EU Programme: Socrates II, Comenius 2: Training of school education staff.

Description: These projects support European initial and in-service training projects. Partnerships also help to develop strategies and/or materials to improve classroom teaching and learning. Projects have to aim at identifiable outcomes to meet the training needs of a group of educators. Most projects aim at one or more of these activities: (a) Training courses for educational staff; (b) Developing teacher training curricula; (c) Developing teaching strategies, methods and materials for specific learner groups; and/or (d) Promoting student teacher mobility.
For Comenius 2 projects, the application deadline is the 1 March of each year.

Who may apply: Teachers of languages, teacher trainers, public authorities, non-teaching education staff, schools and universities, teacher training institutions, companies running learning schemes in general, social and cultural education, and educational research institutes.

EU Support: Apart from mobility grants for transnational project meetings, the following are offered:

- Grants for Initial Teacher Training (Student teacher placements): Grants will support student teachers for 1-10 weeks of supervised study and practical training abroad. It can only be awarded within a Comenius 2 project for the promotion of student teachers’ mobility.
- Language Assistantships: Grants for future language teachers to spend 3-8 months as assistants at host schools abroad, at institutions eligible under Comenius 1.
- Grants for in-service training: Grants enable teachers or other members of school staff to enrol on 1-4 week in-service courses abroad.Relevance for Lesser-Used Language communities: No language criteria are laid down, so course and materials can be developed in any relevant language, including so-called “regional or minority” languages, provided they are spoken by the in-coming trainees.

Relevance for Lesser-Used Language communities: No language criteria are laid down, so course and materials can be developed in any relevant language, including so-called “regional or minority” languages, provided they are spoken by the in-coming trainees.

Contact:
European Commission
Directorate-General for Education and Culture
Unit A3 - School EducationRue de la Loi 200
1049 Bruxellese-mail: comenius@cec.eu.int
URL: European cooperation projects for the training of school education staff

More information:
National Agencies for Comenius
Decision No 253/2000/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 January 2000 establishing the second phase of the Community action programme in the field of education 'Socrates'.