Teacher Training from a European Perspective

Teacher Academies – a successful model to continue

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Reading time: 6 min.

Text: Volker Frechen & Susanne Reich

Prospective and practising teachers across Europe face a shared and growing challenge: The demands of the profession are increasing, along with the breadth of responsibilities. Yet the vast majority of teachers do not receive sufficient initial or ongoing training. Digital media are becoming increasingly prevalent, while classrooms are growing more diverse and often multilingual, reflecting students’ varied backgrounds. At the same time, social polarisation is intensifying, and trust in democratic values is declining in some sections of society. Compounding these challenges, teacher education systems, professional development structures, and strategies for addressing such issues vary significantly from one country to another.

Against this backdrop, the European Commission launched the Erasmus+ "Teacher Academies" initiative in 2021. The initiative aims to strengthen exchange and networking while enhancing both initial teacher education and continuous professional development. The concept is simple yet ambitious: social developments rarely remain confined to a single region, and educational needs do not stop at national borders. Cross-cutting issues such as digitalisation, inclusion and democracy education are relevant across all countries. Therefore, it is both logical and necessary to pool resources and expertise through cooperation across Europe.

Long-term partnerships for sustainable change

Rather than supporting one-off exchange programmes, the "Teacher Academies" initiative focuses on multi-year strategic partnerships. These Partnerships bring together higher education institutions, teacher training institutes, schools, education authorities and associations from several European countries to develop learning modules and courses for teacher training, addressing areas such as the development of digital competences, citizenship education, and sustainability in the classroom. Alternatively, they support schools in piloting innovative teaching methods, such as distance and blended learning. Funding is awarded not to individual institutions or participants, but to consortia comprising at least six organisations from a minimum of four Erasmus+ programme countries.

Collaboration between education stakeholders from various sectors and countries creates synergies. This enables the development of specific training modules for teachers that can be used across national borders to address cross-cutting issues or enhance students’ STEM skills, for instance. Such collaboration also facilitates structural changes in teacher training that can incorporate these specific topics. Teacher mobility is therefore a key objective of the "Teacher Academies": gaining insight into different cultures, education systems and approaches to diversity and inclusion broadens trainee teachers' skills and provides them with new perspectives. In order to enable teacher training students to participate in this international exchange, it is important and necessary to create mobility windows within their curricula so that a period abroad can be seamlessly integrated into their studies.

Teacher Academies can have a genuine impact, as they foster collaboration among all stakeholder groups involved in teacher education – while also promoting international exchange.

Dr. Marie Vanderbeke, Professional School of Education at Ruhr-Universität Bochum

European responses to shared challenges

Dr Marie Vanderbeke from the "Professional School of Education" (PSE) at Ruhr University Bochum emphasises, that "Teacher Academies" are a suitable model for achieving her institution’s teacher education goals, based on her own experience: "Teacher Academies can have a genuine impact, as they foster collaboration among all stakeholder groups involved in teacher education – while also promoting international exchange". The PSE initiated and coordinated the "TESTEd" project (see info box below), which was one of eleven projects approved in the first funding round.

Successful project consortia can receive up to € 1.5 million in funding over a period of three years. The programme is therefore in a strong financial position - this level of funding is an essential prerequisite for collaborative projects of this scale. As Dr. Vanderbeke emphasises: "A project of this scale would not be possible without EU funding. In particular, financial support is crucial for facilitating networking among the stakeholders, allowing partners to meet in person and engage in deeper, more intensive dialogue."

The three-year funding period for the first selection round has now concluded, providing an appropriate juncture for evaluation. "The results all indicate that the programme should be continued," states Dr Marie Vanderbeke.

Exceptional project proposals

"Teacher Academies" are classified as Partnerships for Excellence within Erasmus+. To date, four calls for proposals have been issued during the 2021 to 2027 programme cycle, resulting in a total of 61 projects being selected for funding by the European Commission. The next call for proposals is expected in 2027.

However, approval is by no means assured. As Carina Fazius of the National Agency for Erasmus+ Higher Education Cooperation at the DAAD (NA DAAD) explains, "The application process is highly competitive, and only proposals of exceptional quality stand a realistic chance of receiving funding." In her role as a consultant for partnerships and cooperation projects, Ms Fazius assists higher education institutions on applications for "Teacher Academies". "We encourage higher education institutions to start preparing their applications early and to take advantage of the advisory services offered by the NA DAAD."

There is considerable interest in the programme among German higher education institutions. Exchanges with colleagues from other countries are considered extremely beneficial. EU funding is particularly appealing also from a financial perspective, as it provides opportunities for a variety of joint projects.

Carina Fazius, Erasmus+ National Agency Higher Education

Innovation through collaboration

Three projects coordinated by German institutions were successful in the first call for proposals in 2021. The leading organisations were the University of Education Freiburg, Dresden University of Technology and Ruhr University Bochum. A comparatively large number of German educational institutions also successfully participated in subsequent selection rounds in 2022, 2024 and 2025.

"There is considerable interest in the programme among German higher education institutions," explains Ms Fazius. "Exchanges with colleagues from other countries are considered extremely beneficial. EU funding is particularly appealing also from a financial perspective, as it provides opportunities for a variety of joint projects, such as the development of innovative European learning modules for initial and continuing teacher training, or initiatives to promote mobility, including summer schools and study visits for students and teachers."

A blueprint for European teacher training

Ms Fazius firmly believes that the "Teacher Academies" initiative should continue. As she notes, "The demand for teachers with strong intercultural competencies in increasingly diverse classrooms is growing. Today’s teachers must be able to adopt multiple perspectives and, in addition to delivering the traditional curriculum, engage more extensively with interdisciplinary socio-political issues. "Teacher Academies" provide a variety of approaches for integrating such cross-border and cross-cutting issues into school education." At the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, the ("SmartStart") project focuses on the use of AI-based applications and digital media in primary education. Meanwhile, the "Teacher Academy" at the University of Cologne ("Teacher Education for a Future in Flux") addresses both initial teacher education and continuing professional development in key areas such as digital technologies, environmental sustainability, inclusion and well-being. In the future, removing barriers to mobility and developing effective formats for both physical and virtual exchange, will remain central challenges for European teacher training. Consequently, the European Commission’s intention to continue the "Teacher Academies" within the Erasmus+ programme from 2028 onwards is particularly welcome.

The ERASMUS+ "Teacher Academy" project, "Towards a European Syllabus in Teacher Education" (TESTEd), was launched with the aim of integrating cross-cutting issues, such as sustainability, digitalisation and education for democracy, within teacher training programmes. In order to achieve this, the TESTEd consortium has developed a European syllabus for lecturers involved in teacher training. This guide provides lecturers with methodologies and teaching examples to help trainee teachers acquire the relevant skills for teaching these issues. The TESTEd project has also produced additional training and professional development resources, as well as various publications.

The TESTEd consortium comprised five universities – Ruhr University Bochum (Germany), University College Cork (Ireland), the University of Oulu (Finland), the University of Seville (Spain) and the Portuguese Catholic University (Portugal) – the AKADEMIE further education institution at Ruhr University, eleven schools, and "Critical Friends" from education administration, government bodies, teachers’ unions and other relevant stakeholder groups. The TESTEd project ran from June 2022 to May 2025. Further information and all publications can be found on the TESTEd project website: https://tested-network.eu/