Schools are at the forefront of shaping the future generations: acquiring basic skills, learning about the European Union and its values, becoming active citizens in inclusive societies, and instilling an interest in lifelong learning at a young age. Through cross-border projects, schools can teach European values not just as principles, but in practice, through interactions with peers and immersion in new situations and places.

European Partnerships for School Development will support strategic innovation and sharing of practices among key actors in school education systems: school authorities, coordinating bodies, schools at pre-primary, primary and secondary level, as well as other stakeholders such as teacher associations. The action will help school authorities identify and transfer best strategies in key areas such as fostering continuous professional development of teachers, increasing the attractiveness of the teaching profession, and improving the quality of teaching and training in general. Projects will also test and integrate innovative teaching methods and curricula, for example in areas of basic skills, language learning, European values, citizenship education and learning about the EU.

The call for creation of the European Partnerships for School Development is anchored in the political framework of the European Education Area and the Union of Skills. In particular, the partnerships will contribute to the implementation of the policy recommendations adopted in the context of the European Education Area, notably the “Europe on the Move - Mobility for everyone” Council Recommendation.

Objectives of the action

The objective of the European Partnerships for School Development is to encourage better cross-border cooperation and mobility between schools across Europe.

Specifically, European Partnerships for School Development aim to:

• improve the quality of learning and teaching at schools through European cooperation
• strengthen the institutional capacity and structures needed to extend learning mobility opportunities in school education, in particular by creating synergies with the opportunities offered under Erasmus+ Key Action 1
• trigger innovation in school education practices, procedures and policies by applying results and best practices from successful transnational projects, expanding their impact beyond the project partner organisations

Which activities can be carried out by European Partnerships for School Development?

European Partnerships for School Development can compose their work plan by choosing from a range of tasks under two categories:

1. Improving the quality of learning and teaching at school:

Innovative teaching and learning: design and test innovative learning activities and teaching methods (including non-formal and informal approaches) focusing on topics linked to EU policy priorities in the school education sector, including basic skills, learning about the EU, active citizenship and EU values, and activities in a language different than the language of schooling (Content and Language Integrated Learning - CLIL). Such activities must be tested more than once during the lifetime of the project in order to determine their efficiency and applicability in different contexts.

Collaborative teaching: jointly prepare learning content and implement co-teaching by teachers from different countries. The resulting content must be implemented more than once during the lifetime of the project in order to create a lasting collaboration between teachers in different countries. Virtual teaching activities can be included, however, to ensure direct peer-to-peer exchanges, at least some of the implemented collaborative teaching activities must take place physically in multiple schools involved in the partnership.

Peer-learning and mentoring: design and test peer-learning, job-shadowing and mentoring activities involving teachers, school leaders and policy makers from different countries. The activities should focus on delivering learning content or transferring successful school management practices.

Teacher substitution and resource management: develop and coordinate mechanisms at local or regional level for pooling of teacher resources and easier substitution of teachers, including during learning mobility periods.

2. Capacity building for cross-border cooperation in school education:

Supporting structures and expertise: in order to support implementation of transnational activities in school education, create dedicated mobility coordinators, contact points, international offices, or similar support services that allow for pooling of resources at local or regional level. If relevant, develop dedicated support mechanisms for involvement of participants with fewer opportunities in transnational projects, and provide specific training for school staff.

Mainstreaming cross-border activities: standardise procedures for implementing cross-border activities in school education, integrate European and national quality standards for learning mobility of school staff and learners into the daily practice of schools, identify administrative barriers and work on their removal, raise awareness among school leaders, policymakers and other practitioners about opportunities and benefits of cross-border learning mobility and cooperation.

Test ‘mobility windows’: define periods of one or several weeks of the school year during which sending and hosting teachers and pupils on cross-border mobility activities should be a routine integrated with the school’s daily work, while respecting the regular school working hours and holidays. Identify management and teaching practices that support or detract from the success of such mobility windows; test and transfer the best solutions.

Recognition of learning outcomes: identify the best practices for recognition of outcomes of learning periods abroad (including automatic recognition, where possible) and transfer them across the school education system, as widely as possible. Promote the establishment of cross-border recognition agreements, memorandums of understanding and other mechanisms for sustainable cooperation on recognition.

Recognition of project work: identify and transfer best practices for recognition of project work performed by school staff in order to enable sustainable and high-quality implementation of cross-border cooperation.

Capacity building through training of school leaders and staff: build in-house expertise to provide training for school staff, including project design and management skills, training for teachers accompanying pupils abroad or mentoring mobile pupils remotely, pre-departure training for pupils in mobility activities, etc. The initial phase may involve external expertise to building internal capacity (i.e. to ‘train the trainers’). However, the project must then demonstrate the ability to multiply these benefits by having the training implemented independently by the staff of the participating organisations.

Travel costs and learning mobility activities as part of European Partnerships for School Development

Eligible project expenses include any costs linked to the implementation of the above tasks, including travel costs for meetings between project partners, testing specific learning programmes, co-teaching methods, staff training, etc.

At the same time, the concept of “Erasmus+ learning mobility activities” has a precise meaning defined in the chapter “Mobility for pupils and staff in school education”: these are educational, strategic, transnational and structured (documented) mobility activities. Learning mobility should therefore not be confused with other reasons for travelling abroad as part of an Erasmus+ project.
European Partnerships for School Development cannot systematically duplicate the same types of activities funded by Key Action 1, but they can occasionally implement activity formats similar to those found in Key Action 1 if those activities form an integral part of project tasks listed above.

To further scale up project results and spread successful practices for improving learning mobility (e.g. by involving a larger number of schools and participants), European Partnerships for School Development should create synergies with Key Action 1 mobility projects, and the accreditation scheme in particular.

Eligibility criteria

Who can apply?

The applicant organisation (coordinator) must be a local or regional school authority, or a school coordination body established in an EU Member State or a third country associated to the Programme. The applicant organisation applies on behalf of all participating organisations.

An organisation can coordinate only one application per application deadline.

Which types of organisations are eligible to participate in the project?

The following types of organisations are eligible to participate as partners ¹ :

• Schools providing general education at pre-primary, primary or secondary level, including organisations providing early childhood education and care
• Local and regional school authorities or school coordination bodies
• Associations of teachers, school leaders and school education staff, parent associations and other stakeholders in the school education system

Partner organisations must be established in an EU Member State or in a third country associated to the Programme.

Number and profile of participating organisations

Each partnership must include at least six participating organisations. In the country of the applicant organisation and in at least one other country, the following organisations must be involved:

• at least one local or regional school authority or school coordination body
• at least two schools providing general education at pre-primary, primary or secondary level, including organisations providing early childhood education and care

Eligible activities

For a list of eligible activities please see section ‘Which activities can be carried out by European Partnerships for School Development?’.

To be eligible, projects must implement at least three tasks, including at least one from each of the two categories: “Improving the quality of learning and teaching at school” and “Internationalisation and capacity building in school education”.

Venue of the activities

All project activities must take place in the countries of the participating organisations.

In addition, if duly justified in relation to the objectives or implementation of the project:

• activities can also take place at the seat of an Institution of the European Union if the activity is organised at or in cooperation with an EU institution, even if in the project there are no participating organisations from the country that hosts the Institution ²
• activities involving sharing of results can also take place in other EU Member States or third countries associated to the Programme

Where to apply?

Applications are submitted to the National Agency of the country where the applicant organisation is established.

When to apply?

Applicants have to submit their grant application by 9 April at 12:00:00 (midday Brussels time).

National Agencies may decide to open a second deadline. In this case, the National Agency will inform the applicants through its website. In case of an additional deadline, applicants have to submit their applications by 1 October at 12:00:00 (midday Brussels time).

Project start date

Projects can choose the following start dates:

• Round 1: 1 October of the same year
• Round 2 (if open): between 1 January and 31 May of the following year

Duration of the project

36 months

Exclusion and selection criteria

In addition to the eligibility criteria indicated above, applicants will be assessed against the relevant exclusion and selection criteria. For more information, please consult Part C of this Guide.

Award criteria

Submitted applications will be assessed by assigning points out of a total of 100, based on the below criteria and weightings. To be considered for award, applications must pass the following thresholds:

• at least 70 out of the total 100 points, and
• at least half of the maximum score points in each of the four award criteria categories ³

Relevance (maximum 15 points)

The extent to which the proposal meets the following criteria:

• Relevance for action objectives: the proposal contributes to the objectives of the European Partnerships for School Development
• Needs analysis: the application is based on comprehensive analysis of needs and challenges in the school education systems of the participating countries/regions
• European added value: the proposal brings added value at EU level through results that would not be attained by activities carried out in a single country
• EU values: the proposal is relevant for the respect and promotion of shared EU values, such as respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, as well as fighting any sort of discrimination

Quality of project design (maximum 30 points)

The extent to which the proposal meets the following criteria:

• Work packages:
  • the proposed methodology is clear, adequate and feasible
  • the project work plan is coherent, clear, complete and effective
• Monitoring: the project proposes appropriate quality control, monitoring and supervision measures to ensure that the project implementation is of high quality, completed in time and on budget
• Budgeting: the project is cost-effective and allocates appropriate resources to each activity and partner
• Inclusion and diversity: the activities are designed in an accessible and inclusive way
• Digital: the project incorporates the use of digital tools such as the European School Education Platform (including eTwinning) and learning methods to complement their physical activities and improve cooperation between partner organisations
• Environmental sustainability: the project is designed in an eco-friendly way and incorporates green practices in different project phases
• Participation and civic engagement: the project encourages participation and civic engagement

Quality of the partnership and the cooperation arrangements (maximum 20 points)

The extent to which the proposal meets the following criteria:

• Project coordinator: the coordinating organisation has appropriate expertise, resources and role in the education system to successfully lead the project
• Partnership composition:
  • the partner school authorities have complementary experience, needs, and roles in the education system
  • the partner schools have a clear and proportional role in the project
  • the partner schools are sufficiently diverse in terms of their experience in cross-border mobility and cooperation
  • the size and scope of the partnership is appropriate for the achievement of the planned project results
• Allocation tasks of tasks: the proposed allocation of tasks demonstrates the commitment and continuous active involvement of all participating organisations, and in particular the coordinating and partner school authorities
• Complementarity: the proposal is complementary to other initiatives already being carried out by the participating organisations, in particular Erasmus accreditations in Key Action 1
• Communication and coordination: the proposal includes effective mechanisms for coordination and communication between the participating organisations, as well as with other relevant stakeholders

Impact (maximum 35 points)

The extent to which the proposal meets the following criteria:

• Project results: the project proposal clearly identifies improvements in the practices, policies and procedures of school authorities and schools that will happen as a result of the project
• Tracking project results: the proposal defines clear implementation milestones, and qualitative and quantitative indicators to prove that the planned improvements have taken place
• Tracking impact: the proposal defines clear qualitative and quantitative indicators to track the impact of project results
• Long-term impact:
  • the project proposal includes concrete and logical steps to integrate the project results in the regular work of participating organisations
  • the project includes a clear plan and preparation to continue using its results after the project
• Transferable results: the planned project results can be used outside the participating organisations at local, regional, national or European level
• Sharing results: the project proposal includes concrete and effective steps to make the results of the project known within the participating organisations, to share the results with other organisations and the public, and to publicly acknowledge the European Union funding

What are the funding rules?

Each selected project will receive a lump sum grant amount of EUR 400 000.

Proposals must describe the activities that applicants commit to carry out with the above lump sum amount and must satisfy the principles of economy, efficiency and effectiveness.

Description of the project

Each project proposal must present a clear project management methodology (needs analysis, work plan, task allocation and cooperation arrangements between partners, etc.). The applicants should read the award criteria carefully and address all of them in their project application.

In the application, the applicants will describe their project proposal by splitting it into “work packages”. Each partnership can include a maximum of 12 work packages: one obligatory work package for project management, one obligatory work package for planning the project’s long-term impact, and three to ten implementation work packages. Each implementation work package consists of a set of activities leading to the achievement of one of the tasks described above in the section “Which activities can be carried out by European Partnerships for School Development?”.

The project management work package covers monitoring, coordination, communication, evaluation, risk management and other activities necessary for the implementation of the project. A maximum of 20% of the total project budget can be allocated to the project management work package.

Subcontracting of services is allowed as long as it does not cover core activities on which the achievement of the objectives of the action directly depends. In such cases, the subcontracted tasks and the amount budgeted for them must be clearly described in the project application.

Payment arrangements

The condition for the full payment of the grant is the completion of all the activities in line with the quality criteria described in the project application. In case one or more activities are not completed, partially completed or assessed as unsatisfactory in the quality assessment, appropriate reductions of the grant amount may be applied at final report stage in cases of poor, partial or late implementation by not accepting single work-packages or activities, or by reducing the overall amount by a flat-rate percentage.

The final report assessment is based on the detailed descriptions of each activity carried out, quantitative and qualitative information showing the level of achievement of the project objectives stated in the application and the quality of project results.

Footnote

1. The eligible organisations in each EU Member State or third country associated to the Programme will be defined by the competent National Authority and published on the website of the relevant National Agency together with relevant examples. The same definition of eligible local and regional school authorities will apply to project coordinators and project partners. The National Authority may decide not to define any eligible organisations under the third item, if there are not relevant organisations in the national school education system. ↩ back
2. Seats of the institutions of the European Union are Brussels, Frankfurt, Luxembourg and Strasbourg. See a list of EU institutions ↩ back
3. Decimal scores will not be used. The required minimum will be rounded up where needed, e.g. half of 25 points is 12.5, therefore the minimum score for that criterion will be 13 points. ↩ back