TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Vitalie Cirhana
The main aim of our project is to bring together people who are interested in using outdoor activities as methods for learning in youth exchanges and help them understand better the educational approach of active methods. One of the main goals is to encourage the youth workers to develop and diversify their training and facilitating skills in an open space environment.
The more specific objectives of the Training are:
-To ensure a safe learning environment for the participants, in order to inform them about the need to encourage and provide opportunities for outdoor learning.
- To have an experiential case study by developing outdoor learning circles with children, activities that can be thoroughly studied and analyzed for further development of the experiential learning
- To create a clear feedback and mutual support between the youth workers, who would be interested and motivated to develop a range of organized activities that could take place in a variety of ways in predominantly outdoor environments.
- To ensure a transparent resource and knowledge transfer with the partner organization, so that they could carry one similar projects by implementing all the knowledge gained within this project.
34 youth workers, facilitators and trainers, coming from 13 countries and 17 partner organizations, 9 countries and 9 partners from the European Union (Romania, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain), and 4 countries and 8 partners from Eastern Europe & Caucasus, (Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine) 17 partners in total.
The way we planned the 8 day training, follows the idea that after the "Getting to Know each other" phase, being acknowledged with the project and the environment, the participants will have 2 and a half days of theoretical sessions held by the two trainers, following, they will have some cultural events, where they will be given the change to further discover the culture and the reality of other communities. The practical part of the training, which implies the process of developing "Education outside the classroom" tools, which will be later used in the activities within the summer camp in the area. The last day will be completely dedicated to future project planning and training development.
The project included a various range of non-formal methods which will be based on experiential learning, this way, all the parts implied will be able to acquire valuable skills, competencies and attitudes to their personal and professional development.
All the participants appreciate importance of NFE methods in working with young people and develop their skills in working with youngsters using Outdoor activities.
Almost all participants noted what their found the training useful for their own personal development and one of them even expressed the desire to orginize in the nearest future some outdoor activities with their beneficiars.
To work on teambuilding and create an environment where the trainers and participants are in the best possible mindset to learn from the trainers and other participants, to create a framework where participants will learn and share about their particular knowledge and experience, and be creative and innovative in developing solutions to the issues presented during the project. To explore together with participants topics as motivation, youth participation, facilitation of learning activities.