The Living Island
Outdoor, Experiential & Place-Based Learning
"When the world becomes your classroom."
A full immersion in outdoor and place-based pedagogy. Gozo becomes the syllabus: sea, land, villages, people — and structured methods to bring the same approach home.
What this week is really about
Place-based learning is one of the most powerful ways to raise engagement, empathy and belonging. This week gives educators a clear methodology to design lessons that step outside — into schoolyards, neighbourhoods, forests, beaches, museums, community spaces.
Each day pairs a pedagogical framework (experiential learning, reflection cycles, outdoor safety, community partnerships) with an on-island practice: a coastal walk, a village fieldwork, a study visit, a facilitated group reflection. You leave with confidence to teach anywhere your students already are.
The Gozo connection
Gozo is small enough to walk, safe enough to explore and rich enough to keep surprising you — a perfect training ground for outdoor educators.
Training focus
- Foundations of experiential and place-based learning
- Designing outdoor lessons for any subject
- Managing safety, groups and logistics beyond the classroom
- Using the local community as a learning resource
- Structured reflection and debrief methods
Learning outcomes
- A place-based lesson set adapted to your own local context
- A field-tested routine for outdoor sessions
- Tools for reflection and student voice
- A renewed relationship with your own school's surroundings
Book a scheduled week
These are the concrete Erasmus+ courses running under The Living Island. Every course is a full week on Gozo with the same accreditation and paperwork.
Outdoor & Place-Based Learning on Gozo
Turn the island into your classroom — landscape, heritage and community as teachers.
Priorities this programme covers
Ideal for
- Primary and secondary teachers of any subject
- Geography, biology, PE and civic-education teachers
- Youth workers and non-formal educators
- School leaders reshaping the school day
Why Genista Gozo
Local guides, direct access to Gozitan communities and a facilitation team that lives here — outdoor learning designed by people who actually do it.
English B1+ recommended · translation available in Polish, German and Russian.
Bring this programme to your team.
We run this programme as a scheduled Erasmus+ week and as a tailored group mobility for whole schools and consortia.