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Call key data
Topic 1: School Education: Enhancing basic skills
Funding Program
Erasmus+ - Key Action 2 – Cooperation among Organisations and Institutions
Call number
ERASMUS-EDU-2025-PI-FORWARD-SCHOOL-BS
deadlines
Opening
18.12.2024
Deadline
27.05.2025 17:00
Funding rate
80%
Call budget
€ 3,000,000.00
Estimated EU contribution per project
max. € 1,000,000.00
Link to the call
Link to the submission
Call content
short description
This action will aim to foster innovation, creativity and participation, as well as social entrepreneurship, in different fields of education and training, within sectors or across sectors and disciplines. The objective of this Topic is to support EU countries in their efforts to enhancing foundational literacy, maths, science and digital skills by implementing effective teaching, learning and assessment practices, with a specific focus on foundational years (Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) and primary education).
Call objectives
This action will aim to foster innovation, creativity and participation, as well as social entrepreneurship, in different fields of education and training, within sectors or across sectors and disciplines.
Forward-Looking Projects are large-scale projects that aim to identify, develop, test and/or assess innovative (policy) approaches that have the potential of becoming mainstreamed, thus improving education and training systems. They will support forward-looking ideas responding to key European priorities. They should give input for improving education and training systems, as well as bring a substantial innovative effect in terms of methods and practices to all types of learning and active participation settings for Europe's social cohesion.
The goal is to support transnational cooperation projects implementing a coherent and comprehensive set of sectoral or cross-sectoral activities that either: a) foster innovation in terms of scope, ground-breaking methods and practices, and/or b) ensure a transfer of innovation (across countries, policy sectors or target groups), thus ensuring at European level a sustainable exploitation of innovative project results and/or transferability into different contexts and audiences. The partnerships should be composed of a mix of public and private organisations combining researchers, practitioners and partners with the capacity to reach policy makers.
Forward-Looking Projects should therefore be implemented by a mixed partnership of organisations:
- based on excellence and state of the art knowledge;
- having the capacity to innovate;
- able to generate systemic impact through their activities and the potential to drive the policy agenda in the fields of education and training.
The general objectives are as follows:
- Implementing innovative initiatives with a strong impact on education and training reforms in specific strategic policy areas;
- Contributing to the strengthening of Europe's innovation capacity by promoting innovation in education and training;
- Creating systemic change through fostering innovation at both practice and policy level;
- Support forward-looking ideas focusing on key topics and priorities at EU level, with a clear potential to be mainstreamed in one or more sectors;
- As fully innovative, ground-breaking educational methods and practices and/or transfer of innovation: ensuring at EU level a sustainable exploitation of innovative project results and/or transferability into different contexts and audiences.
The specific objectives include:
- Identifying, developing, testing and/or assessing innovative approaches that have the potential to be mainstreamed in order to improve education and training systems, as well as the effectiveness of policies and practices in the field of education and training;
- Launching pilot actions to test solutions and address future challenges, aiming to create sustainable and systemic impact;
- Supporting transnational cooperation and mutual learning on forward-looking issues amongst key stakeholders and empowering them to develop innovative solutions and promote the transfer of those solutions in new settings, including capacity building of relevant stakeholders.
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Expected effects and impacts
- Enhanced basic skills of learners in selected schools;
- Increased capacity of schools to work in a whole school approach to support acquisition of basic skills of their learners;
- Increased capacity of teachers and educators to address challenges related to basic skills acquisition.
VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING (VET) Vocational Education and Training (VET) projects support the implementation of the principles and objectives of the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan, the European Skills Agenda, the Council Recommendation on vocational education and training for sustainable competitiveness, social fairness and resilience, and the Osnabrück Declaration on vocational education and training as an enabler of recovery and just transitions to digital and green economies.
Expected results
Educational outcomes, in terms of knowledge, skills and attitudes developed during schooling, are strong predictors of a balanced, healthy and successful adult life. Measured in terms of ‘educational achievements’ and ‘educational attainments’, they are fundamental for laying the foundations for adult life. The acquisition of basic skills (literacy, mathematics, science and digital) set the foundation for further learning, hence essential for students’ academic and personal development. The latest 2022 PISA (Programme of International Student Assessment) results are deeply worrying: in the EU, around 30% of young people fail to reach the minimum competence level in mathematics, and around 25% in reading and science. Socio-economic status continues to be the strongest determinant of educational outcomes. Moreover, gender differences in underachievement are evident in reading, with boys underperforming girls. Regarding digital skills, at 43% underachievers in 2023, the EU average is at present far from the target of less than 15% underachievers by 2030.
At European level, initiatives such as Pathways to School Success seek to address these challenges and achieve success at school for all children, no matter their personal background or story. The 2022 Council Recommendation on Pathways to School Success proposes a new policy framework, based on a whole-system, whole-school approach perspective, aimed at guiding policy makers and education practitioners. The framework outlines conditions for effective action, key measures, to be promoted at school, local, regional and national levels as well as specific actions for supporting school leaders, teachers, trainers and other educational staff.
Having in mind the measures within Pathways to School Success framework coupled with the need for a renewed and enhanced focus on basic skills, the objective of this Topic is to support EU countries in their efforts to enhancing foundational literacy, maths, science and digital skills by implementing effective teaching, learning and assessment practices, with a specific focus on foundational years (Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) and primary education).
Based on existing evidence, the projects should look at teaching, learning and assessment practices (including interdisciplinary approaches) which have been assessed and have a demonstrated impact in foundational years (ECEC and primary education), and see how these can be further scaled-up, in particular in ECEC settings and schools with a high concentration of children from vulnerable groups, including low socio-economic background and children with different home languages.
A strong focus should be placed on involving parents/caregivers and families, including through support to parenting, home reading programmes, as well as on the involvement of other stakeholders, particularly public libraries, scientific institutions, and NGOs, non-formal learning providers (such as EU STEM Coalition national platforms), businesses, local authorities.
Projects should place a special attention on Initial Teacher Education and Continuing Professional Development programmes and how they can enhance educators’ understanding of young children’s competence development in literacy/communication, mathematics, sciences and digital, and to understand how to assess this development.
Specific activities that can be funded (scope):
Projects should address at least two of the activities described below with focus on basic skills acquisition. Projects can propose additional activities.
- Building on available national and international research, identify effective practices for teaching, learning and assessment to enhance literacy, math, science, and digital skills and develop a scale-up strategy. Selected practices should have been properly assessed and be supported by available evidence of impact. Innovative and differentiated approaches to basic skills teaching, learning and assessment should be prioritised. Special attention should be given to practices with a demonstrated impact on foundational years (early childhood education and care and primary education) and on children from vulnerable groups, including low socio-economic background and children with different home languages;
- Pilot the selected practices on an adequate sample of school and ECEC settings and create networking opportunities among the participants to the pilot;
- Develop and implement guidance for educators in employing and combining effective and innovative approaches to basic skills teaching, learning and assessment. Guidance should also be provided to address gender issues in basic skills acquisition (including low expectations regarding boys’ achievements) and gender-sensitive teaching practices that are more conducive to motivating and engaging boys and girls;
- Develop guidance and material to build schools’ capacity to work in a whole school approach by placing a strong focus on involving parents/caregivers and communities, for example through support to parenting, home reading programmes, as well as on involving other stakeholders, in particular public libraries, scientific institutions, youth organisations, NGOs, non-formal learning providers (such as EU STEM Coalition national platform), businesses, local authorities, etc. Public authorities at local and regional levels (eg: municipalities) could play a significant role in building schools’ capacity;
- Support professional development of school leaders, teachers, ECEC professionals and other educators, equipping them with adequate competences, pedagogical approaches and tools, by placing a special attention on Initial Teacher Education (ITE) and Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programmes, professional learning communities, coaching, mentoring, etc. Such professional learning opportunities should help enhance educators’ awareness of young children’s literacy/communication and mathematical and scientific competence development, of risk and protective factors, of the crucial role of wellbeing at school on academic achievement, and build capacity to addressing different types of learning needs, teaching in multilingual and multicultural contexts, etc;
- Assess the transferability of the piloted practices and the sustainability of the project results after the end of the project.
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Eligibility Criteria
Regions / countries for funding
Albania (Shqipëria), Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosna i Hercegovina / Босна и Херцеговина), Faeroes (Føroyar / Færøerne), Iceland (Ísland), Kosovo (Kosova/Kosovë / Косово), Liechtenstein, Montenegro (Црна Гора), North Macedonia (Северна Македонија), Norway (Norge), Serbia (Srbija/Сpбија), Switzerland (Schweiz/Suisse/Svizzera), Türkiye
eligible entities
Education and training institution, Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) / Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Other, Private institution, incl. private company (private for profit), Public Body (national, regional and local; incl. EGTCs), Research Institution incl. University, Small and medium-sized enterprise (SME)
Mandatory partnership
Yes
Project Partnership
Proposals must be submitted by a consortium of at least 3 applicants (beneficiaries, not affiliated entities), from a minimum of 3 EU Member States or third countries associated to the Programme.
In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must:
- be legal entities (public or private bodies) active in the fields of education and training, research and innovation or in the world of work. For Topic 4 ‘Adult Learning: Support to the Pact for Skills’, these bodies should also be registered members of the Pact for skills;
- be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e. Erasmus+ Programme Countries:
- EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs))
- non-EU countries: listed EEA countries and countries associated to the Erasmus+ Programme (list of participating countries)
- for higher education institutions (HEIs) established in Erasmus+ Programme Countries (see above): be holders of the ECHE certificate (Erasmus Charter for Higher Education).
Organisations from third countries not associated to the Programme can only be involved as associated partners (not as beneficiaries and affiliated entities). Exception: organisations from Belarus and the Russian Federation are not eligible to participate in this action.
other eligibility criteria
Specific cases:
Natural persons — Natural persons are NOT eligible (with the exception of self employed persons, i.e. sole traders, where the company does not have legal personality separate from that of the natural person).
International organisations — International organisations are NOT eligible. The rules on eligible countries do not apply to them.
Entities without legal personality — Entities which do not have legal personality under their national law may exceptionally participate, provided that their representatives have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf, and offer guarantees for the protection of the EU financial interests equivalent to that offered by legal persons.
EU bodies — EU bodies (with the exception of the European Commission Joint Research Centre) can NOT be part of the consortium.
Associations and interest groupings — Entities composed of members may participate as ‘sole beneficiaries’ or ‘beneficiaries without legal personality’. Please note that if the action will be implemented by the members, they should also participate (either as beneficiaries or as affiliated entities, otherwise their costs will NOT be eligible).
Countries currently negotiating association agreements — Beneficiaries from countries with ongoing negotiations for participation in the programme (see list of participating countries above) may participate in the call and can sign grants if the negotiations are concluded before grant signature and if the association covers the call (i.e. is retroactive and covers both the part of the programme and the year when the call was launched).
Financial support to third parties is not allowed.
Additional information
Topics
Relevance for EU Macro-Region
EUSAIR - EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region, EUSALP - EU Strategy for the Alpine Space, EUSBSR - EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, EUSDR - EU Strategy for the Danube Region
UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs)
project duration
between 24 and 36 months
Additional Information
Proposals must be submitted before the call deadline (see timetable section 4).
Proposals must be submitted electronically via the Funding & Tenders Portal Electronic Submission System (accessible via the Topic page in the Calls for proposals section). Paper submissions are NOT possible.
Proposals (including annexes and supporting documents) must be submitted using the forms provided inside the Submission System ( NOT the documents available on the Topic page — they are only for information).
Proposals must be complete and contain all the requested information and all required annexes and supporting documents:
- Application Form Part A — contains administrative information about the participants (future coordinator, beneficiaries and affiliated entities) and the summarised budget for the project (to be filled in directly online)
- Application Form Part B — contains the technical description of the project (template to be downloaded from the Portal Submission System, completed, assembled and re-uploaded)
- Part C — contains the project’s contribution to EU programme key performance indicators (to be filled in directly online)
- Mandatory annexes and supporting documents (templates to be downloaded from the Portal Submission System, completed, assembled and re uploaded):
- Detailed budget table/calculator
Please be aware that since the detailed budget table serves as the basis for fixing the lump sums for the grants (and since lump sums must be reliable proxies for the actual costs of a project), the costs you include MUST comply with the basic eligibility conditions for EU actual cost grants (see AGA — Annotated Grant Agreement, art 6). This is particularly important for purchases and subcontracting, which must comply with best value for money (or if appropriate the lowest price) and be free of any conflict of interests. If the budget table contains ineligible costs, the grant may be reduced (even later on during the project implementation or after their end).
Proposals are limited to maximum 70 pages (Part B).
Call documents
ERASMUS-EDU-2025-PI-FORWARDERASMUS-EDU-2025-PI-FORWARD(1214kB)
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