In May 2014, we did interviews with all Partners that filled in the Educational Structures Questionnaire in October 2012. This interview was supposed to show if and how the Educational Structures in the different countries have developed since 2012. The full interviews for each partner can be found on the respective country page in the Educational Structures menu.
When asked, the partner organisations said that in general, more educational offers (courses, training, online-material and tutorials) are available in 2014 than in 2012 and that the number of teachers, pupils and accredited Permaculture designers has doubled or even tripled.
Countries with emerging structures of Permaculture education have greatly benefitted from the Partnership, through the display of already existing structures and models in other countries permitting them to start designing their own Permaculture organisation and Diploma pathways. Also, the confidence and capacity building of their few permaculture teachers has greatly improved through exchange and learning teaching and facilitation techniques at the meetings themselves.
That means, true patterns of branching and cell-division can be observed: teachers of emerging countries teaming up with experienced teachers from Britain or Germany thus doubling the offer of courses in their country. More people in the country are actively involved in existing or evolving organisations. In places like Denmark, where Permaculture “has always been around”, but not very much backed-up by people, new members and teachers fuel the organisation and completely new projects (the creation of a danish network of LAND centres) are followed with enthusiasm.
On the other hand, countries with a long history of Permaculture teaching (Britain, Germany) have refined their structures, gained and reached more activists also in other areas and some are considering to become accredited educational institutions. These countries were also the driving force in one of the follow-up projects of the EPT: an application for an Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership to create a European network of Permaculture learning centres (“PLANT”).
Also, more regionalisation (Germany), national (Spain, Ireland) and international Partnerships with non-funded countries (Slovenia with Croatia, Macedonia and Ukraine; Denmark with Sweden and Norway; Spain with other areas outside Catalunya) are happening.
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