LOESS (Literacy boost through an Operational Educational Ecosystem of Societal actors on Soil Health) is a Horizon Europe project working to strengthen soil literacy by connecting education, participation and community action. In Türkiye, the project has been implemented through a continuously growing Community of Practice involving educators, students, researchers, civil society representatives and other stakeholders.
The process started by listening to and learning from this community. Together with our Community of Practice, we explored both the current state of soil education in Türkiye and what educators and other stakeholders would like to see in the future. This included desk research, a focus group, individual interviews with 12 experts and practitioners from different educational and civil society backgrounds, and contributions to the development and adaptation of the wider LOESS soil education survey, which was then implemented nationally in Türkiye.
The findings from this research phase fed into the next stage of co-design. Selected Community of Practice members participated as Education Innovation Group members in a series of international co-design workshops, contributing their experience and perspectives to the process that informed the development of LOESS learning scenarios. In parallel, good practices in soil education across different education levels were identified and documented, with examples from Türkiye contributing to the wider LOESS case study collection.
The project then moved from identifying needs towards developing learning opportunities and building capacity. Expert panels were followed by university student workshops, where students explored the competences needed to understand and act on soil health challenges. Using GreenComp as an important reference, they contributed to national competence maps covering areas such as systems and critical thinking, collaborative and community skills, practical field-based skills, and action for sustainability. The results from participating countries were later brought together and informed the development of a modular higher-education learning resource on soil, society and sustainability. The LOESS MOOC, learning scenarios, and other educational resources also gave teachers and educators opportunities to bring soil health and sustainability into their own teaching practice.
Practical and experiential learning has been another important part of the work in Türkiye. Activities have included a Soil Camp in Antalya, field-based learning, piloting LOESS learning scenarios, student-led prototyping with agricultural vocational high school students, and podcasts involving both experts and students. Digital and open educational resources such as the Soil Atlas, AR application, crowd-mapping tool, and MOOC have also been introduced, adapted or used with different target groups.
From autumn 2025 onwards, the focus increasingly moved towards campaigning and wider community engagement. Through both face-to-face and online activities, LOESS Türkiye has been bringing project resources and soil health messages to schools and vocational education, higher education, the general public and policy-related audiences. Rather than treating dissemination as the final step of the project, these activities have created further opportunities for dialogue, participation and practical learning.
Throughout this journey, the aim has been to make soil health meaningful in everyday education and community life. Healthy soils are closely connected with food systems, water, biodiversity and climate resilience, and the way we understand, use and protect soil today will shape the environmental conditions available to future generations. By involving educators, young people and communities throughout the process, LOESS Türkiye supports shared responsibility, long-term thinking and practical action for healthier soils.
Thanks, David! I’m glad you see the relevance. Soil literacy is indeed closely connected to the wider regenerative agriculture picture. I’ll be sharing a little more about the practical learning side in today’s Community Café.