CULTURE AND HERITAGE IN ICELAND.

A SUSTAINABLE LIFESTYLE CONNECTED WITH THE LOCAL ENVIRONMENT.

COURSE INFORMATION

CULTURE AND HERITAGE course is aimed for teachers and school staff from pre-school level to primary, secondary, vocational, adult and special needs education, staff of non-government organizations, government and policy makers and company staff. Non-native English trainers expecting participants to have at least B1 level of English proficiency.

You will learn how to preserve and disseminate the local heritage that all of us have in our cities. Iceland will show you old legends and stunning places so you can prepare the same taking in account your teaching background and your own knowledge of your country. Teachers will summarize the course in a short presentation making comparisons between Iceland and their own countries. This is the way to learn how to preserve and disseminate the local heritage that all of us have in our cities.

METHODOLOGY

CULTURE AND HERITAGE course is based on practical lessons and trips to discover local heritage based on different fields of education. The course will have amazing visits, stunning sightseeing, lectures and workshops to ensure full comprehension of the final task. You will receive pills of knowledge about different fields of Education such as Science, Nature, History, Literature, Geography, … enjoying old legends of Iceland and visiting stunning places of the island. Everyday you’ll have a task to do related to the final job that every teacher should present on the last day.

Our experienced trainers will support and stimulate the networking and cooperation among participants. We organize workshops, networking, cultural, sport and historical activities in order to give participants the opportunity to exchange best-practices and establish professional cooperation and links. These activities are a very good example of how to organise activities in a possible common future KA2 project. The expected training activity has been structured so that the participants can transfer know-how and develop needed skills to create and manage a proposal with real success.

Teachers will have the chance to assess the Iceland preservation of Nature and they have to trace a guideline to do with their own students once they have returned to their countries. By the end of the course, participants should know how to preserve their local heritage thanks to Icelandic experience. To ensure that, participants will work on a travel journey taking notes about inputs received by different trainers they will have daily in the course. So, teachers will acquire concrete skills on how to design a plan to conserve local culture and work with their own students. Furthermore, trainers will make extensive use of evidence-based examples and experiences.

In the end of the course, the company will provide the participants an attendance certificate including the detailed information about the course, e.g. title, programme and schedule. In addition, a Europass Mobility Certificate can be added on request.

MAIN OBJECTIVES

CULTURE AND HERITAGE course covers all the needs of the project cycle to preserve local culture. As a teacher, you will have to adapt Iceland experience to your personal situation and your own reality in order to create a successful plan. The plan will start developing the idea, finding the right partners, designing a successful project, assessing during all the process –not only at the end– to manage properly and reporting it. In detail, the concrete goals of the course are:

To improve the knowledge about how to create preservation projects in order to foster European integration based on local culture.
To empower and to train teachers, education staff and those interested in preserving local Heritage.
To know a great experience based on legend and culture and be able to transfer the good practices in a satisfactory way to their own school centers.
To strengthen European collaboration and real networking among participants in the course.
To share experiences of local collaboration and national projects from different organizations in order to be more effective in our proposal.

Thanks to this course the participants will:

Improve their practical skills related to the preservation of local heritage.
Meet very interesting teachers and acquire great knowledge about other local cultures.
Learn how they should work with students, families and local administration in order to create a common objective.
Make contacts with new partners interested in developing Local European Preservation Projects.

By the end of the course, each participant should be able to:

Pass from the idea of the local action to write a proposal in order to do it.
Embrace the concept of working together and following simple guidelines.
Motivate their students in nature and culture preservation.

DAILY PROGRAMME

The manager of the company usually welcomes participants on Sunday afternoon and gives them all the information about courses and Erasmus week. The main training activities, instruction and practices will take place from Monday to Friday. Moreover, participants will be able to explain their own school and Erasmus project to the rest of participants in the beginning of the week and, after that, work all together to set up future eTwinnings or even Job Shadowing. On another note, participants will be involved in cultural activities held by the company during afternoon time. Finally, there will be a course’ roundup and a final evaluation on Friday or Saturday morning, depending on the participants' departure time, and the delivery of the certificates of attendance.

Please find below the standard indicative daily programme.

DAY 1 – SUNDAY. INTRODUCTION.

- Meeting and greeting with the manager of the company, trainers and locals.

- Cultural orientation and information about the venue and the country.

- Workshop and teamWork in the Erasmus framework: connecting European cultures
- Guided visit and cultural inputs to discover the city.

DAY 3 – MONDAY. ICELAND IN ONLY ONE DAY.

- School presentations: Presentation of your own school and your Erasmus project.

- Reykjavík in the past and nowadays.

- Useful tips of Iceland. Icelandic Essentials.

- Digital and useful tools: Trello and google maps. Everything is there!

- Connecting essentials: guided visit to the city.

DAY 2 – TUESDAY. SOUTH COAST, BLACK SAND, VIK AND SÓLHEIMAJÖKULL. GEOGRAPHY, NATURE AND SCIENCE.

- 12 hours tour. Walk along the black sand beach to explore the basalt columns, get up close to feel the mist of the majestic waterfalls and breathe in the fresh, icy air from the surrounding glaciers. Seeing the glacier from the outside is a unique experience. During the day trip you’ll visit Skógafoss and Seljalandsfoss as well. This is the best way for learning about the Nature in Iceland.

DAY 4 – WEDNESDAY. SUSTAINABILITY, DEMOCRACY AND EQUALITY IN ICELAND.

- Brief history of Iceland.

- Prepare and enjoy an Icelandic Brunch with iconic Icelandic products.

- Experience the DNA of Icelandic Culture: get involved in the local culture.

DAY 5 – THURSDAY. GUIDED TOUR IN ICELANDIC ESSENTIALS: HISTORY, ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY IN THE PAST LIFE.

- Guided tour of Arbaer Open Air Museum: a historical and sustainable point of view.

- Guided visit to The Settlement Center and Egils Saga Exhibition.

DAY 6 – FRIDAY. CREATE YOUR OWN CULTURE & HERITAGE PROGRAMME.

- You will have the chance to visit The Parliament, where you will experience the relevance of Democracy in Icelandic culture.

- Time to plan your own Culture & heritage programme in teamwork.

- Dissemination and presentation of the plans: each team will present their own project.

- Delivering official course certifications.

DAY 7 – SATURDAY. CONCLUSION.

- You will have the chance to visit The Pearl, which is a must-visit for everyone, not only for the world-class museum but also for its incredible architecture and panoramic views over Reykjavík. The Pearl is the Number 1 attraction in Reykjavík, a Nature Exploratorium of the Wonders of Iceland where you can enjoy the Northern Lights Planetarium show.

- Participants departure.

DATES

CULTURE AND HERITAGE course will attend sessions during 2025 and 2026 in following dates:

2025:

ICELAND – REYKJAVÍK:

From Sunday 23rd February to Saturday 1st March.
From Sunday 2nd March to Saturday 8th.
From Sunday 13th April to Saturday 19th.
From Sunday 20th April to Saturday 26th.
From Sunday 27th April to Saturday 3rd May.
From Sunday 22nd June to Saturday 28th.
From Sunday 29th June to Saturday 5th July.
From Sunday 6th July to Saturday 12th.
From Sunday 13th July to Saturday 19th. CONFIRMED!
From Sunday 20th July to Saturday 26th.
From Sunday 10th August to Saturday 16th.
From Sunday 17th August to Saturday 23rd.
From Sunday 24th August to Saturday 30th.
From Sunday 5th October to Saturday 11th.
From Sunday 12th October to Saturday 18th.
From Sunday 19th October to Saturday 25th.
From Sunday 26th October to Saturday 1st November.
From Sunday 2nd November to Saturday 8th.

2026:

ICELAND – REYKJAVÍK:

From Sunday 22nd February to Saturday 28th.
From Sunday 1st March to Saturday 8th.
From Sunday 29th March to Saturday 3rd April.
From Sunday 5th April to Saturday 11th.
From Sunday 26th April to Saturday 1st May.
From Sunday 24th May to Saturday 30th.
From Sunday 21st June to Saturday 27th.
From Sunday 28th June to Saturday 4th July.
From Sunday 5th July to Saturday 11th.
From Sunday 12th July to Saturday 18th.
From Sunday 19th July to Saturday 25th.
From Sunday 26th July to Saturday 31st.
From Sunday 9th August to Saturday 15th.
From Sunday 16th August to Saturday 22nd.
From Sunday 23rd August to Saturday 29th.
From Sunday 4th October to Saturday 10th.
From Sunday 11th October to Saturday 17th.
From Sunday 18th October to Saturday 24th.
From Sunday 25th October to Saturday 31st.
From Sunday 1st November to Saturday 7th.

COST AND ERASMUS FUNDING

The cost of the seven day course is 640€ and includes course fees, free cultural activities in the city during the week and certification of attendance. Organizational costs can be charged if registration comes from an intermediate company. Besides, South Coast on Tuesday is included as well in the course contents. Moreover, the company offers an Optional cultural package to deepen the relationship between all participants.

The training course is tailored to be fully funded by Erasmus + to teachers, trainers, headmasters and any other staff of education organizations. Furthermore trainers can help in Key Action 1 Application to ensure that participants can get the grant and could be eligible to receive an Erasmus + grant that covers all the costs of the course.