Abstract:

In 2020, the transport sector was responsible for around 23 % of the greenhouse gas emissions (European Commission 2022, p. 127). The EU Commission’s Sustainable, the Smart Mobility Strategy (European Commission 2020) and the European Green Deal envision a shift from trucks to the green modes of transport rail and inland waterways. Inland Waterway Transport (IWT) represents an eco-friendly, CO2-saving mode of transport (Schroten et al. 2019) (European Commission 2019). To succeed a transfer from road to IWT, a shift in the mindsets of logistics staff is needed including the requirement of knowledge about IWT (Beil and Putz-Egger 2022) (Putz and Schauer 2014).

The goal of this paper is to present findings from the ongoing research project Quinwalo+ (Qualification Inland Waterway Logistics), funded by the German Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport and initiated by the German Boatmen’s Exchange in Duisburg (Schifferbörse e.V 2023). Quinwalo+ aims at analyzing, developing and presenting teaching materials for IWT in Germany on an online platform in order to integrate the content in classrooms for fostering a shift to the green transport mode IWT (European Commission 2011, p. 7). The project was started as a bottom-up initiative, since curricula boundaries hinder the process of integrating relevant sustainable transport know-how in German schools.

In the field of logistics education, insights not only from the Quinwalo+ findings but from ongoing expert exchange show that IWT is underrepresented in German speaking countries. This is also reflected by Breinbauer et al. (2012) where recommendations for sustainable education in intermodal transport in Austria are given to policy makers, public institutions and other relevant actors. It can be hypothesized, however, that educators in German speaking countries often lack the requisite knowledge and awareness of the IWT-impact themselves, which, leads to an underrepresentation of IWT in school curricula and teacher education (cf. Putz and Schauer 2013).

This is where the Quinwalo+-project, realized by researchers of the Department for Sustainable Transport at the Logistikum, University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, comes in. Quinwalo+ aims at
a) analysing and evaluating curricula and existing online and offline teaching materials about IWT in Germany
b) based on the analysis, creating a set of inspiring teaching materials on IWT with focus on Germany/the Rhine River, which allow teachers from various subjects to integrate IWT in their lessons (e.g. in English, in Geography, - not only in Logistics)
c) generating a modern online-IWT-platform, which offers open access to these (teaching- and learning) materials for teachers and learners and integrates a gamified approach.
d) raising awareness of IWT as a sustainable alternative to freight transport by truck and encouraging educaters to update their teaching content regularly (cf. van Hoek 2001).

The paper summarizes findings from curricula analysis and expert interviews, together with results of of the first phase of Quinwalo+: eight topical areas for the development of new teaching and training materials, which are highly likely to be used by educators in the future, and which offer the possibility to incorporate the IWT topic smoothly.

Keywords:

Inland waterway transports, teaching materials, curricula development, education policies, sustainability.