In the Mediterranean area there are plenty of small-scale farms due to the land distribution by legacy and to geographical aspects characterized by mountainous areas. Many entrepreneurs have seen medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs), known as well as herbs, as an alternative crop to be implemented in these areas where traditional ones (cereal, vineyard, olive trees…) have no place because they are not profitable. Also people escaping from urban areas due the economic crisis see an opportunity in this.But then they face to the reality: the small productions are not enough to bulk-selling to wholesalers, and decide to elaborate products made of herbs to sell directly to consumer. So they have to deal with different aspects (processing, safety aspects, norms and procedures, marketing, etc.) that go far beyond those simply producing herbs (cultivating and raw material transformation). Even more, most of them have not the capacity to invest in expensive industrial equipments, so they focus in producing in a high quality and traditional way, becoming herbal craftsmen.But there no exists specific legal regulation for this profession, so no specialised training is addressed for this craftsmanship.The main objective of HERBARTIS project is to achieve the professional development of adult learners by developing useful tools and methods, improving the offer of high quality learning opportunities, and validating the non-formal learning and career guidance. For this reason its specific objective is to provide educators with all the competences and skills needed to deliver high quality services and to develop training tools addressed to adult learners from the primary agricultural production to achieve professional skills’ recognition of craft processing of aromatic and medicinal plants for obtaining high quality products.A partnership of different Mediterranean organisations dealing with education, research, rural development and business assessment within the medicinal and aromatic plants’ production, industrial processing, quality and marketing will work together with this aim: Centre Tecnològic Forestal de Catalunya and Institut de Recerca i Tecnologies Agroalimentàries (Spain), Université Européenne des Senteurs & Saveurs (France), Associação para o Desenvolvimento do Concelho de Moura (Portugal), Associazione Terre dei Savoia and Consiglio per la Ricerca in Agricultura e l'Analisi dell'Economia Agraria (Italy).To reach the objectives the methodology is based in knowing deeply the herbs craft’s production sector needs, the existing training, designing a new curricula and the syllabus of a blended course (virtual/face-to-face), developing a high quality learning material according to technical and legal requirements and implementing a useful, practical and reachable training to adult learners using ICT tools and transnational mobilities, to enhance the peer-learning and the contact with existing businesses.So, 4 blended courses on herbal craft’s production will be implemented, one per country. Each course will have an on-line course, face-to-face practical workshops and virtual networking activities. These courses will be complemented with transnational training activities (one per country) where a technical seminar, networking workshops and professional visits to sector’s companies will take place. 4 intellectual outputs are previewed:- Guidelines of training methodologies and policy recommendations for qualification recognition of herbal craft’s production (book and reports).- E-learning platform on herbal craft’s production (Moodle).- Syllabus of a blended course on herbal craft’s production (brochure)- Training materials on herbal craft’s production (course texts, training videos, seminars’ proceedings, herbal companies’ reports, networking conclusions).This project will allow participating partners’ staff improving their teaching skills on MAPs processing and find a common workspace to strengthen their collaboration, enhancing the knowledge chain, technology transfer and networking with MAPs sector stakeholders. Adult learners participating in blended courses will have the opportunity to improve multilingualism, technical, digital and social skills, and to interact with other learners and realities in the blended transnational mobilities. Other MAPs sector stakeholders (producers, craftsmen, entrepreneurs, companies, students) and education providers will be able to access to open educational resources that will improve their knowledge and training opportunities. Finally, the guidelines provided by the project will be useful to influence education, agriculture, industry and business' decision makers about the sector requirements and training needs, and strengthen the network with MAPs sector stakeholders and professional associations from other countries, in order to address to similar problems and jointly find solutions and driving specifications proposals to policy makers.

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"<< Background >>The COVID-19 pandemic, by restricting movement and forcing the closure of cultural heritage sites/institutions, has strongly affected the entire cultural sector, which is now struggling to try to recover.The fruition of culture has come to a turning point: it requires the design and implementation of innovative practices, new forms of promotion, communication, access and transmission of knowledge. This change of perspective involves also the definition of a new vision, related the environmental issue: cultural institutions must increasingly act as a bridge connecting Nature, Culture and the Environment. With respect to these challenges, a new, correct and mature use of digital tools is essential.A precondition for this to concretely happen is to promote a multidisciplinary VET education, which includes the natural, human and digital sciences, necessary to train and forge renewed professional figures able to help address the challenges of the cultural sector. DIGICULT offers an innovative e-learning pathway, based on digital tools and focused on cultural heritage, with the aim of developing disciplinary, key and life skills, improving learners’ key competences as summarized in the recommendations of the European Commission and the European Council: communication in the mother tongue, communication in foreign languages, digital expertise, social, civic and environmental competences, initiative and entrepreneurship, cultural awareness.This e-learning pathway can motivate learners with reference also to young people at risk of leaving school since it transforms their knowledge and passion for digital tools (such as video games or social media) and their increasing environmental sensitivity into skills useful for their professional future. Trainers/teachers can experience a new mixed teaching approach that integrates digital, foreign languages and learning-through-practice.The DIGICULT project, in pursuing this educational pathway and being centred on a new cultural paradigm, is coherent with some SDGS - Sustainable Development Goals - set by the United Nations 2030 Agenda:Goal 4 - Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and to promote lifelong learning opportunities for all;Goal 5 - Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls;Goal 8 - Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all;Goal 12 - Ensure sustainable consumption and production patternsGoal 17 - Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development.DIGICULT will promote these goals through promoting:- a formative / cultural narration that takes into account the environmental context of cultural heritage;- an e-learning pathway aimed at deepening some SDGS - Sustainable Development Goals, the concepts of ecological and digital transition, the new dimension of cultural heritage;- a game aimed at providing both quality education / services and digitization / innovation in cultural institutions.- a conscious and environmentally friendly cultural consumption pattern (e.g. cultural events with low environmental impact).Furthermore, the DIGICULT project will take place in a context characterized by the ""New European Bauhaus"" strongly promoted by the European Commission to strengthen the links between the world of culture and creativity and the world of production, science and technology, to guide the ecological transition pursued by the Green New Deal and the New Generation of the EU. DIGICULT involves:• 6 European country with strong expertise in the cultural heritage, educational and digital fields.• VET learners - young people (14-30 years old) attending training courses.• VET learners - trainers involved in training courses.<< Objectives >>The project wants to achieve the development of new competences, thanks to an innovative educational pattern conceived as a replicable model, up to the challenges of the cultural sector: the design and implementation of innovative practices, new forms of promotion, communication, access and transmission of knowledge based on the assumptions of digital and green transition.DIGICULT, in coherence with Council Recommendation on vocational education and training for sustainable competitiveness, social fairness and resilience and the Digital Education Action Plan, focuses on synergies between cultural heritage and digital education in VET considering the following key factors:• COVID-19 crisis has brought greater awareness of the need to improve the use of technology both in VET and cultural heritage sectors;• living and learning cultural heritage has to continue to be a source of resilience, even if enjoyed at a distance, as young and adult people continue to draw inspiration, joy and solidarity;• changing labour market underlines the need to provide innovative learning methods and to empower guidance services in order to facilitate agile adaptation to new labour market requirements;• VET trainers and learners need to perform new roles in the digital era in order to be resilient and future-ready for their personal and professional life.<< Implementation >>The project consists of 3 phases, supervised through a continuous evaluation activity. Every phase is divided in activities, aiming to address specific tasks and achieve precise project results.Phase 1 TOWARDS AN INNOVATIVE CURRICULUM FOR THE CULTURAL HERITAGE DIGITAL EDUCATION•Project Result 1 DIGITAL CULTURAL HERITAGE: AN INNOVATIVE CURRICULUM- the definition of the training methodology for the pilot course (Act 1.1)- the developing of the strategy on how to welcome different learners (Act 1.2)Phase 2 IMPLEMENTATION AND VALIDATION OF THE E-LEARNING DIGICULT PATHWAY•Project Results DIGICULT E-LEARNING PATHWAY AND VALIDATION- the creation of the content of the training modules identify as relevant in new digital, methodological and relational competences (Act 2.1)- the development of digital educational resources (Act 2.2)- the piloting of e-learning Pathway and validation report (Act 2.3+ Act 2.4)Phase 3 CREATION OF THE DIGICULT EDUCATIONAL GAME•Project Result DIGICULT EDUCATIONAL GAME- the design and the realization of DIGICULT educational game (Act 3.1 + Act 3.2).The project methodology aims to maximize the involvement of the learners alternating meeting and practical activities, allowing participants to immediately put into practice the skills acquired through fruitful discussion with participants of other countries.The use of digital tools like e-learning platform, social networks, the creation of digital outputs (e.g. the design of a virtual game) will help increase their practical involvement and boost the expertise useful for their professional development.In order to ensure a long-term DIGICULT sustainability, the consortium ensures the all the educational resources, materials and tools developed will remain at disposal of partners and public on an open-source platform. This platform will be linked to partner's websites and its impact will be multiplied thanks to their diffusion (through promotion and dissemination) and use in different contexts and situations.<< Results >>DIGICULT wants to cope with the changing ways of culture fruition and at the same time to safeguard access to contents by all. This implies to improve the use of technology in VET, to adapt pedagogies and develop digital skills, to encourage greater interaction with technology and more efficient learning and teaching practices, the use of alternative learning channels, equally inclusive, but capable of being flexible and adaptable to the new context. Since the cultural place is an educational place, this must be experienced (and therefore narrated) in an engaging and memorable way.DIGICULT offers an innovative e-learning pathway with the aim of developing disciplinary, key and life skills, improving learners’ key competences as summarized in the recommendations of the European Commission and the European Council: communication in the mother tongue, communication in foreign languages, digital expertise, social and civic competences, initiative and entrepreneurship, cultural awareness.This e-learning pathway, based on digital tools and focused of cultural heritage, can motivate learners with reference also to young people at risk of leaving school - since it transforms their knowledge and passion for digital tools (such as video games or social media) into skills useful for their professional future. Trainers/teachers can experience a new mixed teaching approach that integrates digital, foreign languages and learning-through-practice. Furthermore, the collaboration with partner countries will allow recipients to acquire additional skills and to exchange views.The project is expected to have a more general impact at all levels (local, regional, national and European) mainly because:• it will strengthen digital and technological skills of ""digital natives"" learners with a specific focus on the cultural heritage, making them more aware about the impact of the digital technology in this area;• it will increase learners’ resilience by promoting and implementing competences for the digital transformation in the cultural heritage area and related processes;• it will enhance digital possibilities for learning and engaging with cultural heritage;• it will equip beneficiaries with new life, technical, pedagogical and creative skills;• it will encourage a broad and conscious use of the European cultural heritage in VET;• it will increase awareness on VET learners and trainers in the field of culture and cultural heritage.The results of the project will also represent a powerful and lasting outcome to ensure the continuity of DIGICULT after the end of the implementation phase. All project results will in fact remain at stakeholders’ disposal, in order to be useful and inspiring for future action.Indeed, the DIGICULT project wants to help achieve the SDGS - Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations 2030 Agenda (Goals 4-5-8-12-17)."