Every day for future

The motto "every day for future" already characterises the teaching at the Höhere Bundeslehranstalt für Tourismus und wirtschaftliche Berufe Bergheidengasse, 1130 Vienna. Sustainability plays an important role in the educational programme. From the school year 2022/23 onwards, the new, forward-looking training focus "Fair Business & Food Management" will convey the environmental idea to young people even more strongly.

Living and managing for our future. The Höhere Bundeslehranstalt für Tourismus und wirtschaftliche Berufe Bergheidengasse, 1130 Vienna (HLTW 13) has been allowed to use the Austrian Ecolabel since 2005. From autumn 2022, the school will score with a novelty: The training focus "Fair Business & Food Management". The video „Leben und wirtschaften für die Zukunft" produced by students of the secondary school shows well what this focus is about.

But tourism and sustainability - how do they go together in class? Gerald Fröhlich, professor at the HLTW 13 and, together with his colleague Laura Pixner, head of the new training focus, says: "Very well indeed. Because sustainability - also in tourism - plays an important role both in the curriculum of the Secondary School for Economic Professions and in the curriculum of the Secondary School for Tourism."

Fair Business. What does the term "fair business" mean at the Höhere Lehranstalt? What competences are taught to the students? "We understand fair business as the fair treatment of all persons, companies and institutions involved in the economy. The goals are always to make the economy a little better, i.e. fairer, to generate benefits for everyone and to contribute to the achievement of the SDGs. Central topics are sustainable corporate governance, the circular economy and sustainable investments. Social entrepreneurship, i.e. entrepreneurial activity for a positive change in society, is also an essential part of Fair Business," explains Gerald Fröhlich. But how do the students learn these skills? "They work on case studies and develop ideas to become part of the solution to the challenges of our time."

Food Management. What are the central learning contents of Food Management? "Sustainable positive development for the climate and the environment cannot work without sustainable food," emphasises Prof. Pixner. "Food Management therefore means that young people intensively deal with nutritional physiology, ecology and the resource-saving handling of food in class."

Entry options range from fitness centre to health promotion. In addition, the "health trainer assistant" certificate can be obtained at the school. Gerald Fröhlich explains its significance: "This training is carried out in cooperation with Wifi. The final examination can be taken voluntarily. In terms of content, the students deal with anatomy, physiology, nutrition, training theory, relaxation, methodology and didactics in sports activities. The young people learn to plan, guide and accompany these activities. This opens up many entry opportunities for them in the health and leisure industry - from fitness centres to health promotion."

Vegan cuisine on the timetable. The training "Vegan Chef / Vegan Cook" is also offered at the secondary school, as "vegan cuisine" is on the timetable in the 3rd year. "Vegan nutrition has become one of the most significant and sustainable trends in gastronomy. With the additional certificate, we prepare the students for this. The training to become a vegan cook teaches the most important aspects of plant-based nutrition in theory and practice. The final exam can be taken voluntarily," reports Laura Pixner.

Positive feedback. The school has already received a lot of positive feedback on the new "Fair Business & Food Management" specialisation: The content of the new specialisation is not only interesting for many future students for their professional future, but is also important for them personally. No wonder, because students from two classes were involved in the development of the new focus and their ideas were taken into account.

Great interest. "The didactic concept relies heavily on case studies," says Gerald Fröhlich happily. "In this way, we succeeded in gaining about 30 registrations for the new training focus without any real open days. The interest in sustainability, nutrition, exercise and the development of new ideas for a new, i.e. sustainable form of economic activity is great in the age group relevant to us, and we are thus creating space to deepen these interests."

Be active, shape the future. This is also confirmed by the following statements from the motivation letters of the students, which they wrote as part of the registration for the training focus "Fair Business & Food Management": "I am very interested in nutrition and animal welfare. - "The economical use of resources is a personal concern of mine." - "I want to actively do something against food waste." - "It is important to me to contribute to a more sustainable economy with my own ideas."

These reasons for choosing the new training focus "Fair Business & Food Management" speak for themselves and show that the Höhere Bundeslehranstalt für Tourismus und wirtschaftliche Berufe Bergheidengasse (1130 Vienna) is on the right track. Here is "every day for future".