BilRess II - Website

Module Support for educational institutions

Background

Studies conducted as part of BilRess have shown that the topics of resource efficiency and conservation have so far only been anchored to a limited extent in vocational training and continuing professional development. Some special materials or projects deal with individual topics and partial aspects, but a systematic and broad anchoring is still lacking. Resources are usually associated with energy resources. A review of around 250 curricula for training occupations has shown that resource efficiency and conservation are virtually absent from the training curricula (see Baedeker et al. 2013: Interim Report No. 2 on the BilRess project).

In vocational training, however, the topic of material efficiency, which is related to resource efficiency, is dealt with in many training occupations. Material efficiency is primarily dealt with in terms of cost savings and not on the basis of normative aspects (sustainability, intergenerational equity of resource utilisation).

However, resource conservation and efficiency can be linked to the existing curricula in a variety of ways. On the one hand, all training regulations (and framework curricula) include the topic of "environmental protection in the company", which also involves avoiding the generation of waste (unused resources). In addition, many training programmes include general learning fields such as politics, economics or social studies as well as special learning fields (e.g. the learning field "Recording and documenting value streams" for industrial clerks). The topics can be well anchored in these learning fields. Against this background, there are both needs and didactic starting points for the development and provision of materials as well as for communicating the topic to multipliers and trainers.

Realisation

Firstly, a didactic concept and a framework concept were created, taking into account the fields of action from ProgRess II. In the course of developing the materials, two workshops were held in which needs were identified and drafts discussed. The basic principle developed for the creation of the materials is as follows:

• Basis of the materials: Fields of action and design aspects of ProgRess II
• Factual analysis of all fields of action (presentation of the topic as further training)
• Factual analysis of selected design aspects, subject matter as further education
• Teaching suggestions for selected design aspects (teaching/learning materials)

Following this scheme, primary concepts were developed and discussed with experts. Draft materials were then developed and used in numerous test events (HF = field of action from ProgRess):

• HF 0: Basic module ProgRess - A programme for resource conservation and resource efficiency
• HF 1: Sustainable supply of raw materials with the lesson series The renewable office and the factual analysis Securing a sustainable supply of raw materials
• HF 2 Increase resource efficiency in production implemented in the "Ressourcenscout" project (ZRE and IZT, on behalf of the SME initiative)
• HF 3: Designing products and consumption to conserve resources (abbreviation PKR) with the lesson series The phenomenon of obsolescence
• HF 4: Expand resource-efficient circular economy (abbreviation REK) with the lesson series: Coffee-to-go - an "environmental sin"?
• HF 5: Sustainable building and sustainable urban development
• HF 6: Resource-efficient information and communication technology (abbreviation RIK) with the lesson series The ecological rucksack of a mobile phone

Once the materials had been finalised, test events were held in order to test the created materials as examples. The teaching and learning materials were presented at various test events with environmental educators, vocational school teachers, senior school teachers and senior school pupils. This has shown that the teaching suggestions, e.g. "The ecological rucksack of a mobile phone" or "Coffee-to-go - an 'environmental sin'?" can be used both in the vocational school context of general education subjects and in the upper secondary level of general education schools or even in the higher SEK I level. The same applies to the further education materials on the fields of action, as teachers at both general and vocational schools are only familiar with raw materials issues to a limited extent.

A total of around 213 teachers from schools, universities and extracurricular educational institutions, e.g. environmental centres, were reached at the events. The training courses, which were attended exclusively by teachers, were attended by 93 participants. A total of 125 pupils from lower and upper secondary schools were reached, including 50 vocational school pupils. The events lasted a total of 26 hours. It became apparent that

• the training materials for teachers and
• the teaching materials

can be used in general education subjects at secondary schools, grammar schools, vocational schools (OSZ) as well as vocational schools. It was therefore recommended,

• to extend the original focus from further education and vocational training to general education schools (sixth form centres, grammar schools) and,
• that the further training (test events) can be carried out cumulatively with fewer hours in each case.

All materials are available on the LehrRess to download ready.

BilRess network conferences

In the second extension, six BilRess network conferences were held in Berlin, Frankfurt and Friedberg / Hesse and extensive network activities were organised. The following conferences were held:

BilRess Network Conference 5, 20/09/2016, Berlin

The 5th network conference on "Experiencing resource competence in theory and practice" was held on 20 September 2016 at the Institute for Machine Tools and Production Engineering at the Technical University of Berlin with around 100 guests. The event was very successful overall, and the participants were particularly satisfied with the newly introduced practical work at the nine learning stations. The accompanying exhibition has also established itself as a permanent fixture.

BilRess Network Conference 6, 21 March 2017, Frankfurt am Main

The main topic of the conference was "Digitalisation & Resource Education". The 6th BilRess network conference was successfully held on 21 March 2017 with a total of around 60 participants, 15 exhibitors and 6 learning stations at the Ökohaus in Frankfurt. The concept, which had already been trialled at the last event in Berlin, with learning stations for practical experience of resource skills was once again very well received. Presentations and a guided tour of the exhibition rounded off the event.

BilRess Network Conference 7, 14 September 2017, IGA Berlin

The 7th BilRess network conference on "Education:Resources:Garden:Landscape" took place on 14 September 2017 in Berlin as part of the International Garden Exhibition IGA. There were 83 participants, 16 exhibitors and eight learning stations. The learning stations were located on the grounds of the IGA, so that the afternoon was spent outdoors and the existing offers at the IGA (which were finalised for the conference) were integrated into the event concept. The now tried-and-tested combination of lectures, learning stations and exhibition with tour was supplemented by the programme item "Table Talks - Ideas for Resource Efficiency and Resource Conservation in GALA Construction".

BilRess Network Conference 8, 06/03/2018, Frankfurt am Main

The 8th BilRess network conference on the topic: "Resource education - needs and perspectives of learners" took place on 6 March 2018 at the Ökohaus in Frankfurt am Main. 84 people took part. There were 19 exhibitors and 12 learning stations. As the focus was on learners, significantly more learners from the respective educational sectors took part.

BilRess Network Conference 9, 18 September 2018, Friedberg / Hesse

The 9th network conference took place on 18 September 2018 at the Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen (THM) in Friedberg, Hesse. The topic of the conference was "Learning and teaching in learning labs and learning factories - practical ways of creating resources". The conference was attended by 86 participants, exceeding the number of participants from the previous year.

The day before the conference, on 17 September 2018, a four-hour 1st BilRess Resource Games Afternoon was offered, at which various stakeholders presented their (simulation) games on the topic of resource efficiency and resource conservation and the participants were able to play them. The afternoon of games was very well attended with a positive response from the 38 people involved and exceeded the organisers' expectations.

As in the past, a mixture of lectures, an exhibition and learning stations were presented on the day of the conference. Another new feature was a resource circle. Participants were able to complete the practical learning stations there independently. This programme item was also very well received by the participants.

The visit to the Learning Factory of the Industrial Engineering department at THM was another speciality. The participants were organised into two groups. In addition, two further learning stations took place alternately in parallel to the visit to the learning factory. The participants' feedback on the conference was positive.

BilRess Network Conference 10, 19 March 2019, Berlin

The 10th network conference took place on 19 March 2019 at the VKU Forum in Berlin. The anniversary conference with the theme "Successfully shaping resource education - initiatives, projects, actions" was very well attended with 103 participants. The morning keynote speech was given by Prof Dr Stephan Rammler on the topic of "The future of education in the context of global megatrends". In their presentation, Prof Holger Rohn and Dr Michael Scharp looked back on past conferences and the work of the BilRess network and introduced active network members, who are also presented in the BilRess brochure. The morning programme was rounded off by a discussion round on the topic of "Resource turnaround through resource education" with Prof. Dr Christa Liedtke, Barbara Hemkes, Dr Martin Vogt and Malte Schmidthals as panellists. After lunch, the 18 exhibitors were presented in a tour of the exhibition. The afternoon focussed on the projects, institutions and campaigns: In four workshops as well as an interactive resource circle with 11 stations, participants were able to discuss and learn from each other.