IDEATE – TEACHER ACADEMIES

The IDEATE initiative aligns with the Erasmus+ Teacher Academies’ objectives by fostering European partnerships among teacher education providers to establish Teacher Academies with a European and international outlook. The project achieves this through strong partnerships, cross-border collaboration, leveraging European platforms, developing relevant curricula, and influencing educational policies.

IDEATE will establish networks and communities of practice at local, national, and transnational levels, involving a broad range of stakeholders such as providers of initial teacher education, continuing professional development, teacher associations, school inspectorates, and educational centres. This approach will ensure comprehensive initial training and continuous professional development for educators, with a specific focus on managing diverse classrooms, implementing inclusive education strategies, and enhancing digital skills.

Innovative digital tools will be developed and utilised to significantly enhance the teaching and learning experiences for the target groups. By equipping educators with the skills to effectively support diverse and neurodivergent students, the project addresses a crucial educational need and enriches the teaching profession by broadening educators’ skillsets and elevating their professional profiles. This dual impact is essential for education systems striving to deliver high-quality teaching and learning experiences while attracting and retaining top-tier teaching professionals.

IDEATE further aligns with the Erasmus+ programme by enhancing the European dimension and internationalisation of teacher education. The project will deploy physical mobilities for training sessions, summer schools, and workshops, as well as virtual mobilities to engage pre-service and in-service teachers in international learning experiences focused on inclusion, digitalisation, and personal competencies, while fostering a sense of community and collaboration.

Objectives

Our project aligns seamlessly with the objectives and priorities of the Erasmus+ Teacher Academies by focusing on:

O1. Enhance capacities for inclusive education: Our initiative seeks to fortify the competencies of teachers to address the educational needs of diverse learners, particularly targeting neurodivergent individuals. This endeavour resonates with the 2019 Council Resolution on further developing the European Education Area and its focus on fostering inclusion and diversity within educational frameworks. Our project aims to design and offer a comprehensive training course specifically tailored for both pre-service and in-service educators on inclusive education practices. This course, developed in WP2 and delivered in both WP4 and WP5 will focus on equipping educators with the necessary skills and knowledge to effectively teach neurodivergent students along with other diverse learners and to facilitate inclusion for diverse students. Through a combination of theoretical learning, practical workshops, and collaborative projects, the course will address the current gaps in traditional teacher education programs regarding inclusion.

O2. Facilitate mobility for cross-campus collaboration and best practices exchange. In addition to developing a specialised training course on inclusive education, our project aims to establish a mobility framework that enables both pre-service and in-service educators to engage in cross-campus collaborations. This mobility initiative will facilitate the exchange of best practices, ideas, and resources among educators from diverse educational institutions across Europe. By participating in this program, educators will gain firsthand experience from different inclusive educational settings, enhancing their understanding and implementation of effective teaching strategies for neurodivergent and diverse learners. The objective is to foster a dynamic educational network that not only promotes professional growth and innovation but also strengthens the overall quality of inclusive education through shared knowledge and cooperative learning. Constructing a collaborative network among teaching professionals and educational institutions across Europe enhances best practice exchanges and reinforces a pan-European approach in teacher education. This is in direct response to the call for greater cooperation and coherence among member states’ educational systems.

O3. Digital transformation and readiness: integrating advanced digital tools and methodologies to enhance inclusive education practices – Our project strategically incorporates the latest digital tools and innovative teaching methodologies to significantly enhance the accessibility and effectiveness of inclusive education. The digital tools developed within the project to facilitate and enhance the teachers’ training experience have innovative features, such as adaptive learning, gamification, community hub enabling AI-mediated discussions for moderation and Q&A.

Furthermore, the project will provide training for educators on how to effectively utilise these digital resources to not only improve their teaching practices but also to foster an inclusive classroom that stimulates and supports all learners in achieving their educational goals. This commitment to digital readiness ensures that our educational approach remains agile, responsive, and aligned with the evolving technological landscape, thereby preparing educators and students alike for a digitised future in education.

O4: personal empowerment for teachers by enhancing their self-efficacy in inclusive education, fostering their well-being, and promoting their professional and personal development. (WP5) This objective aims to provide both pre-service and in-service teachers with the knowledge, skills, and support needed to effectively include diverse learners in their classrooms, while also prioritising their mental and emotional health and facilitating their continuous professional growth and personal fulfilment. Beyond acquiring valuable knowledge and skills, project participation will foster the development of transversal competencies in participants. These competencies include foreign language skills, intercultural communication, personal growth, and the ability to build relationships and networks.