In 2025, the Green Transition Academy proceeded from development to early piloting and training of trainers. The year marked an important transition for the project – from finalising the courses to testing them in classroom settings while building the necessary capacity of teachers to deliver them.
Finalising GTA courses in collaboration with teachers
Developing content for the Green Transition Academy was done through a close and continuous collaboration with teachers from Purkynka. Mentor to Impact held monthly working sessions with the teaching team to review course structures, learning activities and teaching materials, allowing the content to be tailored to the needs and preferences identified by the teachers. This close collaboration has ensured pedagogically realistic courses, aligned with existing study programmes, and directly relevant to everyday teaching practice.
During the content development phase, through a collaboration between Mentor to Impact, Aprendio and the teachers, the concepts behind the virtual reality learning environments were further refined and it was also clarified how VR should support technical teaching and systems thinking in the classroom.
The GTA partner group moreover made the decision to use Notion as the shared digital backbone of the Green Transition Academy. Notion now serves both as the main repository for teaching materials and as the digital platform for the GTA project component ‘Teachers’ Lounge’, supporting collaboration, documentation and shared development across the teaching team.
A key take-away from this phase was clear: relevance and quality are created through continuous dialogue with teachers and by iterating the materials together with those who will ultimately use them. The strength of the final courses lies as much in this process as in the content itself.
Building teacher capacity – and starting piloting ahead of schedule
With the courses in place, the focus of the project shifted to developing teachers’ deep understanding of the subject matter and their capacity to deliver the courses in practice. The training of trainers programme combined VR training, subject focused competence building in renewable energy systems, as well as didactical tips.
A central element of this phase was a study trip to the vocational schools CELF and ZBC, which gave the teachers direct insight into how green and digital topics are integrated into vocational education in practice. The visit strengthened the teachers’ understanding of renewable energy systems, regional energy planning and collaboration between educational institutions and industry, while also providing concrete inspiration for innovative teaching approaches.
An important development during this phase was the ability to start piloting the first GTA course ahead of time, already in September. The teachers began integrating selected modules into existing subjects while the training of trainers activities were still ongoing. This overlap created strong feedback loops between training sessions and classroom experience, making the training more concrete, responsive and directly connected to real teaching challenges.
In parallel, a comprehensive evaluation framework was rolled out to benchmark progress and follow how the early piloting is working in practice. Evaluation tools, teacher check-ins and self-reflection guides are now actively used to follow how the piloting is progressing and to adjust the teaching materials as needed.
Launching the Teachers’ Lounge
Another important step during the training phase was the launch of the Teachers’ Lounge physical meetings. While the digital collaboration space in Notion has been active throughout the year, the first physical Teachers’ Lounge session was held at Purkynka in December.
The session brought together teachers from Purkynka and other schools in the South Moravian region and focused on the practical use of VR in technical education. Teachers and students jointly demonstrated different VR scenarios and shared experiences from early classroom use. This marked the start of the Teachers’ Lounge as a hybrid structure for continuous professional exchange and regional collaboration.
Where the project stands now
By the end of 2025, the Green Transition Academy has:
- finalised and validated content of all three courses
- established Notion as a shared digital infrastructure for teaching materials and collaboration
- strengthened teachers’ subject knowledge, VR competence and practical didactical approaches for green and digital teaching
- launched early piloting, supported by a structured evaluation framework
- initiated the Teachers’ Lounge physical sessions as a platform for peer learning and regional exchange
Looking ahead
The next phase will focus on continued piloting and refinement of the courses. Piloting will continue throughout the first three quarters of 2026.
During this period, the project will:
- continue testing the courses, teaching materials and digital systems
- collect structured feedback from students and teachers to make final adjustments
- use the results to define a clear roll-out plan for integration of the Green Transition Academy courses into existing curricula
The aim is to ensure that the courses are not only ready in terms of content and digital tools, but also supported by a clear and realistic plan for integration into the school’s teaching structures. This will form the basis for offering the courses to a bigger share of Purkynka’s students and for preparing future expansion to additional schools.
