The 2019 Council Resolution on further developing the European Education Area invites the Commission to “Develop new means to train and support competent, motivated and highly qualified teachers, trainers, educators and school leaders, and promote their continuous professional development and high-quality, research-based teacher education.”

The Council Conclusions on European Teacher and Trainers for the Future of May 2020 reiterate the role of teachers as cornerstones of the European Education Area and call for further support to teachers’ career and competence development as well as well-being at all stages of their careers. The Conclusions stress the benefits of mobility of teachers and the need of embedding mobility as part of teachers’ initial and continuous education. Moreover, the Conclusions invite the Commission to support closer cooperation between teacher education providers within the continuum of teachers’ professional development.

The 2020 Commission’s Communication on Achieving the European Education Area by 2025 recognises the key role of teachers and trainers and sets the vision of having highly competent and motivated educators who can benefit from a range of support and professional development opportunities throughout their varied careers.  It proposes a number of actions to address the challenges the teaching professions face today, including the plan to launch Erasmus+ Teacher Academies.  

The Commission’s Digital Education Action Plan (2021-2027) stresses the need to ensure that all teachers and trainers have the confidence and competences to use technology effectively and creatively to engage and motivate their learners as well as to ensure that all learners develop their digital competences for learning, living and working in an ever more digitalised world.

The Council Resolution on a strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training towards the European Education Area and beyond (2021- 2030) refers to the potential of Erasmus+ Teachers Academies in facilitating  networking, knowledge sharing, mobility and providing teachers and trainers with learning opportunities at all phases of teachers' and trainers' careers.

There is a need to improve the attractiveness of the profession: in the EU countries participating in OECD’s TALIS survey, on average, less than 20% of lower secondary school teachers felt that their profession is valued by the society.  The ageing of the teaching professionals is a concern as upcoming waves of retirement could result in potential shortages in the teaching workforce in a country. The 2019 Education and Training Monitor indicates also that a number of European countries face serious shortages of teachers, either across the board or in some subjects such as science, or in specific profiles such as teaching pupils with special needs.

Despite wide offer of continuous professional development, teachers still self-report a lack of professional development opportunities according to the OECD’s TALIS survey. Despite the benefits of mobility, it is still not embedded in teacher education effectively, due to many practical obstacles that should be removed by more consistent policies.

The Erasmus+ Teacher Academies will address these issues, complement other work done in achieving the Education Area, and help transfer the results to national and regional policy making and eventually to teacher education and support for schools. They will build on the innovations and effective practice that exists within national teacher education and European cooperation and develop them further. Specific attention will be paid to dissemination and exploitation of effective practice across countries and teacher education providers, and to ensuring feedback and impact also at policy level.

Objectives of the Action

The overall objective of this action is to create European partnerships of teacher¹ education and training providers to set up Erasmus+ Teacher Academies that will develop a European and international outlook in teacher education.

These Academies will embrace multilingualism, language awareness and cultural diversity, develop teacher education in line with the EU’s priorities in education policy and contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the European Education Area.

The Erasmus+ Teacher Academies will meet the following objectives:

• Contribute to the improvement of teacher education policies and practices in Europe by creating networks and communities of practice on teacher education that bring together providers of initial teacher education (pre-service education for future teachers) and providers of continuing professional development (in-service), other relevant actors such as teacher associations, ministries and stakeholders to develop and test strategies and programmes for professional learning that is effective, accessible and transferable to other contexts.
• Develop and test jointly different models of mobility (virtual, physical and blended) in initial teacher education and as part of teachers’ continuous professional development in order to enhance the quality and number of mobility as well as to make mobility an integral part of teacher education provision in Europe.
• Develop sustainable collaboration between teacher education providers with an impact to the quality of teacher education in Europe and with a view to inform teacher education polices at European and national levels.
• Enhance the European dimension and internationalisation of teacher education through innovative and practical collaboration with teacher educators and teachers in other European countries and by sharing experiences for the further development of teacher education in Europe.

This collaboration will address one or more of the horizontal priorities of the Erasmus+ Programme, as theme(s) for the Teacher Academy activities.  

Teacher Academies should identify and work on one priority or more priorities that are particularly relevant for their partnership with a view to enhancing a high-quality education/professional development, and addressing (future) teachers’ pressing needs, notably by offering teachers courses, modules and other learning opportunities on:

1. Inclusion and diversity, notably:

To help teachers acquire the necessary knowledge, skills and competences for the educational inclusion of children/students with fewer opportunities, including children/students with disabilities or special needs, with a migrant background, as well as children/students living in rural and remote areas such as outermost regions, children/students facing gender inequalities, socio-economic difficulties or any other potential source of discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation. This also means understanding underachievement, disengagement, and addressing well-being, mental health and bullying. Examples include: Developing competences to teach in multilingual and multicultural settings, on gender-sensitive practices, inclusive education for children with special needs, on creating supportive learning environments and strategies addressing learners’ and teachers’ well-being at school, on how to use a variety of learning approaches and blended learning, as well as formative assessment methods and tools.    

To equip teachers to addressing the barriers faced by these groups in accessing education, as well as contributing to creating a positive learning climate and inclusive environments that foster equity and equality, and that are responsive to the needs of the wider community; building relationships of trust with learners, parents, families and carers; using collaborative practices and work in multi-disciplinary teams in schools.

Further references:  

• Council Recommendation on promoting common values, inclusive education, and the European dimension of teaching
• Council Recommendation on Pathways to School Success (replacing the Council Recommendation of 28 June 2011 on policies to reduce early school leaving)

2. Environment and fight against climate change, notably:

To implement and further develop comprehensive and collaborative approaches to teaching and learning for the green transition and sustainable development, recognising that all teachers, whatever their discipline or sector of education, are sustainability educators who need to support their learners in preparing for the green transition.

To offer (future) teachers professional training/education about climate change and how to best teach it; develop sustainability competences of (future)teachers/educators and education leaders; and exchange and develop the approaches of the participating organisations regarding environmental sustainability.  

To exchange on how to raise awareness about the green transition, environmental and climate-change challenges, to develop competences, green sectorial skills strategies and methodologies, as well as future-oriented curricula that better meet the needs of teachers.  

To support teachers in adopting pedagogies, including testing innovative practices,  that enhance teaching and learning for the green transition and sustainable development in interdisciplinary ways, including  the socio-emotional aspects of learning, so that all learners can become agents of change and learn to reflect and act, both individually and collectively, locally and globally, for a more sustainable world.

Further reference: Council Recommendation on learning for environmental sustainability

3. Addressing digital transformation through development of digital readiness, resilience and capacity, notably:

To support the need to engage (future) teachers in the path to digital transformation, with a view to harness the potential of digital technologies for teaching and learning and to develop digital skills for all, also increasing the capacity and readiness of institutions to manage an effective shift towards digital education.  

To contribute to the first strategic priority of the Digital Education Action Plan, the development of a high-performing digital education ecosystem, by building capacity and critical understanding on how to exploit the opportunities offered by digital technologies for teaching and learning at all levels and for all sectors and to develop and implement digital transformation plans of educational institutions.

To support the purposeful use of digital technologies for teaching, learning, assessment and engagement. This includes the development of digital pedagogy and expertise in the use of digital tools for teachers, including accessible and assistive technologies and the creation and innovative use of digital education content.  Particular attention will be given to promoting gender equality and addressing differences in relation to the access and use by under-represented groups.  

Use of the European frameworks on digital competences of educators, citizens and organisations is encouraged.

Further reference: Digital Education Action Plan (2021-2027)

4. Common values, civic engagement and participation, notably:

To train and equip (future) teachers.

To promote active citizenship and ethics in their teaching, and foster the development of social and intercultural competences, critical thinking and media literacy.  

To offer opportunities for children/students’ participation in democratic life, social and civic engagement notably through formal or non-formal learning activities.

To raise awareness on and understanding the European Union context, notably as regards the common EU values, the principles of unity and diversity, as well as their cultural identity, cultural awareness and their social and historical heritage.

Further reference: Council Recommendation on promoting common values, inclusive education, and the European dimension of teaching

Eligibility criteria

In order to be eligible for an Erasmus grant, project proposals for Erasmus+ Teacher Academies must comply with the following criteria:

Eligible participating organisations (Who can apply?)

In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities, if applicable) must:

• be legal entities (public or private bodies);
• be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e. EU Member State or third country associated to the Programme (see section “Eligible Countries” in Part A of this Guide).  

Organisations established in third countries not associated to the Programme cannot participate in the action.

The coordinating organisation must be a Teacher Education Institution. It applies on behalf of all participating organisations involved in the project. It cannot be an affiliated entity.

The applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities, if applicable) can be, for example (non-exhaustive list):

• Teacher Education Institutions (colleges, institutes, universities providing initial teacher education and/or continuing professional development) for teachers and Early childhood education and care (ECEC) staff at ISCED levels 0-3, including VET teachers;
• Ministries or similar public bodies responsible for school education policies;
• Public (local, regional or national) and private bodies responsible for developing policies and offer for teacher education as well as defining standards for teachers’ qualifications;
• Teacher associations or other nationally recognised providers of teacher education and continuous professional development;
• Authorities responsible for education and training of teachers and supervision of their continuous professional development and qualifications;
• Schools working with teacher education providers to allow for practical training as part of teacher education;
• Other schools (from primary schools to initial VET) or other organisations (e.g. NGOs, teacher associations) relevant for the project.

Other entities may participate in other consortium roles, such as associated partners.

Consortium composition (Number and profile of participating organisation)

6 applicants (beneficiaries; not affiliated entities), from a minimum of 4 EU Member States or third countries associated to the Programme (including at least 3 EU Member States), which complies with the following conditions:

• a minimum of 4 nationally established providers of initial teacher education from 3 different EU Member States and third countries associated to the Programme, and
• a minimum of 1 nationally established provider of continuing professional development (in-service training) for teachers, and
• a minimum of 1 practice/training school

The consortium may also include affiliated entities or associated partners, other organisations with relevant expertise in teacher education and/or bodies defining standards, qualifications or quality assurance for teacher education.

Geographic location (Venue of the activities)

Activities must take place in EU Member States or third countries associated to the Programme.

Activities taking place in third countries not associated to the Programme are not eligible.

Duration of the project

Projects should normally last 36 months (extensions are possible, if duly justified and through an amendment of the grant agreement).

Where to apply?

To the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) via the Funding & Tender Opportunities Portal (FTOP).

Call ID: ERASMUS-EDU-2024-PEX-TEACH-ACA

When to apply?

Applicants have to submit their grant application by 6 June at 17:00:00 (Brussels time).

How to apply?

For more information please consult Part C of this Guide.

Applicant organisations will be assessed against the relevant exclusion and selection criteria. For more information please consult Part C of this Guide.

Setting up a project

Each Erasmus Teacher Academy shall implement a coherent and comprehensive set of activities, such as:

• Collaborate and establish networks and communities of practice between teacher education providers, teacher associations, public organisations involved in teacher education and other relevant actors to create innovative strategies and programmes for initial and continuous professional development for teachers and schools.
• Develop and deliver joint, innovative and effective learning modules on teacher education and for teacher competences on challenging and/or new pedagogical matters of common concern. They shall address the distinct needs of student teachers (as part of their initial education) and serving teachers (as part of continuous professional development).
• Develop joint learning offer with a strong European dimension that includes mobility activities in all its forms, setting up, for instance summer schools, study visits for students and teachers as well as other forms of cross-campus collaboration, both physical and virtual.
• Identify effective ways to remove obstacles of mobility and identify conditions, including practical arrangements and recognition of learning, in order to increase the number and quality of mobility and its inclusion as an integral part of initial and continuous learning offer for teachers.
• Involve schools and in particular training schools to experiment and share innovative new ways of teaching (including for distance and blended approaches to teaching and learning).  
• Undertake, in line with the objectives of this call, studies, research and/or surveys or collections of effective practices to produce summaries, discussion papers, recommendations etc. to stimulate discussion and to inform policies on teacher education.
• Promote and give preference to the existing Erasmus+ tools, such as eTwinning as part of the European School Education Platform, for virtual mobility, collaboration, communication for testing and sharing results.

Award criteria

Relevance of the project (maximum score 35 points)

• Link to the objectives of the call: the extent to which the proposal establishes a Teacher Academy with a view to improve initial and continuing teacher education with innovative learning offer to teachers in relation to at least one of the Erasmus+ priorities:
  • Inclusion and diversity;
  • Environment and fight against climate change;
  • Addressing digital transformation through development of digital readiness, resilience and capacity;
  • Common values, civic engagement and participation.
• 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.
• Consistency: the extent to which the proposal is based on an adequate needs analysis, clearly defined and realistic goals, and addresses issues relevant to the participating organisations and to the action.
• Innovative approach: the proposal considers state-of-the-art methods and techniques, and leads to innovative results and solutions for its field in general, or for the geographical context in which the project is implemented (e.g. content; outputs produced, working methods applied, organisations and persons involved or targeted).
• European added value: the proposal clearly demonstrates the added value at the individual (learner and/or staff), institutional and systemic levels, generated through results that would be difficult to attain by the partners acting without European cooperation; the proposal uses and promotes the existing tools at EU level such as eTwinning and European School Education Platform for collaboration, communication, and for testing and sharing results.
• Internationalisation: the proposal demonstrates its contribution to the international dimension of teacher education, including the development of joint models of mobility (virtual, physical and blended) and other learning offer in initial teacher education and teachers’ continuous professional development.
• Gender sensitivity: the proposal addresses gender equality and helps to find solutions to effectively foster gender sensitive teaching in schools.

Quality of the project design and implementation (maximum score 25 points)

• Coherence: the overall project design ensures consistency between project objectives, activities and the budget proposed. The proposal presents a coherent and comprehensive set of appropriate activities and services to meet the identified needs and lead to the expected results.
• Methodology: the quality and feasibility of the methodology proposed and its appropriateness for producing the expected results.
• Structure: the clarity, completeness and quality of the work programme, including appropriate phases for preparation, implementation, monitoring, exploitation, evaluation and dissemination.
• Management: solid management arrangements are foreseen. Timelines, organisation, tasks and responsibilities are well defined and realistic. The proposal allocates appropriate resources to each activity.
• Budget: the budget provides for appropriate resources necessary for success, it is neither overestimated nor underestimated.
• Risk management: challenges/risks of the project are clearly identified and mitigating actions properly addressed.
• Quality Assurance: control measures (continuous quality evaluation, peer reviews, benchmarking activities, etc.) are adequately put in place.
• Monitoring tools: indicators are set to ensure that the project implementation is of high quality and cost-efficient.
• Configuration: the project involves an appropriate mix of complementary participating organisations with the necessary profile, competences, experience and expertise to successfully deliver all aspects of the project.
• Cooperation with stakeholders: the partnership establishes strong and on-going networks and communities of practice at both local, national and transnational levels with pre- and in-service teacher education providers, public authorities involved in teacher education and other relevant actors, and allows for an effective exchange of expertise and knowledge among those stakeholders.
• Geographical balance: the partnership includes relevant partners from different geographical areas, with active roles in the project; the applicant has justified the geographical composition of the partnership and demonstrated its relevance to the achievement of the objectives of the Teacher Academies; the partnership includes a wide and appropriate range of relevant actors at local and regional levels.
• Virtual collaboration and mobility: the cooperation is linked to existing Erasmus+ tools, such as the eTwinning and School Education Gateway.
• Commitment: the distribution of responsibilities and tasks is clear, appropriate, and demonstrates the commitment and active contribution of all participating organisations in relation to their specific expertise and capacity.
• Tasks: the coordinator shows high quality management, ability to coordinate transnational networks and leadership in complex environment; individual tasks are allocated on the basis of the specific know-how of each partner.
• Collaboration: an effective mechanism is proposed to ensure a good coordination, decision-making and communication between the participating organisations, participants and any other relevant stakeholder.

Impact (maximum score 20 points)

• Exploitation: the proposal demonstrates how the outcomes of the project will be used by the partners and other stakeholders. It provides means to measure exploitation within project lifetime and after.
• Dissemination: the proposal provides a clear plan, during the project lifetime and after the project’s termination, for the dissemination of results, and includes appropriate targets, activities, relevant timing, tools and channels to ensure that the results and benefits will be spread effectively to stakeholders, policy makers, teacher education providers, public authorities etc. within and after the project’s lifetime; the proposal also indicates which partners will be responsible for dissemination and demonstrates the relevant experience that they have in dissemination activities; the proposal sets out the means used for dissemination, with preference to the Erasmus+ tools such as eTwinning and European School Education Platform.
• Impact: the proposal demonstrates the potential impact of the project:
  • On participants and participating organisations, during and after the project lifetime;
  • Outside the organisations and individuals directly participating in the project, at local, regional, national and/or European levels.  

The proposal includes measures as well as targets and indicators to monitor progress and assess the expected impact (short- and long-term).  

• Sustainability: the proposal explains how the Erasmus+ Teacher Academies will be rolled out and further developed. The proposal includes the design of a long-term action plan for the progressive roll-out of project deliverables after the project has finished. This plan shall be based on sustained partnerships between providers of initial teacher education (pre-service for future teachers) and providers of continuing professional development (in-service). It should include the identification of appropriate governance structures, as well as plans for scalability and financial sustainability, including the identification of financial resources (European, national and private) to ensure that the results and benefits achieved will have a long-term sustainability.

 

To be considered for funding, applications must score at least 70 points (out of 100 points in total), also taking into account the necessary minimum pass score for each of the four award criteria: minimum 18 points for the ‘Relevance of the project’ category; minimum 13 points for ‘Quality of the project design and implementation’ and 11 points for the categories of ‘Quality of the partnership and the cooperation arrangements’ and ‘Impact’.

Ex-aequo proposals will be prioritised according to the scores they have been awarded for the award criterion ‘Relevance’. When these scores are equal, priority will be based on their scores for the criterion ‘Quality of the project design and implementation’. When these scores are equal, priority will be based on their scores for the criterion ‘Impact’.

If this does not allow to determine the priority, a further prioritisation can be done by considering the overall project portfolio and the creation of positive synergies between projects, or other factors related to the objectives of the call. These factors will be documented in the panel report.

Expected impact

The development of the Erasmus+ Teacher Academies is expected to improve the attractiveness of the teaching profession and to ensure high-quality initial education and continuous professional development for teachers, educators and school leaders.  

Erasmus+ Teacher Academies are expected to enhance the European dimension and internationalisation of teacher education by creating European partnerships of teacher education and training providers. The close collaboration between relevant actors across European borders envisages innovative European cooperation and substantial development of teacher education policies and practices, building upon the existing innovations and effective practices within national teacher education systems and on the joint learning offer organized for participating teachers. This approach is expected to pave the way to make mobility an integral part of teacher education provision in Europe, by removing actual obstacles to mobility and by identifying conditions for successful mobility strategies and programmes.  

Operating at national and European level, the Erasmus+ Teacher Academies will form strong and sustained partnerships between providers of initial teacher education and continuing professional development. They will provide closer co-cooperation between teacher education providers, paving the way towards structural partnerships and joint programmes between institutions. Erasmus+ Teacher Academies will thereby ensure high quality, effective initial and continuous professional development and achieve results that would be difficult to obtain without knowledge sharing and effective cooperation.

Through the use of various dissemination channels at transnational, national and/or regional levels as well as the deployment of a long-term action plan for the progressive roll-out of project deliverables, projects are expected to engage relevant stakeholders within and outside the participating organisations and ensure a lasting impact also after the project lifetime.

What are the funding rules?

This action follows a lump-sum funding model. The amount of the single lump-sum contribution will be determined for each grant based on the estimated budget of the action proposed by the applicant. The amount will be fixed by the granting authority on the basis of the estimated project budget, evaluation result and a funding rate of 80%.

The maximum EU grant per project is 1.5 million euros.

Financial support to third parties in the form of grants or prizes is not allowed.

Volunteer costs are allowed. The unit costs indicated must be aligned with those in the Decision on unit costs for volunteers.  

SME unit costs for SME owners are allowed. The unit costs indicated must be aligned with those in the Decision on unit costs for SMEs owners.

The relevant work package should include costs for at least one annual meeting (1 representative from each full partner of the project) organised by or at the initiative of the European Commission/European Education and Culture Executive Agency for the exchange of good practices and mutual learning between Erasmus+ Teacher Academies.

How is the project lump sum determined?

Applicants must fill in a detailed budget table according to the application form, taking into account the following points:

• The budget should be detailed as necessary by beneficiary/-ies and organised in coherent work packages (for example divided into ‘project management’, ‘training’, ‘organization of events’, ‘mobility preparation and implementation’, ‘communication and dissemination’, ‘quality assurance’, etc.);
• The proposal must describe the activities covered by each work package;    Applicants must provide in their proposal a breakdown of the lump sum showing the share per work package (and, within each work package, the share assigned to each beneficiary and affiliated entity);
• Costs described can cover staff costs, travel and subsistence costs, equipment costs and subcontracting as well as other costs (such as dissemination of information, publishing or translation).

Proposals will be evaluated according to the standard evaluation procedures with the help of internal and/or external experts. The experts will assess the quality of the proposals against the requirements defined in the call and the expected impact, quality and efficiency of the action.

Following the proposal evaluation, the authorising officer will establish the amount of the lump sum, taking into account the findings of the assessment carried out.  

The grant parameters (maximum grant amount, funding rate, total eligible costs, etc.) will be fixed in the Grant Agreement. Please refer to Part C of this Programme Guide, section ‘Eligible direct costs’.  

The project achievements will be evaluated on the outcomes completed. This funding scheme will allow putting focus on the outputs rather than the inputs, thereby placing emphasis on the quality and level of achievement of measurable objectives.

More details are described in the model Grant Agreement available in the Funding and Tender Opportunities Portal (FTOP).

Footnote

• 1 For the purpose of this call, the term "teacher" is to be understood in an enlarged way, including trainers and Early childhood education and care (ECEC) staff. ↩ back