From 27 to 30 April, DEHOGA Brandenburg took part in a contact seminar organised by the Austrian Agency for Education in Europe (OeAD) to gain a better understanding of the current debate on the climate crisis and dwindling resources and to exchange ideas on sustainability and green skills in vocational education and training with 30 colleagues from 8 European countries.

It was also an excellent opportunity to present the TourX project and to seek points of contact on the topic of education in sustainability in tourism, the hotel industry and gastronomy.

When it comes to sustainability, the priorities are clear and the most important keywords are widely known. However, there were some new things to learn that can be easily integrated into our own educational work.

The individual thematic workshops quickly revealed the enormous challenge of finding a balance between sustainable action and individual needs in everyday life.

It is a controversial topic, caught between the global climate crisis, the formulated necessities and requirements to address it, and our own actions. This was sometimes evident in detail in the various workshops.

Colleagues from Austrian HTL schools showed that sustainability is best taught when its principles are not just taught in a simplistic way, but when the change in educational paradigms determines the practical everyday training.

Questioning what has been tried and tested and adapting it to current challenges is an approach that should be given more space for discussion in what is sometimes only a vociferous ‘exchange of arguments’.

Equally exciting was the work on the ‘Climate Puzzle’, an interactive workshop that highlighted the causes, interrelationships and effects of climate change. This workshop was so interesting because it visualised the ‘known’ theories on the effects of the climate crisis in a methodologically brilliant way and made the topic emotionally accessible for everyday work in education and training.

This seminar on sustainability imparted new knowledge and skills related to the buzzwords ‘sustainability’ and ‘green skills.’ It was perfectly organised, the topics were exciting, and the presentations and statements were interesting.

It was a great experience that provided new impetus for the work in the TourX project.