Schools in several European countries frequently fail to provide both excellence and equity in mathematics teaching: more than 20% of European students do not reach a minimum level of basic skills in mathematics; only 2%-3% of them reach the highest level of proficiency; and large variations in achievement exist among students within schools, indicating that schools fail to create equitable learning environments for their students (OECD, 2016). Supporting teachers to combat this challenge requires that teachers be afforded curriculum materials that provide specific support and solid guidelines to teach for excellence and equity, as well as professional development (PD) on how to do so.Responding to this dual need, the main goal of the EDUCATE project was to develop, implement, validate, and refine materials for teachers and teacher educators (TEs) that address issues of cognitive activation (CA) and differentiation (DI) in an integrated manner –which was missing from past work attending to either excellence or equity. More crucially, the project aimed at educating teachers to use these materials by engaging them in guided reflection around their practice and to scaffold TEs to offer solid guidance to teachers in doing so.Working in four EU countries (Cyprus, Greece, Ireland, and Portugal) to minimize context dependencies and ensure the transferability of the materials produced, the project unfolded in four phases. In the first, EU/(inter)national policy documents on excellence and equity were reviewed, as well as prior studies on teachers’ needs and challenges when having to teach for both goals. This top-down approach was complemented by a bottom-up approach involving 66 lesson observations of a maximum variation sample of 33 prospective and practising primary or secondary teachers and 66 pre- and post-lesson interviews with them to identify their actual and perceived needs and challenges when having to engage all their students in challenging tasks. In the second phase, building on this needs-assessment analysis, we developed five modules for teachers and five associated modules for TEs, which aimed at helping them effectively deal with the most crucial challenges identified. After being content-validated and pilot-tested, these modules were implemented with 76 primary and secondary teachers (20 prospective and 56 practicing) working in different school settings (including underserved areas). During this third phase, recruited teachers worked in video-club settings through iterative cycles of experimentation with the EDUCATE materials and reflection upon their practice, facilitated by 16 TEs. TE logs (N=96) and teacher reflection cards (N=401), providing feedback on the implementation of the EDUCATE packages, were completed at the end of each video-club session and were used formatively to inform and refine the PD approach offered. In the fourth phase, we examined the effectiveness of the EDUCATE materials and PD approach. Specifically, the videotaped lessons were coded using an observation rubric developed in the third phase, which comprised a set of 35 phase-level and 10 lesson-level codes related to CA, DI and their interplay. By using linear growth models, we explored changes in the instructional quality in the 201 teachers’ videotaped lessons. Written memos of the videotaped video-club meetings (N=107) and end-of-project teacher/focus group interviews (N=76) were analysed following a phenomenological approach and constant comparative method to investigate participants’ experiences, (re)conceptualisations of CA and DI, and enduring challenges. The project culminated by revising the EDUCATE materials based on the lessons learned from this examination and by producing an e-learning course for teachers and TEs, which is hosted on the EDUCATE platform.The key EDUCATE results pertained to (a) producing a validated, effective, and transferable series of self-contained modules for teachers and their accompanying modules for TEs that concurrently attend to CA and DI; (b) identifying what is feasible to expect from teachers at different educational levels (primary vs. secondary) and career stages (prospective vs. practising)—as suggested by the statistically significant changes identified in aspects of teachers’ practice; (c) surfacing ways in which the modules produced and the adopted PD approach scaffolded teachers’ thinking and work around CA and DI; and (d) identifying challenges that teachers encounter as they currently work at both fronts.The project also raised awareness among different policy makers, stakeholders and researchers about the importance of attending to both CA and DI. Because the EDUCATE outputs are open-access and disseminated through several venues, such as the EDUCATE platform (educate-platform.com/) and website (www.ucy.ac.cy/educate/en/), the impact of the project on TEs, teachers, and foremost students—the ultimate recipients of high-quality instruction—is expected to be long term.

The ContinueUP project addresses the question how more, and more effective teacher education and training can be offered to teachers across the continuum of initial and continuous teacher education and training. It achieves this by piloting processes and outputs at initial teacher education (ITE) and continuous professional development (CPD) level which on the one hand develop teachers’ capacity to benefit from online training opportunities, and on the other hand reduce barriers to take-up such opportunities. The project establishes a network of ITE and CPD providers that will co-construct and deliver an education and training programme across the continuum of ITE and CPD. The programme consists of an ITE module and a CPD MOOC which are both addressing teachers’ use of digital tools for professional engagement. The delivery of the module will be implemented jointly, allowing student teachers from different countries to study together. Student teachers are then encouraged to continue their learning by following the MOOC. By participating in the ITE module, student teachers will be better prepared to participate in and continue their learning through online and blended learning formats once they enter the profession. In-service teachers will benefit by developing their capacity to engage in more advanced online mobility activities and CPD opportunities. The co-construction process used for the development and delivery of the education and training programme also introduces mobility experiences to teacher educators and trainers, for them to be able to better promote such experiences amongst teachers. The co-construction process also aims to increase the effectiveness and cost-efficiency of developing new teacher education and training programmes. Furthermore, the project will pilot processes that can lead to the formal recognition of teacher CPD MOOCs, gaining valuable insights how to address barriers for the take-up of non-formal online learning formats by teachers.

Teachers play a key role in preparing future generations of transversally skilled people and are thus pivotal in the context of green and digital transitions. Despite this, teachers report a lack of professional development opportunities, esp. related to digital skills, mobility, and peer mentoring. The goal of acaSTEMy is to develop a systemic support structure for high-quality, research-based STEM teacher education from pre-service education to continuing professional development (CPD) that includes mobility as an essential building block. The project envisions transversally competent and motivated STEM teachers who are well equipped to prepare their students for future careers, the nature of which is difficult to foresee. Building on numerous previous activities of acaSTEMy partners, the focus of the project is to: (1) develop, pilot and promote various distance and blended learning models in combination with international mobility and mentorship; (2) improve STEM teachers’ digital competences for meaningful pedagogies; (3) support the competences and pedagogies of STEM teachers for sustainable and up-to-date education by developing CPD courses to address major challenges, such as environmental sustainability, green deal, global health and immigration as well as methodological aspects, such as teaching diverse classes, combating science anxiety, and fostering gender-sensitive teaching. AcaSTEMy’s bottom-up alliance brings together providers of pre- and in-service teacher education, as well as practice schools from eight (8) countries to develop and test mobility models and programmes for effective and accessible professional learning. In addition, the partnership network includes STEM teacher associations, ministries of education and Academies of Sciences to provide input for developing a policy framework for purposeful and systematic teacher mobility and to inform broader science education policies at national and European levels.

"Eure.K has set itself the aim of producing a recommendation document based on experience developed during the course of the project on the procedures applied for recognizing, validating and certifying European key competences in the field of vocational training and adult education.Initiated in 2016, Eure.K thus conducted its studies concurrently with the development of the 2016 European Parliament and Council Recommendation revision that provides a Reference Framework on Key Competences for Lifelong Learning. The recommendation revision resulted in the new Recommendation of 22 May 2018 which advocates in particular “further developing the assessment and validation of key competences acquired in different settings (…)” (see § 3.3 of the recommendation) by an application of best practices. The Recommendation specifies in its annex that “different approaches to assessment of key competences in non-formal and informal contexts could be developed” (see Annex, C,c). The Eure.K project thus anticipated the new recommendation by providing the first contribution to the sharing of practices called for by the European Council. The Eure.K project has involved university professors and researchers (Lisbon and Algarve; Padua, Italy; Le Cnam, France), training organizations and networks (APap in France, Le Forem in Belgium), business training resource centre organizations (Politecnico Calzaturiero, Italy) and knowledge dissemination institutions (Istituto Sturzo). Each partner was involved in the development and analysis of one of these practices. Partners were also involved within the Steering Committee in a general reflection: the Committee thus operated as a collective player, members of the committee being collectively responsible for specific projects led by their colleagues. The diversity of member profiles within the Steering Committee was therefore a source of enrichment and a significant asset. The committee first examined the use of the European Reference Framework by actors and institutions working in the field of vocational and adult education. The framework cannot and should not be applied “mechanically”. On the contrary, starting from the actual context of actors and institutions, from the purposes they pursue and from the target audiences involved is necessary to understand the use of the reference Framework, even if this means amending it to fit the context.This is what the project undertook by conducting 10 “action-research” studies.Each partner within the consortium was involved in the implementation of schemes in the 4 countries represented in the project so as to give an account, taking their own specificities into consideration, of the use of the Reference Framework. Target groups varied from people with low levels of education but with a significant life experience to doctoral students. Implementation contexts were diverse, varying from the field of social inclusion to company or professional development contexts as well as formal training. Objectives of the schemes could be the empowerment of individuals through self-recognition of prior experience, employability, professional qualification or simply assigning a value to prior learning acquired from remarkable experiences.The project therefore provided to all actors and institutions concerned a restitution of unique experimentations which showed, based on the experimentations themselves, the multiple possible uses that can be made of the reference framework. Although it may be amended, supplemented or clarified, the framework nevertheless serves as a reference without imposing a normative “Framework”.By formalizing strengths and points of concern which emerged from the great variety of experiments, the project also contributed in a first sharing of findings. This is the subject of the document called the ""Memorandum"", in which six recommendations are thus set out. Its aim is to share with all the actors and institutions wishing to be involved in processes and schemes for the recognition, validation and certification of skills, the lessons learnt from the experimentations themselves as well as from their collective analysis. The recommendations are only valid within the scope of the 10 "" action-research "" studies. They simply have the ambition of being useful in the design and ""engineering"" phase of these schemes."

As one element to achieve the European Education Area initiatives, the European Commission has identified the urgent need to support the development of its citizens’ key competences. A key competence covers knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed by each citizen to ensure personal fulfilment, a sustainable lifestyle, employability, social inclusion and active citizenship. Core of STEM education at school traditionally is the delivery of fundamental subject knowledge like functions, human anatomy and chemical reactions. Learners’ skills to apply gained knowledge and attitudes to set it in context with their life and societal decision-making processes have not been sufficiently nurtured likewise. Consequently, future STEM teachers have to be empowered to deliver knowledge on fundamental STEM topics without neglecting skills and attitudes of their future students at school. This Strategic Partnership has been launched to provide solutions to support the Commission’s key competence initiative in the scope of STEM education. Our STEMkey consortium gathers higher education (HE) institutions from 12 European countries, covering all STEM disciplines and featuring strong expertise in competence-based and student-centred STEM education research and practice. Our objective is to transform (future) STEM teachers’ grasp of teaching standard topics. To achieve that we will rethink and reshape the delivery of fundamental STEM subject knowledge in the context of key competence development. Future teachers need to be encouraged to refrain from teaching with the sole purpose to transfer knowledge about a single STEM subject, isolated from other STEM subjects. This simply does not live up to todays and tomorrows challenges anymore. They need to understand the relation between knowledge, skills and attitudes, how they affect each other and how they have an effect on their students’ learning experience and personal life. They also need to see that STEM subjects are relevant to our lives and our societies and that they are linked to each other. To achieve this objective we will develop teaching modules to be used in HE programmes for future STEM teachers, covering all STEM disciplines and exemplarily dealing with topics from each discipline (e.g. light representing physics education, algorithms representing informatics or the periodic system representing chemistry). Each module applies various tested and proven innovative educational approaches, such as digital learning or real-life contextualisation.As STEMkey places a strong focus on establishing and nourishing a strong strategic partnership, network options will play an important role and we plan to link to existing initiatives on national and European level and thus embed our results within existing relevant “knowledge pools” (e.g. digital online repositories) and Europe’s STEM education landscape. The STEMkey Partnership Platform serves as main operation base for our project and the partnership. It serves many purposes: external promotion, internal and external communication, dissemination and multiplying results to a wide user group.The proposal addresses the following main target user groups: 1. Future STEM teachers (students in initial teacher education (ITE) programmes)2. Higher education teaching staff involved in STEM ITE 3. Decision-makers and lead positions, e.g. rectors, deans, heads of STEM education departments at partner institutions4. Staff responsible for curriculum design and course programs of partner institutions.Although responsibility for Higher Education rests within the EU Member States, cooperation in this field is imperative. Fundamental STEM topics across Europe are alike: chemical reactions, functions, anatomy, etc. are taught in each country. Jointly rethinking traditional teaching contents is a challenging process, as decades of teaching tradition have to be examined with impartiality and new creativity but without losing sight of experience. Transnational cooperation will add value to the actual reshaping process as we can view the various STEM topics from many angles and consequently enrich each teaching module. Naturally, cross-border collaboration during the output production process and evaluation results stemming from a multi-country perspective help us to design each module as universally applicable as possible (across different contexts, cultures and political systems).STEMkey tops its impact off with a deliberate dissemination strategy, involving activities such as multiplier events across Europe, a summer school in Portugal, social media measures, provision of explanatory online videos and the STEMkey Partnership Platform. We are positive to have set up a project, which will live up to and exceed its expectations, to fully support the Commission’s Key Competence Initiative and to support the implementation of our results in as many countries as possible.