The course started on December 1st, 1984. After 10 days of adaptation, to settle down and to begin to know the Centre, the activities started.
The trainees filled the personal files, indicating their school and professional level, and their preferences for the different sectors of specialized training. They were then grouped in working teams for the base activities and for the specialist ones, according to their language knowledge and the preferences indicated above.
The trainers of the Centre included:
| - MEDRAP staff: | Director of the Centre |
| Didactic Coordinator | |
| Experts in different fields |
- Experts who held seminars and practical lessons on various matters
The Director of the Centre was responsible for the Centre both for the training aspects and for every day organization problems.
MEDRAP experts intervened according to the needs of the didactic programmes at various levels.
The Coordinator followed the complication of programmes and their development, the preparation of documents, the experts' activities; he wrote the reports on the didactic activities in collaboration with the MEDRAP Coordinator and the Director of the Centre, with the supervision of other FAO experts.
The experts, most of them Senior experts in various fields connected with aquaculture, gave lectures and held practical lessons in the laboratory and in the field. The purpose of their intervention was to provide the trainees with a broader spectrum of world and of Mediterranean aquaculture, in addition to basic information.
The need of articulating some didactic programmes “on-the-job” finds good opportunities in the production structures of Valdagri.
Each trainee, especially the one who is due to work directly in the productive process, must have a complete sight of the general technical aspects, and especially of the emergencies which may occur in an aquaculture plant.
Prior to be given specialized training, the trainee was given a precise knowledge of the consolidated facts of the sector. For instance, if all fish farmers had a good training in carp and trout culture, they would certainly acquire a clear ideas of two fundamental elements in fish culture: the intensive and the semi-intensive systems, the “husbandry” fish culture and the biological approach.
Even though technical processes of the artificial reproduction of marine species are carried out through new biological strategies, especially as far as weaning is concerned, grow-out requires technicians and staff with at least general experience in fish handling, and who know how to control the water flow in a monk from the surface or from the bottom.
The didactic method tended to develop practical activities, fundamental for the experience of those who would later on produce.
Practical activities, common to all sectors, have been widened for those who specialized in lagoon management. But it is also important to underline the fact that also those who mainly worked in the hatchery took advantage from this kind of training, which was carried out by teachers who themselves had worked on these activities. Hence there was a transfer of experiences and the didactic action was effective. It is also evident that such practical experiences have been inserted in a wider practical and theoretical didactic programme.
The didactic programme is divided in two kinds of training, narrowly integrated: basis programme and special programme.
Basis programme
The basis programme was carried out essentially through the intervention of the didactic Coordinator, and was integrated to the course through seminars held by the experts. More than 50 hours of lessons were given, that, added to the hours of coordination (30 hours), made up a total of a minimum 80 hours of basic training on different topics.
Special programme for theoretical and practical training
The programme aimed at the on-the-job training in Mediterranean aquaculture. The programme was carried out through :
theoretical lectures which completed the basis programme,
theoretical preparation to the activities in the field and in the laboratory,
activities in the field and in the laboratories
It consisted of lessons in which a good proportion of time (at least 50%) was kept for discussion on basis topics, and more generally on matters that could give some elements on aquaculture, on the methodologies applied, etc.., on sound scientific bases, with the help of slides, audiovisual and pictures.
The lectures distributed short papers to summarize the lesson, and some bibliography on the matter, photocopies of books, tables and files of reference.
The lectures filled up a file on the main subjects of their lesson, according to the terms of reference provided.
For the lecturers who carried out both theoretical and practical lessons, the basis and the specialised activities were closely integrated, according to the didactic programme.
 | MEDITERRANEAN REGIONAL AQUACULTURE PROJECT |  | ||
| DIDACTIC FILE (lectures and explanations) | SPECIAL PROGRAMME | D.F/3 | ||
| daily activity of Mr..................................................................... date ........................................... | ||||
| hours .......................................... | ||||
| SUBJECTS.................................................................................................................................. | ||||
| ..................................................................................................................................................... | ||||
| ..................................................................................................................................................... | ||||
| ..................................................................................................................................................... | ||||
| ..................................................................................................................................................... | ||||
| signature........................................................ | ||||
| MEDITERRANEAN REGIONAL AQUACULTURE PROJECT | | ||
| DIDACTIC FILE (lectures and seminars) | BASIS PROGRAMME | D.F/1 | ||
| daily activity of Mr..................................................................... date ........................................... | ||||
| lesson hours.................................... | ||||
| SUBJECTS.................................................................................................................................. | ||||
| ..................................................................................................................................................... | ||||
| ..................................................................................................................................................... | ||||
| ..................................................................................................................................................... | ||||
| ..................................................................................................................................................... | ||||
| signature........................................................ | ||||
It was articulated in 3 closely related phases. The lecturer acted as trainer in the field and coordinator of the global activities of his sector.
Lessons of type 1 dealt with general topics related to the specific sector, with reference to other experience and methodologies.
Lessons of type 2 dealt with theoretical elements for the comprehension of the specific practical activities; in this part, the working programme is articulated day by day or phase by phase. The papers distributed in this phase consisted mainly in reference tables and lists of manual activities.
Didactic files were very useful to collect with a simple methodology the didactic and training activities carried out in the MEDRAP Training Centre. They permitted to have an up-to-date report on the activities carried out, and to obtain a useful reference for the improvement of future courses.
The didactic files were of 3 types:
DF1 is the file for the basis programme
DF2 is the file for the special programme, concerning the practical training
DF3 is the file for the special programme concerning the training in class-rooms
During the basis and specialized training, under the control of the Director of the Centre and the Didactic Coordinator, the trainees elaborated some noted on their work, with the help of the papers distributed during the course. The notes were also enriched with photographic documents.
The documents collected and elaborated formed a basis manual that the trainees took from at the end of the course. These represent an useful data base for the improvement of future courses, after having been carefully analysed by MEDRAP trainers and coordinators.
| MEDITERRANEAN REGIONAL AQUACULTURE PROJECT | | ||
| DIDACTIC FILE (field and laboratory training) | SPECIAL PROGRAMME | D.F/2 | ||
| daily activity of Mr..................................................................... date ........................................... | ||||
| training hours........................................................................... | ||||
| SUBJECTS.................................................................................................................................. | ||||
| ..................................................................................................................................................... | ||||
| ..................................................................................................................................................... | ||||
| ..................................................................................................................................................... | ||||
| ..................................................................................................................................................... | ||||
| MAIN INSTRUMENTS and/or FACILITIES................................................................................... | ||||
| ..................................................................................................................................................... | ||||
| ..................................................................................................................................................... | ||||
| signature........................................................ | ||||
