himpsl-Gutermann, Florian Danhel, Martin Sankofi and Petra Szucsich.
The TU Darmstadt team consists of three people: Nina Grünberger, Judith Hoehling and Gregor Eckert. You can find further information on projects and contact details for the team members on the websites.
TAP-TS Faces: University College of Teacher Education Vienna
Welcome to yet another post of the "TAP-TS Faces" series! In this series of blog posts, we will be introducing you to the faces of TAP-TS, outlining their work with the project and their personal ambition related to the project. And in general, anything else that they're willing to share with us! For this post, we will be hearing from the team at University College of Teacher Education Vienna
What is your role in TAP-TS?
University College of Teacher Education Vienna (PH Vienna), Austria’s largest teacher training institution, offers a program of primary, secondary, vocational and special needs teacher education as well as CPD courses. PH Vienna researchers and educators contribute to TAP-TS with their expertise in the field of digital technology and sustainability, bringing experience from a number of ongoing projects at both national and international levels.
The PH Vienna team coordinates work on the development, validation, and publishing of seven sets of high-quality, open and flexible learning and teaching packages, incorporating innovative resources and pedagogical approaches. These packages aim to develop a European and international perspective towards learning in a digital world, sustainability, equity and inclusion.
What are you most passionate about when it comes to TAP-TS?
As a team – PH Vienna and TU Darmstadt, we are interested in exploring how the two areas of sustainability and digitality are related, and what connects the two discourses. More importantly for TAP-TS, our aim is to establish which pedagogical approaches could be used for school education, specifically at primary level, to introduce the two subjects and educate the younger generation about sustainable use of technology, increase awareness of the impact of technology on the environment and society, and engage them in small actions for a more sustainable future.
We hope to contribute to TAP-TS with our expertise in media literacy and sustainability in the digital age as well as with our experience developed in the award-winning project on the life cycle of a smartphone called "ÖHA! - Ecologically sustainable media use at school and beyond" (https://oeha.phwien.ac.at). In 2022, we launched a new learning space called DINA Lab, which stands for “DIgitalität und NAchhaltigkeit” (Digitality and Sustainability), where we develop and test teaching and learning materials, and provide pre-service and in-service teacher training in the areas of sustainability, digitalization and media studies.
At the TU Darmstadt, we are already implementing the experiences of TAP-TS in teaching in the BA and MA in Education and in the teacher training programme. We are also setting up a NADI-Lab based on the DINA Lab at the PH Vienna and integrating it into the existing ComputerStudienWerkstatt at the TU Darmstadt. We are already working with TAP-TS learning materials in numerous projects and workshops with student teachers and in-service teachers.
Where can people find you? (i.e social media)
The PHVienna team consists of five people. On our websites, you can find further information as well as emails of our team members: Elena Revyakina, Klaus Himpsl-Gutermann, Florian Danhel, Martin Sankofi and Petra Szucsich.
The TU Darmstadt team consists of three people: Nina Grünberger, Judith Hoehling and Gregor Eckert. You can find further information on projects and contact details for the team members on the websites.
TAP-TS Faces: Mats Westerberg
Welcome to the third post of the "TAP-TS Faces" series! In this series of blog posts, we will be introducing you to the faces of TAP-TS, outlining their work with the project and their personal ambition related to the project. And in general, anything else that they're willing to share with us! For this post, we will be hearing from Mats Westerberg from K & R Education.
A little about me
I have always had a strong interest in learning more about foreign cultures and travelled as backpacker extensively both in Europe and all over the world in my late teens and early twenties. I am an engineer by basic training and trained in social sciences as a researcher. I normally work as professor at the entrepreneurship and innovation subject at Luleå University of Technology, but I also work for KR Education in some projects - such as this - where I use my 30 + years of experience as educator and researcher to help TAP-TS become as successful as possible in the role as ongoing project evaluator.
My work
Formative assessment – providing feedback with the purpose to improve rather than to judge if something is good or bad – has always been at center when I teach. When I learnt about Carol Dweck’s Mindset Theory, it helped me realize that life-long learning is not just a catch phrase, but actually possible and desirable for all. If we focus on learning and development instead of just performing well, we can lead better lives and have less anxiety in our daily activities. Promoting this dynamic mindset is something I try to do every day both for myself and for those I work with. Becoming more sustainable is a lot about learning and development as the best measures for becoming more sustainable depend on context and situation. Even if we know a lot about the “big picture” of what we need to strive towards, situation and context will always play a role and therefore it is central to always allow for learning and development. I like the green competence framework as it highlights that sustainability is complex, but yet a set of competences that can be learnt if we decide to do so. As my main competence as educator and researcher is entrepreneurship, I can clearly see that being entrepreneurial is central for achieving sustainability goals, which also the green competence framework portrays.
K & R Education
Our mission is to strengthen the individual’s inner drive through education.
We help preschools, schools, and other organizations to develop through education activities and on-going evaluation activities. Our company was established 1990 and has since the start worked closely with practice to apply state-of-the-art educational methodologies and modern pedagogy. We are trained pedagogues, in-service teachers, teachers’ educators, and certified on-going evaluators with a broad competence. Together with our customers and partners, we customize efforts to attain measurable results and permanent sustainable long-term effects. We have our office in Malmo, but we work with customers and partners all over Sweden and Europe. We are passionate about bringing sustainability and sustainability competences to the forefront as an educational common thread all over Europe- in courses, among teachers, in classrooms. We are also passionate about the connection between Green Competences and Entrepreneurial Competences as it is though entrepreneurial actions sustainability is achieved in practice!
TAP-TS Faces: Marie Kniest
Welcome to the second post of the "TAP-TS Faces" series! In this series of blog posts, we will be introducing you to the faces of TAP-TS, outlining their work with the project and their personal ambition related to the project. And in general, anything else that they're willing to share with us! For this post, we will be hearing from Marie Kniest from K & R Education.
A little about me
I have worked with people throughout my entire life, starting in emergency care, and then shifting my focus to the education sector. I have worked at all levels of the Swedish education system, from preschool to university, serving as a teacher, process leader, development leader, and assistant principal. I have a degree in Social Science, Educational Science, and Entrepreneurship. I am particularly interested in the holistic approach to how everything is interconnected—competencies, learning, language, interculturality, etc. In TAP-TS, I am one of the evaluators, with a focus on formative assessment.
My work
My everyday work revolves around mindset, entrepreneurial learning, and pedagogical organizational development. I am passionate about helping others succeed, both kids, youngsters and adults, through lifelong learning linked to the entrepreneurial mindset. I focus on development and learning instead of what is "right" and what is "wrong." With an entrepreneurial approach, our focus is on the positive and what works, ultimately making learning more sustainable. In this work, entrepreneurial skills and sustainability competencies in Green Comp complement each other, very well. In our assignments, we are often inside organizations, schools, preschools, for an extended period, 2-3 years, sometimes longer, as process development takes time and must be given time, especially for sustainable organizational development.
K & R Education
Our mission is to strengthen the individual’s inner drive through education.
We help preschools, schools, and other organizations to develop through education activities and on-going evaluation activities. Our company was established 1990 and has since the start worked closely with practice to apply state-of-the-art educational methodologies and modern pedagogy. We are trained pedagogues, in-service teachers, teachers’ educators, and certified on-going evaluators with a broad competence. Together with our customers and partners, we customize efforts to attain measurable results and permanent sustainable long-term effects. We have our office in Malmo, but we work with customers and partners all over Sweden and Europe. We are passionate about bringing sustainability and sustainability competences to the forefront as an educational common thread all over Europe- in courses, among teachers, in classrooms. We are also passionate about the connection between Green Competences and Entrepreneurial Competences as it is though entrepreneurial actions sustainability is achieved in practice!
TAP-TS Faces: Rachel Bowden
Welcome to the first post of the "TAP-TS Faces" series! In this series of blog posts, we will be introducing you to the faces of TAP-TS, outlining their work with the project and their personal ambition related to the project. And in general, anything else that they're willing to share with us! We're kicking off with Rachel, our project coordinator.
A little about me
I have worked as an international development volunteer in Nicaragua, and as an English teacher, teacher trainer and education project manager and researcher in Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal, India, Bangladesh and Rwanda. I have degrees in English, Education for Sustainability and applied linguistics. I am particularly interested in the intersection between decoloniality, multilingual education and sustainability. I am the project coordinator for TAP-TS – or as Mats said, “the spider in the web”!
My work
I am passionate about working towards high quality education and lifelong learning for all, in line with Sustainable Development Goal 4. I am particularly concerned with educational inequities within and between countries. I find sustainability education endlessly fascinating. For me, it involves understanding current crises – social, economic, and environmental – and how these are connected and their historical roots. It is also about exploring future alternatives and valuing different perspectives and practices. I love the fact that every ‘subject’ at school has important perspectives to contribute. So, of course, do people outside of schools: families, local communities, businesses. Given that un-sustainability has been caused by people with the most power in society today, there is a strong reason to learn from people who have been marginalised. Sustainability can be the frame, the reason, and the challenge to bring different people and perspectives together and forge new understandings and practices”.
For this blog post, we are delighted to post this reflection on the experience of our last summer school, from Andrea Vivas. Thank you Andrea!
This blog is about explaining about the interesting and relevant Teacher Academy Project (www.tap-ts.eu), and the experience of their first Summer School in Cyprus. It was a dream learning about sustainability on this beautiful island in Europe. A country full of culture, warm people, sand, waves, deep history and of course so much to learn In this case the host Institution was the Cyprus Pedagogical Institute, Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth and their highly professional team. We were lucky to stay at the modern Sun Hall Hotel in front of the beach in Larnaca. The planning was well thought out and not only regarding the Workshops but also offering participants the option to live the culture through their traditional meals, doing outdoor activities and getting to know the history of Larnaca. They gave us also a glance at the history of the country with a visit to the Observatory of Ammochostos in Famagusta.
The Summer School lasted 5 days (from 26 th June till 30 th June 2023), where we as student teachers and practicing teachers got to learn from different education organizations around Europe such us: Politecnico de Santarem (Portugal), TU Dresden (Germany), University College of Teacher Education (Vienna), Eummena (Belgium), University College Dublin, University of Bristol, Cape Greco Environmental Education Centre, Education Unit for the Environment and Sustainable Development – Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, Friedrich-Schiller-Gymnasium (Pirna), Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
Every day we met each other, people from different cultures (Hungary, Austria, Mexico, Germany, England, Venezuela, Portugal, Ireland, etc.), ages, and part of various education systems and learned together how one can teach and learn for sustainability. The dynamic of all the activities made it so interesting and diverse that I was never bored. Every organization had a practical activity planned out, about a sustainable relevant topic, which could be taught in our schools and universities and all of them were creative and innovative. We participated in each one of these “learning packages” as “hypothetical students”. That made it very interactive, and it was also planned time to reflect in our different groups about the learnings of the day. I remembered for example, building an ecosystem with Legos, and talking about the issues in it, discussing how to improve it, the focus here was to talk about biodiversity.
Talking about Sustainability and Digitality we got the chance to turn trash in to treasure and converting cellphone parts into something with a new propose. I used my imagination and created a necklace and earrings with bronze aluminum.
Another day we got to do a role play and play an online game (stopdisasters.com) where we had to make different choices to save a community from a flood and we could see immediately the consequences (the topic here was: Climate Crisis Resilience)
One of my favorite experiences was going to Cape Greco Environmental Center, where they showed us all the programs that they offer for schools with different sustainable topics, promoting the protection of the biodiversity in Cyprus. We got to do an experiment and watched the effect of oil falling in to water and how hard it can be to control and collect it from the ocean. After this there were outdoor activities at Malama Beach, including a snorkeling citizen science activity!
But I think for me, coming from Venezuela was unbelievable the fact of having the financial and organizational support from my University (TU Dresden) to live this learning experience and getting to know so much amazing people who had such knowledge and sensibility. Because sustainability is also about equal education and that is what I lived.
At last, to get the chance to reunite with the ocean, being able to see turtles and fishes jumping into the water, enjoying the palm trees and walking over the sand made it a magical experience. All of these made me fall in love with Cyprus and the TAP Summer School.
Teacher education staff and students from TU Dresden joined an international group of European educators in Santarem, Portugal at the beginning of June for the face to face part of the Active Learning Event ‘A sustainable Europe’. The event was part of Teacher Academy Project-Teaching Sustainability (TAP-TS), one of 11 inaugural Erasmus + Teacher Academies running from June 2022 until July 2025. TAP-TS aims to strengthen the sustainability education competences of primary and secondary student teachers, teacher educators and teachers through the co-production, piloting and use of learning and teaching materials, and participation in international courses and workshops as part of a growing community of practice of sustainability educators. During the first year of the project (June 2022 to July 2023) the main focus has been drafting learning and teaching materials, and piloting these locally and internationally, through a range of online, hybrid and face to face events.
Active Learning Event (ALE2), which took place from may the 8th until June 3rd , was structured as a hybrid event with three weeks of online work (including weekly webinars and self-study), followed by three days of Face-to-Face workshops in Polytechnic Institute of Santarém (PIS). The course was targeted at secondary level educators, from across curriculum subjects. In total, 42 participants enrolled for the online course, and 28 attended the face to face sessions. During this ALE, units and activities from Learning Teaching Packages “A sustainable Europe” and “Climate Crisis Resilience” were piloted. The first online week drew material from unit 1.
‘Sustainability and me’ and engaged participants with foundational sustainability concepts, values and thinking skills. The second online week drew material from unit 2. ‘a sustainable Europe’, with a focus on European policies and actions for sustainability. The third online week drew material from unit 3. ‘linguistic and cultural diversity for a sustainable Europe’, with a focus on multilingual and anti-racist education and language across the curriculum.
The 3-day face to face course was an important opportunity to bring participants together to build our community of practice and to further engagement with and provide feedback on course materials. In addition, we explored the role/s of education for sustainability and the European commission’s sustainability Competence Framework GreenComp (Bianchi et al, 2021). Apart from that, participants also enjoyed a tour of the inspirational education facilities at PIS, an outdoor education activity exploring the Tagus river (a site of biodiversity and cultural importance), and a plenary session with an invited speaker. In the evenings, the group enjoyed visits to local restaurants!
We are excited to announce that registration is now open for the first round of Teacher Academy Project-Teaching Sustainability (TAP-TS) sustainability education courses, for primary and secondary-level teachers, student teachers and teacher educators.
Our focus in this first round is the co-development and piloting of learning and teaching materials, which will be published as Open Educational Resources (OERs) in the third and final year of the project. Topics include: Climate crisis resilience, using serious games, environmental education, digitality and sustainability, green citizenship, linguistic and cultural diversity, whole school approaches, and entrepreneurship education.
Participants have the chance to interact with educators from across Europe online and through face to face events in Portugal and Cyprus. We are keen to include educators from diverse backgrounds, and with varying levels of experience of education for sustainability. The main language of courses is English.