Contrary to the majority of European environmental education projects and initiatives that are aimed at youth and pupils, the Climate Box project expands to target groups that are not typically considered, specifically adults from disadvantaged backgrounds and with lower levels of education. With the main assumption being that the target groups may not perceive climate issues as priority due to their socio-economic status and related challenges, the project aims to provide them with tailored tools introducing climate issues, further explaining how their personal choices and behaviour can make a difference. Therefore, following the results gathered during the research stage of the project (IO1, Climate Education for Disadvantaged Adults Report found here), the Climate Box Consortium has developed the Climate Box Training Materials consisting of 60+ micro-learning units.
The units have been tailored to the educational needs of disadvantaged adults and cover relevant every-day aspects of climate education within six main topics: Climate Change and Personal Impact; Waste and Packaging; Personal Choice – Food & Nutrition; Personal Choice: Consumption and efficiency; Environment – Pollution and protection; and Networking and Multiplication. The aim of these micro-units is to encourage the main target group to reflect on their behaviour and make climate-friendly personal decisions. The units are self-contained and designed to be used in an adult education context, i.e. in classrooms, while teaching other thematic areas such as language courses, labour market programmes, and integration courses. They contain all necessary instructions for the educators on how to use each resource and in which context(s), without the need of being a climate education expert, at the same time omitting lengthy preparations.
The director of Out of the Box International, Marko Paunovic stated “Innovative adult education encompassing sustainable education and the topic of climate change is key for successful long-term changes in our communities. The Climate Box educational materials and tools will contribute with its quality to successful learning outcomes empowering both educators and final benefices.”
The Climate Box Project, co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, is led by BUPNET (Germany) in collaboration with Out of the Box (Belgium), Caminos (Spain), CATRO (Bulgaria), Die Berater (Austria) and CESIE (Italy).
