European policy network on teachers and school leaders

Expected impact

The network, building on its expertise, collecting and analysing evidence and co-creating innovative practices on the themes and priorities set above and effective dissemination, is expected to contribute to the education and support for teachers and school leaders at all stages of their careers. This, in turn, will help further develop school education and respective policies in line with national goals and objectives and the European Education Area.

The overall objective of this topic is to develop and support a Europe-wide network of relevant organisations (policymakers, practitioners, researchers, and stakeholders) to promote co-operation, the development and implementation of policy at different governance levels, and to support the Commission's policy work on teachers and school leaders in the context of the European Education Area as outlined above.

This network will build on existing activities developed at European level, especially on initiatives and projects supported through European Union programmes and policy initiatives in the field of education.

The specific objectives comprise the following:

1. Create and continuously develop a broad, sustainable and inclusive network to facilitate dialogue and co-operation among experts from policy, research and practice. The network should promote and support evidence-informed policy-making and continuous collaboration among partners in the network and with other relevant stakeholders at international, European, national, regional and local levels, including especially other networks and projects funded through EU programmes;
2. Analyse and co-create knowledge on the opportunities, challenges and policy approaches in different education systems with a view to supporting policy development and implementation at different governance levels as well as to informing the Commission's policy work on teachers, schools and school leaders;
3. Identify, share and promote effective policy practice and stimulate innovation and strategic development in policy, implementation and provision at different governance levels. There should be specific focus on the involvement of national, regional and local stakeholders;
4. Disseminate results and recommendations within and beyond the network, and inform EU-level debate, including co-operation under the European Education Area. Target audiences should include policy-makers at different governance levels, as well as practitioners, researchers and stakeholders across Europe;
5. Contribute to content development for the European Commission's dissemination tools, including the School Education Gateway an online platform for school education;
6. Monitor and evaluate activities of the network on the basis of concrete, measurable indicators for their impact; this work should be supported through external evaluation.

The scope and content of the work of the network is defined by the shared political priorities of EU Member States as outlined in Section 1 above. It follows the broad themes defined in the 2020 Communication of Achieving the European Education Area by 2025, In addition, the network should also take into account the evolution of the European Education Area priorities and, where relevant and supportive of the core work, participating countries' national priorities, appropriate research, and developments within other international organisations.

The network should also take into account the work done by the European Education Policy Network available at their website.

Themes and priorities

The themes and priorities of the European policy network on teachers and school leaders follow the priorities set out Communication on the European Education Area and the Council Resolution and in particular:

• Initial and continuous education of teachers and school leaders;
• Continuum and coherence of support to teachers’ and school leaders’ competence development;
• Well-being of teachers and school leaders.
• Professional communities and networks of teachers and school leaders;
• Making teaching careers more varied and attractive;
• Support to teachers and school leaders to make schools more inclusive and equitable;
• Developing and sharing innovative pedagogies, approaches and effective policies responding to current needs;
• Developing schools to respond and contribute to crises situations such as receiving and integrating refugees and migrants.

The following activities are eligible under this call of proposals:

• Creation and further development of the network; cooperation with partner institutions and organisations inside and outside the network;
• Activities aiming to develop, test, adapt and adopt/implement innovative policy and practice;
• Exchange of experiences and good practice, peer learning activities, peer reviews, study visits and workshops; organisation of conferences and seminars;
• Joint research, surveys, studies and analyses in the thematic area of the call, including country analysis or mapping of approaches and practices; analysis of recent or ongoing reforms;
• Awareness raising and dissemination of results;
• Continuous reporting including policy recommendations, evaluation and monitoring of network activities.