Towards a European syllabus in teacher education
TESTEd is a European project, co-funded by the European Union, in five countries: Finland, Ireland, Germany, Spain & Portugal with many great activities. The project’s goal is the development of an interdisciplinary European Syllabus providing an international perspective on global teaching challenges:
- Together with experts we develop a syllabus on five school-relevant, cross-cutting issues.
- Teacher training students from all participating countries learn about the topics in lectures.
- Maker Space weeks facilitate the creative process: How can the topics be linked to school curricula?
- Students and teachers become a European peer group for discussion and promotion of the European idea in education.
- Teachers learn about current topics, discuss with international peers and work on classroom materials and help develop the syllabus in our training-course for in-service teachers > see more information in the info-boxes below.
Our training course for in-service teachers:
- Teachers from all partner countries are invited to participate in the project!
- Learn more about the course programme below.
- Participation in the course is free of charge.
Start of the second course is Fall 2024.
Share your contact info with us for more information about the upcoming course schedule and news about the project – click here
Europe faces global cross-cutting demographic, climatic, economic, technical and political challenges for which its education system must prepare future generations. Teachers are faced with a growing demand and responsibility to address cross-cutting challenges and ensure high quality education so that pupils from different backgrounds become politically mature European citizens, who can adapt to future societal changes.
To ensure that teachers are prepared to meet these challenges, universities and institutions in teacher education have to include ESD, democratic education, gender sensitivity, digitalisation (would digital competency be a better word here?) and multilingualism in initial teacher education as well as in continuous professional development (CPD) courses, making sure, that education in Europe will remain committed to and continue to further diversity, human rights, social justice” and democratic freedom.
Although initial teacher education and in-service teacher education has started to include cross-cutting issues in their courses, there is no systematic European Syllabus which focuses on these topics. Instead, universities and training institutes place different foci according to their fields of expertise, thus creating a highly diverse teacher education landscape in which pre-service and in-service teachers have to rely on coincidental learning opportunities or independent studies to further their competencies.
The project’s goal is the development of an interdisciplinary European Syllabus providing an international perspective on global teaching challenges.
Learn more about TESTEd on the official project homepage!
The cross-cutting issues which should be foregrounded in teacher education include (but are not limited to).
- Education for a Sustainable Development (ESD)
- Democratic education and active citizenship
- Gender sensitivity in teaching and learning
- An open and inclusive approach to multilingualism and diversity
- Digitalisation
The course takes place mainly online and includes a wide range of learning activities:
- Self-directed learning on Moodle, a virtual learning platform
- Exchange and discussion with all international colleagues in Zoom
- Seminars on practical transfer in the home country, probably at the respective university of the home country
- Multiplier training via Zoom
- Indvidual Portfolio-work
The following table (chourse schedul 20203/2024) gives a good overview.
The schedule for 2024/2025 is coming shortly!
All school teachers of the 5 participating partner countries are invited to participate: Finland, Ireland, Germany, Spain & Portugal.
The language requirement is English at a level that allows active participation and discussion.
You should be able to follow short excerpts of a video lecture in English. Subtitles in the five national languages will support your understanding!
Participate in all parts of the training and receive a certificate confirming all achievements and the workload!
The certificate is issued in English and in your national language.
In the TESTEd project, universities, CPD providers and schools work together to develop and implement the European Syllabus for teacher education. Furthermore, other stakeholders in teacher education support the Syllabus development and quality assurance in the project through their critical feedback and input.
Learn here anout the project partners from Finland, Germany, Ireland, Spain & Portugal >>> TESTEd-Homepage
FAQs [Teacher Training/CPD]
What does it cost to attend the training?
Participation is free of charge.
What parts does the training consist of?
Participation in the CPD course includes the following parts:
- Theoretical input on 5 issues (asynchronous online activities + open office hours),
- Practical transfer of one topic (3 synchronous on-site meetings on national level),
- Multiplier training (2 synchronous online-meetings on international level) &
- Individual portfolio work
Further participation in the project is possible beyond that. We will be happy to inform you about further possibilities.
Do I have to participate in all parts?
To receive a certificate, you will have to take part in all meetings and complete the portfoliowork.
We would love to work with you from start to finish!
Which countries participate?
Germany, Finland, Ireland, Spain and Portugal
How good does my English need to be?
The working language of the training is English. Your English competence should therefore be on level B1/B2.
We also provide subtitles & translations for important information.
Do I have to speak another one of the languages of the project partners (German, Finnish, Spanish, and Portuguese)?
No, the working language is exclusively English.
Do I have to travel to the other project countries to participate?
No. Almost all parts of the CPD course take place online in Zoom and on the learning platform Moodle. The three parts on the topic of ‘Practical Transfer’ take place in your home country.
What does CPD mean?
CPD means continuing professional development and is a training program for employees with first degree and/or work experience.
Who can participate in the teacher training?
All teachers in school service who are interested in the further development of school-relevant topics on a European level on the one hand and who want to advance their teaching competences on the other hand.
Will I receive a certificate or proof of participation?
Yes, we will provide you with a certificate in your national language & English.
What is Moodle and where can I log in?
Moodle is a free learning platform to share content. It offers various tools and activities for learning.
When the training starts, we will provide you with all the information you need to register and work in Moodle.
What is the timeframe of the project? How much time do I need for one part?
You should plan on working around 5-10 hours per month in total from September to march. The CPD-Course consists of aprox. 30 hours in total, you should plan on some additional hours to work on your portfolio or classroom activities.
Cooperation partners
