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REPORT NEW BRUSSELS 2025

New Education Forum – NEF Brussels 2025

Outdoor Learning – Holistic approach to education’
November 20, 2025 9:00 am
European Parliament, Brussels, room ASP3E2

Hosted by:

  • Bogdan ZDROJEWSKI, Member of the European Parliament
  • Mirosława NYKIEL, Member of the European Parliament
  • Organised by the Center for Innovative Education
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About

What is NEF?

The New Education Forum (NEF), created in 2015 by the Center for Innovative Education, is a platform for exchanging knowledge, experiences, and contacts in the field of educational innovations. NEF operates throughout Europe, bringing together representatives from over 440 institutions from 21 EU member states: European regions and cities, higher education and research institutions, as well as employers from various industries.

Defining the goals of each event:

  • Addressing the most pressing educational issues and challenges at the time and place.
  • Finding innovative educational development directions aimed at aligning with labor market requirements.
  • Promoting transversal competencies as essential resources for employees.
  • Contributing to the improvement of vocational education and its perception.
  • Building bridges between EU regions and cities and European institutions regarding the aforementioned issues.

Since the first Forum – co-organized by MEP Prof. Jerzy Buzek, the first NEF Ambassador – 40 regional and pan-European events have been held (including eight annual ones at the European Parliament), attracting over 4,660 participants. We have hosted many distinguished panelists such as in December 2023 Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, and Education Iliana Ivanova, and Markus Beyrer (Director General of BusinessEurope), and previously Tibor Navracsics, EU Commissioner for Education, who opened the first New Education Forum in Warsaw in 2015, Valdis Dombrovskis (EU Commissioner), Montserrat Gomendio (Deputy Director for Education and Skills at OECD), Dominika Bettman (CEO Microsoft Poland), representatives of industry associations such as CEEMET and KLEPA.

So far, NEF has been held across Europe, including in Kraków, Athens, Linz, Gdańsk, Caserta, Edinburgh, Limerick, Santander, Warsaw, Brussels, Vilnius, Poznań, Comillas, Torino, Berlin, Olsztyn, Aberdeen, Opole, Bielsko-Biała, to build a broad coalition for adapting education to civilizational changes, conducting debates and creating valuable partnerships, analyzing local conditions, asking questions and seeking answers, and practical solutions addressing the needs of regional and European labor markets.

For more information, we encourage you to visit:

www.neweducationforum.com

www.ciedu.eu

 

Schedule

9:00    Opening speeches (5 minutes)

Official welcome of guests and introduction to the conference topics. Emphasis on the importance of shaping the culture and identity of European communities and the role of the surrounding environment and nature as allies of modern education:

  • Bogdan ZDROJEWSKI, Member of the European Parliament
  • Mirosława NYKIEL, Member of the European Parliament
  • Joanna BOCHNIARZ, President of the Center for Innovative Education

9:05 Film about the ADAMED Foundation’s Supportive School Programme (5 minutes)

9:10    Panel 1: Mental health crisis and specific, proven solutions (50 minutes)

How schools – through community engagement and outdoor learning – can support the mental wellbeing of young Europeans, in line with the EU Mental Health Strategy and WHO findings that highlight the importance of contact with nature for emotional balance, concentration and empathy.

  • Jørgen MOLAND, Co-owner of Trygg av Natur and Takle – the Association for Public Health and Life Mastery
  • Klara ROŚCISZEWSKA, Expert on Education, WWF Polska
  • Jochen RIEHL, Special Educator, Member of the Board of Mühlenkraft e.V., EU network ‘Breaking Barriers’, Lecturer at GSO-TH Nuremberg

Moderated by Jan ŁUCZAK, Student of XXVII Tadeusz Czacki Highschool in Warsaw

10:00  1:1 Interview on inclusive education summarising First Panel – conversation with Rachel VAUGHAN, Head of Operations, Facilitator of EASPD’s working group on Inclusive Education, EASPD (10 minutes)

10:10  Coffee break (20 minutes)

10:30  Panel 2: World outside the classroom and cultural development (50 minutes)

The role of nature and landscape in shaping cultural identity and community spirit – in the spirit of the New European Bauhaus, the Education for Environmental Citizenship programme and UNESCO research, which emphasise the importance of environmental education and intangible heritage as sources of culture, values and social bonds. Panellists:

  • Joanna SCHEURING-WIELGUS, Member of the European Parliament, Member of CULT Committee
  • Janne FENGLER, Full Professor of Education (Teacher Education), Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences, University of Luxembourg
  • Bogusława ŁUKA, CEO, University of Children
  • Sina RIZ À PORTA, Board Member, European Youth Forum
    Moderated by Michał GÓRECKI, Polish Investments and Market Agency, Our Future Foundation

11:20  Presentation of the OLHE – Outdoor Learning in Higher Education Project presentation by Maria URBAŃSKA, Centre for Innovative Education (5 minutes)

11:25  Coffee Break (20 minutes)

11:45  1:1 conversation with an expert: Interview with Nils ELOFSSON, Advisor on Social Affairs, BusinessEurope, on identifying the skills increasingly sought after in candidates (10 minutes)

11:55 ‘Girls, forward!’ Project presentation by Magdalena MAZUR, PMPD (5 minutes)

12:00  Panel 3: Nature and strengthening the competences needed in the labour market (50 minutes)

Presentation of Outdoor Learning as an effective method for developing key competences for the future – in line with the principles of GreenComp, Europe’s Digital Decade and the OECD’s ‘Future of Education and Skills 2030’ programme – supporting resilience, cooperation, creativity and systems thinking necessary for the competitiveness of the European economy. Panellists:

  • Dariusz JOŃSKI, Member of the European Parliament
  • Thomas PRITZKOW, Policy Officer, Basic skills and competences, Education for environmental sustainability, DG Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, European Commission
  • Michał PIOTROWSKI, Senior Strategic Partnerships Specialist, WWF Poland
  • Patryk PUDŁOWSKI, Student and Junior Expert at Ernst & Young, Our Future Foundation

Moderator: Jorge GIMENO PAWŁOWSKI, Atland Consulting

12:50  Closing speeches (10 minutes):

  • Michał KOBOSKO, Member of the European Parliament
  • Joanna BOCHNIARZ, President of the Center for Innovative Education

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Centrum Innowacyjnej Edukacji

email: info@ciedu.eu