Background and Objectives
HortiFoodInclusion Facts
The ERASMUS+ project HortiFoodInclusion started in November 2025 and will last until October 2028. Five international partners are working together to provide knowledge and ideas for teachers and trainers in the vocational field of horticulture and food processing to create sense-based teaching materials. Adapting learning materials, with consideration of addressing more different senses, offers better job education opportunities for people with learning disabilities or other impairments like hearing difficulties.
Project objectives
- better integration of hearing-impaired and/or learning-disabled people into the labor market
- creation of sense-based teaching-learning materials
- strengthening systemic and sustainable thinking of learners
- training for VET teachers and trainers to create sense-based teaching materials
Supporting teachers and trainers
The aim of the project is to help teachers and trainers in vocational training to learn how to prepare sense-based teaching-learning materials for their VET students in horticulture and food processing.
Based on the experiences of a Blended Learning Course during the project period, a Massive Open Online Course will be created for all interested teachers. In this self-directed format, they will gain knowledge about tailoring teaching content into a more sense-based approach for their learners.
Sense-based learning materials….
enable people with learning disabilities and/or hearing impairments to better understand learning content. By improving their skills, they can also increase their job opportunities.
Project Partners
The following institutions are cooperating together within the HortiFoodInclusion project:
University College for Agrarian and Environmental Pedagogy
The University College for Agrarian and Environmental Pedagogy Vienna (UCAEP) is a science and pedagogic center for the education of teachers and consultants in the professional fields of agriculture and forestry as well as environmental education. In addition to Bachelor’s and Master’s degree programmes, a wide range of continuing education programmes and occupation-specific research are offered.
Both the rural and the urban Austrian economic area will be influenced more and more by structural, ecological and social change in the future. Well-trained people and the opportunity of further education in the development of new rural occupations are central elements of a sustainable development.
About 800 students study at UCAEP and the university employs about 90 persons. The University College for Agrarian and Environmental Pedagogy enables an occupational education based on scientific knowledge.
Fundacion Monte Mediterráneo
The issue which, in 1992 Rio de Janeiro as “sustainable development” was discussed, was to have practical applications in Andalusia. This new venture of combining sustainable development practices with the ecological development of a landscape, the Dehesa, had started! The original founders and other interested parties contributed funds to the foundation which were used to purchase the ranch, barn, outbuildings, and agricultural lands and to establish the necessary infrastructure. As a result, the operation would be able to support itself. The philosophy behind the methods of operation of the Dehesa ecosystem – the last barrier to the desert – is “sustainability” which means that traditional methods were to be used to generate profits from farming, raising of livestock and forestry. At the same time, those methods are designed and used to maintain and heighten the production quotas to make the best use of the potential of the resources available. Besides the agro-eco activities, the Fundacion Monte Mediterráneo does intense awareness raising, educational and training work, research, realizes rural development as well as international projects and markets its own products. The foundation was entered into the public domain via the BOJA, no 40 on March 26, 1994. It is registered under the number HU 521 [before A 26/S.E.15] in the state register of Andalusia.
Wonderchapter
Wonderchapter is a Portuguese micro-enterprise based in Évora, with experience in vocational education and training, social inclusion and sustainable rural development. Its work combines psychology, qualitative research and innovative training methodologies, with a particular focus on preparing people with special needs for employment in agriculture and the green economy. Its areas of expertise include training shepherds to work with sheepdogs and preparing animal carers for work on farms. Wonderchapter also brings experience in European cooperation projects, participatory processes, and the design, implementation and evaluation of inclusive learning activities.
Lišov Múzeum
Lišov Múzeum is a community-based non-profit organisation established in 2015 in the rural village of Lišov, central Slovakia. it focuses on preserving cultural heritage while connecting it with non-formal education, rural development, sustainable tourism and community life.
Its activities include traditional crafts, local food and farming traditions, beekeeping, environmental education and hands-on learning. Through local and international activities, opportunities are created for people of different ages and backgrounds to learn, share skills and experience rural heritage in a practical and meaningful way.
Berufsbildungswerk Mosbach-Heidelberg
The Berufsbildung Mosbach-Heidelberg (BBW) offers a wide range of vocational rehabilitation services. Its target group is young people with various impairments. In addition to measures in vocational preparation and vocational orientation, it offers young people the opportunity to start training in one of almost 40 professions. The theoretical training takes place at one of their special vocational schools in Mosbach or Heidelberg.
BBW always keeps an eye on the living environment of its trainees. In doing so, it considers both the near and the distant environment, and in this context, it has been carrying out various international projects for years.