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RomânăThe cooperation with our European partner schools and institutes starts well before the project approval. We take care to support the organisations interested in a cooperation with us also in the early stages of the application process, one of the critical steps of the Erasmus+ program. Here below you can find some suggestions that we have gained in our long experience of writing projects. Hopefully, they will come handy to you in order to successfully write your own project and join us in our training courses!
Erasmus+ KA1 - General tips for your application form
European development plan is probably the most important part of the application. Here you need to show clear link between needs of your organization, course objectives and implemented activities after your mobility is already finished. You shall explain the internationalization strategy of your organization and what you’re already doing or planning to do to open your school to international cooperation.
You can use here the “overview“ of our courses. Please avoid copy and paste, it’s always better to rephrase it and adapt to your school/ontext.
Description of the project includes more than just presentation of your training. You should focus on the objectives that are accomplished during the whole project: preparation of mobility, participating in the course, dissemination of material, integration of new knowledge and newly developed outputs in your organization. We recommend you to show that partnership with course provider is strong and serious.
You can use here the “main objectives” and “daily programme” of our courses. Please avoid copy and paste, it’s always better to rephrase it and adapt to your school/context.
Participant profile is dedicated to participants of KA1 mobilities. If you already know the names of persons who will go abroad, present their expertise and training needs. Some national agencies prefer that people from the same organization visit different courses, so they can bring back complementary knowledge. Explain the match between the needs and profile of the participants and the training courses that you’ve chosen. How the courses match the needs?
Learning outcomes chapter is about development of competencies during the mobility. In the description of our training courses you can read which competences your staff is supposed to learn by attending to our courses. European Union likes to hear that you’ll present certificate as a proof of newly acquired knowledge. Please keep in mind that we can assist you in filling up the Europass Mobility certificate documents plus we will issue an attendance certificate. Please consider that using the Europass is highly recommended and will increase the chances of approval.
You can use here the “main objectives” and “certification” of our courses. Please avoid copy and paste, it’s always better to rephrase it and adapt to your school/context.
Preparation for your mobility includes description of your travel plans, accommodation, insurance, safety, visa (for Turkish citizens), mentoring and preparatory meetings. You agency would also like to hear something about preparatory Skype calls, assigned mentor of the group and booklets with detailed information about the country.
Project management should describe practical arrangements between course provider and course participants. We recommend you to sign special agreement with course provider before you visit the course. This can help you to avoid unpleasant situations with not getting what you paid for. Normally similar document contains learning agreement between coordinator and course participants. Here you can specify course schedule, payment details, dissemination obligations and activities for implementation.
Preparation of participants is mostly done by coordinator of mobilities. You can think about quick language courses or buying special books that are connected with course topics. If you visit us, you should mention rich preparatory material and additional information will be provided. Upon request we can set up as well an e-learning website to support the preparation and follow-up phases
Main activities chapter contains description of all planned mobilities. There are also other fields to fill, where you should mention Skype meetings with course providers, frequent contacts between coordinators from hosting and sending organization and regular updates about your mobility with apps like WhatsApp. You should look for the courses that dedicate enough time to transfer of learning contents to your workplace.
You can use here the “methodology” and “daily programme” of our courses. Please avoid copy and paste, it’s always better to rephrase it and adapt to your school/context.
Impact and dissemination are two very important chapters. You should dedicate a lot of time to present everything you can do and everything you want to do.
Evaluation chapter comes the last, although not the least in importance. Here you can focus on evaluation of the course. As we are curious about the quality of our courses, we always dedicate a lot of time to qualitative and quantitative feedback at the end of the course. If you wish, you can receive the results of our evaluation questionnaire. You shall mention that during the training courses we will run a daily evaluation as well as a final evaluation. Moreover we monitor and evaluate the mobility as well in the preparation and follow up phases. You should also consider wider measurements that are resulting from the project. Among the things to consider is number of students that enter new curricula, number of newly initiated projects, level of satisfaction with new teaching methods and numbers of people you reached with your dissemination activities. You can also write about more distant criteria like competency assessment or special peer appraisal.
You can use here the “overview“ of our courses. Please avoid copy and paste, it’s always better to rephrase it and adapt to your school/ontext.
Description of the project includes more than just presentation of your training. You should focus on the objectives that are accomplished during the whole project: preparation of mobility, participating in the course, dissemination of material, integration of new knowledge and newly developed outputs in your organization. We recommend you to show that partnership with course provider is strong and serious.
You can use here the “main objectives” and “daily programme” of our courses. Please avoid copy and paste, it’s always better to rephrase it and adapt to your school/context.
Participant profile is dedicated to participants of KA1 mobilities. If you already know the names of persons who will go abroad, present their expertise and training needs. Some national agencies prefer that people from the same organization visit different courses, so they can bring back complementary knowledge. Explain the match between the needs and profile of the participants and the training courses that you’ve chosen. How the courses match the needs?
Learning outcomes chapter is about development of competencies during the mobility. In the description of our training courses you can read which competences your staff is supposed to learn by attending to our courses. European Union likes to hear that you’ll present certificate as a proof of newly acquired knowledge. Please keep in mind that we can assist you in filling up the Europass Mobility certificate documents plus we will issue an attendance certificate. Please consider that using the Europass is highly recommended and will increase the chances of approval.
You can use here the “main objectives” and “certification” of our courses. Please avoid copy and paste, it’s always better to rephrase it and adapt to your school/context.
Preparation for your mobility includes description of your travel plans, accommodation, insurance, safety, visa (for Turkish citizens), mentoring and preparatory meetings. You agency would also like to hear something about preparatory Skype calls, assigned mentor of the group and booklets with detailed information about the country.
Project management should describe practical arrangements between course provider and course participants. We recommend you to sign special agreement with course provider before you visit the course. This can help you to avoid unpleasant situations with not getting what you paid for. Normally similar document contains learning agreement between coordinator and course participants. Here you can specify course schedule, payment details, dissemination obligations and activities for implementation.
Preparation of participants is mostly done by coordinator of mobilities. You can think about quick language courses or buying special books that are connected with course topics. If you visit us, you should mention rich preparatory material and additional information will be provided. Upon request we can set up as well an e-learning website to support the preparation and follow-up phases
Main activities chapter contains description of all planned mobilities. There are also other fields to fill, where you should mention Skype meetings with course providers, frequent contacts between coordinators from hosting and sending organization and regular updates about your mobility with apps like WhatsApp. You should look for the courses that dedicate enough time to transfer of learning contents to your workplace.
You can use here the “methodology” and “daily programme” of our courses. Please avoid copy and paste, it’s always better to rephrase it and adapt to your school/context.
Impact and dissemination are two very important chapters. You should dedicate a lot of time to present everything you can do and everything you want to do.
Evaluation chapter comes the last, although not the least in importance. Here you can focus on evaluation of the course. As we are curious about the quality of our courses, we always dedicate a lot of time to qualitative and quantitative feedback at the end of the course. If you wish, you can receive the results of our evaluation questionnaire. You shall mention that during the training courses we will run a daily evaluation as well as a final evaluation. Moreover we monitor and evaluate the mobility as well in the preparation and follow up phases. You should also consider wider measurements that are resulting from the project. Among the things to consider is number of students that enter new curricula, number of newly initiated projects, level of satisfaction with new teaching methods and numbers of people you reached with your dissemination activities. You can also write about more distant criteria like competency assessment or special peer appraisal.
European Development Plan - Specific tips
Think aout the internationalization of your school. The European Development Plan is about your future. How would you like to be integrated in the international projects? Is there a common agreement among your teachers to participate in international projects? What will internationalization bring to your students, to your teachers, to parents, and to the local community? How will international cooperation improve the quality of your school? Do you have a support from your management?
It is not enough to state your wish for internationalization. You really need a productive discussion within your school in order to look on the possibility of the internationalization from different perspectives. The quality of your European Development Plan will be higher if you prepare it based on the findings of different discussions, workshops or interviews with the key stakeholders.
Be realistic. If your school does not have any experience with international mobility or other international projects yet, then it would be unwise to write that you will establish cooperation with 25 schools from other countries in 1 year.
Go gradually. Start with one mobility project and tell the evaluators how your first mobility project will help you to get new contacts for one additional project. It is important to be aware how much can you do with your current competencies and experience. Otherwise, evaluators will give lower points to your European Development Plan with the argument that it is unlikely that you will be able to fulfill the plan.
Be concrete. Can you tell the difference between the following two sentences? First, we will increase our international cooperation and bring a lot of good practices to our school. Second, we will increase our capability for teaching entrepreneurship by introducing 3 innovative teaching methods for entrepreneurship which we will learn in 3 different countries with 3 different international partners.
The first statement allows different interpretations and you will never know how the evaluator will understand your plan. In contrast, the second statement is much more concrete with exact data. Your evaluator gets a clear picture what would you like to achieve.
Mind the European dimension of your plan. You go to another country because you want experience which you cannot get at your home country. Remember to write in your application what exactly will you get with mobility project that you cannot get at your home country. If you write that you will go on Erasmus+ course about developing soft skills, your evaluators might give you lower points with the argument that you can get such a course in your home country. So you need a strong argumentation what can you get with the international course. For instance, new contacts for further international projects, study visit of different institutions in another country, best practice exchange with other participants, etc.
Is it really necessary to send the whole team to one Erasmus+ course? One of the goals of Erasmus+ courses is to establish good networks among participants as a basis for future projects. So if you send a group of 18 teachers to one course you will not be able to increase your network. In this case, you can negotiate a tailor-made course with your course provider. However, write strong arguments why you need a tailor-made course. For instance, maybe your school want to develop a specific interdisciplinary project about green innovations for the students and your whole team needs additional competencies in order to implement such a project.
Be ambitious with your dissemination. Mobility project is not just for you. It is also for your local community and for the whole school. Thus, plan some serious dissemination actions in order to spread the knowledge as much as possible. A workshop with your fellow colleagues, with parents or with students might add value to your mobility project. Write a few articles about your mobility project, record a video, and most important, implement the knowledge to your practice.
It is not enough to state your wish for internationalization. You really need a productive discussion within your school in order to look on the possibility of the internationalization from different perspectives. The quality of your European Development Plan will be higher if you prepare it based on the findings of different discussions, workshops or interviews with the key stakeholders.
Be realistic. If your school does not have any experience with international mobility or other international projects yet, then it would be unwise to write that you will establish cooperation with 25 schools from other countries in 1 year.
Go gradually. Start with one mobility project and tell the evaluators how your first mobility project will help you to get new contacts for one additional project. It is important to be aware how much can you do with your current competencies and experience. Otherwise, evaluators will give lower points to your European Development Plan with the argument that it is unlikely that you will be able to fulfill the plan.
Be concrete. Can you tell the difference between the following two sentences? First, we will increase our international cooperation and bring a lot of good practices to our school. Second, we will increase our capability for teaching entrepreneurship by introducing 3 innovative teaching methods for entrepreneurship which we will learn in 3 different countries with 3 different international partners.
The first statement allows different interpretations and you will never know how the evaluator will understand your plan. In contrast, the second statement is much more concrete with exact data. Your evaluator gets a clear picture what would you like to achieve.
Mind the European dimension of your plan. You go to another country because you want experience which you cannot get at your home country. Remember to write in your application what exactly will you get with mobility project that you cannot get at your home country. If you write that you will go on Erasmus+ course about developing soft skills, your evaluators might give you lower points with the argument that you can get such a course in your home country. So you need a strong argumentation what can you get with the international course. For instance, new contacts for further international projects, study visit of different institutions in another country, best practice exchange with other participants, etc.
Is it really necessary to send the whole team to one Erasmus+ course? One of the goals of Erasmus+ courses is to establish good networks among participants as a basis for future projects. So if you send a group of 18 teachers to one course you will not be able to increase your network. In this case, you can negotiate a tailor-made course with your course provider. However, write strong arguments why you need a tailor-made course. For instance, maybe your school want to develop a specific interdisciplinary project about green innovations for the students and your whole team needs additional competencies in order to implement such a project.
Be ambitious with your dissemination. Mobility project is not just for you. It is also for your local community and for the whole school. Thus, plan some serious dissemination actions in order to spread the knowledge as much as possible. A workshop with your fellow colleagues, with parents or with students might add value to your mobility project. Write a few articles about your mobility project, record a video, and most important, implement the knowledge to your practice.
Evaluation - Specific Tips
You need to detail the evaluation activities which will be undertaken to ascertain if the project reached its objectives. Monitoring should be an ongoing process and should be incorporated into the management processes. Evaluation should also consider whether the impact expected from the project has been achieved, whether the mobilities themselves met the participants’ needs and how you can improve on current or future mobility projects.
We recommend you to first identify and list which aspects you will evaluate.
Some examples:
Some examples
The impact assessment is an essential part of the process. It evaluates achievements and generates recommendations for future improvements. Indicators could be used to measure progress towards goals. These are signs that help to measure performance. Indicators can be both quantitative relating to numbers and percentages as well as qualitative relating to the quality of the participation and experience. Questionnaires, interviews, observations and assessments could also be used to measure the impact. Defining indicators relating to the different project activities should be foreseen at the start of the project and part of the overall dissemination plan.
Some examples:
We recommend you to first identify and list which aspects you will evaluate.
Some examples:
- Quality of the preparation provided to the participants
- Quality of the logistical support provided to the participants
- Quality of the training programme and methodology
- Quality of the support provided by the training provider
- Quality of the interactions with the other participants at the training
- Learning outcomes and competences acquired
- Potential of integrating the competences acquired in the classroom
- Appropriateness of the linguistic and technical skills held by the participants
- Quality of the project management
- Extent of the impact on the participants at the training course, on the school and on the students
Some examples
- Evaluation during the training
- Evaluation in the school after the training
- Evaluation 3-6 months after the training to check if the impact of the competences acquired
The impact assessment is an essential part of the process. It evaluates achievements and generates recommendations for future improvements. Indicators could be used to measure progress towards goals. These are signs that help to measure performance. Indicators can be both quantitative relating to numbers and percentages as well as qualitative relating to the quality of the participation and experience. Questionnaires, interviews, observations and assessments could also be used to measure the impact. Defining indicators relating to the different project activities should be foreseen at the start of the project and part of the overall dissemination plan.
Some examples:
- Facts and figures related to the website of project organisers (updates, visits, consultation, cross referencing);
- Numbers of participants involved in discussions and information sessions (workshops, seminars, peer reviews);
- Follow-up measures;
- Production and circulation of products;
- Media coverage (articles in specialised press newsletters, press releases, interviews, etc.);
- Visibility in the social media and attractiveness of website;
- Participation in public events;
- Links with existing networks and transnational partners; transfer of information and know-how;
- Impact on regional, national, EU policy measures;
- Feedback from end-users, other stakeholders, peers, policy-makers
Dissemination - specific tips
Dissemination is a vital feature of the Erasmus+ programme and you need to explain in this section the dissemination strategy for your project, including the activities to be undertaken and the relevant target groups. This strategy should be clear and realistic and should include follow-up activities to disseminate, use and share the results or best practice cited following the activity. Dissemination should take place both within your organisation and to other organisations at sectorial, regional, national and transnational level. You should also include information on the target groups for the dissemination activities.
The first step is to identify what to disseminate and exploit. The results of the project may be of diverse nature and consist of both concrete (tangible) results as well as of skills and personal experiences that both project organisers and participants to the activities have acquired (intangible results).
Tangible results may include for example:
Intangible results may include for example:
To know more about dissemination you can read the annex II of the Erasmus+ guide.
The first step is to identify what to disseminate and exploit. The results of the project may be of diverse nature and consist of both concrete (tangible) results as well as of skills and personal experiences that both project organisers and participants to the activities have acquired (intangible results).
Tangible results may include for example:
- an approach or a model to solve a problem;
- a practical tool or product, such as handbooks, curricula, e-learning tools;
- research reports or studies;
- good practice guides or case studies;
- evaluation reports;
- recognition certificates;
- newsletters or information leaflets.
Intangible results may include for example:
- knowledge and experience gained by participants, learners or staff;
- increased skills or achievements;
- improved cultural awareness;
- better language skills.
- Fellow teachers and teacher associations
- Fellow local schools
- Public institutions in charge of education policy
- Relevant stakeholders
- Decision-makers at local, regional or national level
- General public
- Press and media
- Organise public events with local schools/teachers/ parents
- Internal training event in which the staff that participate to the training course abroad is sharing what they have learned with the other teachers
- Involve stakeholders in view of transferring results to end users/ new areas/policies
- Promote the results inside networks and/or communities of practices you’re part of
- Promote the results of the project through local media (i.e. newspaper, radio, …) and press conference
- Publish the results in your website or in a website/blog dedicated to the project
- Disseminate the results through your social networks channels (i.e. Twitter, LinkedIn, FaceBook, …) or through social network channels created ad hoc for the project
- Conduct regular activities such as information sessions, training, demonstrations, peer reviews
- Upload the results of your project in the Erasmus+ platform for dissemination and exploitation of project results (http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/projects/)
- Share the results in eTwinning (for general education) or EPALE (for adult education)
- Share the project results during in the regular public events we organize in Bologna
- Disseminate the project results through the Emilia-Romagna Europe Direct and Bologna local council communication channels with which we closely cooperate
- Disseminate the results through our Twitter, LinkedIn and FaceBook accounts that gather over 10.000 followers
- Disseminate the project results in the Italian Confederation of handicraft, small and medium enterprises
To know more about dissemination you can read the annex II of the Erasmus+ guide.
Download our PIF!
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In this Word Document you can find information about our Institute that you can use in your application form: PIC, legal representative, contact person, type of organisation, skills and expertise of key staff/persons, etc...
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