1st short term staff training in Kalamata took place from 29th January till 02 February 2019.

The Directorate of Secondary Education of Kalamata, in the Peloponnese Prefecture of south Greece, is participating as co-ordinator in the Erasmus+ project “mapp my Europe” for the school years 2018-19 and 2019-2020.The general objective of the project is to foster employability and social inclusion and cohesion through an educational, participatory and intercultural approach to European Cultural Heritage.

Within the framework of the project, the Directorate was in charge of organizing the first Transnational Short-Term Staff Training in Kalamata from the 29th of January 2019 to the 2nd of February 2019 about non-formal methods for Cultural Heritage Education. Twenty youth workers coming from the four partners of the project – Romania, Bulgaria, Spain and Greece – took part in the Training course, the organization of which had the Environmental Centre of Kalamata.

 

What follows is the agenda of the short term staff training.

On Tuesday the 29th of January, the organizing committee of the Directorate welcomed the participants and guided them to the historical center of Kalamata.

On Wednesday the 30th of January, at the beginning of the day there was  an Opening session, at which Ms Ioanna Ravani, facilitator of the course, presented the aims and objectives of the training and  Mr Filaretos Vourkos from the Social Youth Development, K.A.NE., presented the principles of non formal education. Ice breaking and team building activities followed the introductory session. The participants had the chance to take part in a treasure hunt in order to meet the most interesting places of Kalamata. After lunch break the participants were driven to Karelia Collection of traditional Greek costumes (museum), at which facilitators Ioanna Ravani, Evangelia Koromila and George Argyroiliopoulos presented several activities that could help youth engage in the thematic of the museum and experience a valuable visit. The participants, inspired by the whole session and relying on their own experience, also had to design in groups similar activities for youth. The first day closed with an intercultural night, which was organized by the DIDEM in cooperation with the Social Youth Development, K.A.NE. The participants got acquainted with several elements of the civilization of the other countries, as participants from each country had to present national traditional recipes, songs and dances.

On Thursday the 31st of January, the participants visited the archaeological site of Ancient Messene. A thorough guided tour was made by Ms Ioanna Ravani there, while several activities based on non formal learning were held. For example, the participants had to decrypt a message at the Arcadian Gate, to take part in a debate concerning a dilemma on the management of the cultural heritage, to vote in the “ancient way”, to think about democracy and other values coming from the past. A visit at the museum of Ancient Messene followed. After the lunch break, the participants, working in their national teams, had to design innovative activities on Cultural Heritage Education according to the morning visits. They also had to present them and get feedback of the proposed activities from the other groups. All the activities had to involve youngsters with fewer opportunities.

On Friday the 1st of February, Ms Ioanna Ravani presented the main tools and methods with which the activities of the previous days were designed/developed and guided the participants to think on the scope of the activities. The participants also prepared a presentation which depicted the impact of the whole training on them in order to present it at an open to community ceremony which would take place at the end of the day. At last they filled in assessment questionnaires and were informed about Youthpass process. The day closed with a farewell dinner.

Saturday the 2nd of February was a travel day.