Application advice session for schools: KA2 Strategic Partnerships

1. Application advice session for schools:KA2 Strategic Partnerships

2. Why a new approach? The world is changing fast  new challenges E.g. High youth unemployment etc…

3. What is Key Action 2 Key Action 2 will focus on sharing, developing and transferring innovative practices in education, training and youth provision between participating countries

4. How? Through Strategic Partnerships UK organisations can apply for funding to run collaborative projects which address: • Policy objectives and priorities • challenges • needs of oneor more specific field of education(i.e. higher education, vocational education and training (VET), school education, adult education, youth)

5. Summary of basic features • Can last 2 or 3 years • Can focus on one specific field of education i.e. school education • Can promote cross-sectoral cooperation i.e. involve more than one field of education • Grant is not a lump sum for mobilities cf. Comenius but a mix of flat rates ( called unit costs) and real costs

6. Who can apply/participate? • Any organisation from Programme Countries can apply • Organisations from Partner Countries can take part as project partners (not as applicants) and only if they add essential added value to the project

7. Programme countries Following the announcement from the European Commission regarding Switzerland's participation in Erasmus+, Switzerland will now participate as a Partner Country under the Erasmus+ 2014 Call, rather than a Programme Country, pending an agreement between the EU and Switzerland.

8. Number and profile of partner organisations • minimum of two partner schools from two programme countries for schools only partnerships • up to a maximum of ten partner organisations from funded programme countries can be involved per SP (and more if including partner countries)

9. Selection and grant agreements • One application per project, assessed by coordinating National Agency • School to school only SPs = individual Grant Agreements as per current Comenius partnerships • If schools partner with other organisations the applicant organisation holds the grant agreement with their National Agency and hence the funds for the partnership

10. What happens when you apply? • a formal check is made to verify against the eligibility and exclusion criteria • a quality assessment evaluates how well the participating organisations meet the selection criteria and the project meets the award criteria • Notification of result of application is within 4 months of the submission deadline (30 April 2014)

11. Acronyms galore: ECAS, URF, PIC • Before applying, all schools will need a Participant Identification Code (PIC) from the Participant Portal… • … to get a PIC, a school must use the Unique Registration Facility (URF) … • …and to access the URF, a school must register with the European Commission Authentication Service (ECAS) here… https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/cas/eim/external/register.cgi

12. You must also upload the following documents in the Participant Portal:  • the Legal Entity form as proof of legal status (this form can be downloaded from the European Commission’s website at: • http://ec.europa.eu/budget/contracts_grants/info_contracts/legal_entities/legal_entities_en.cfm); • the Financial Identification form. This form can be downloaded at: • http://ec.europa.eu/budget/contracts_grants/info_contracts/financial_id/financial_id_en.cfm)

13. Award Criteria- • Relevance of the project (30) • Quality of the project design and implementation (20) • Quality of the project team and the cooperation arrangements (20) • Impact and dissemination (30) A project must score at least 60/100 to be considered, AND score at least 50% in each category Full criteria breakdown detailed on page 99-100 of programme guide

14. Relevance of the project Relevance of the proposed project to: • one of more of the policy priorities for education & training • and/or the school education priorities • See on page 27 in the programme guide

15. Education and training priorities • developing basic and transversal skills, such as entrepreneurship, digital skills and multilingualism • enhancing Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) uptake in teaching and learning • promoting stronger coherence between different EU and national transparency and recognition tools • supporting the adjustment of funding and investment in education and training to new needs and the development of improved funding approaches for skills development

16. School priorities • Improving the attainment of young people, particularly those at risk of early school leaving (ESL) • Improving the attainment of young people with low basic skills in Maths, Science and Literacy • Developing high quality and accessible Early Childhood Education and Care services • Revising and strengthening the professional profile of the teaching professions

17. Proportionality principle • there should be a fair and standard marking of applications, no matter their size or scope • so the assessor will consider the size of the project and the experience of the school when assigning marks, and will adjust expectations accordingly • in practice this will mean that you are not enormously disadvantaged by applying for a small project – the definition of ‘very good’ will be different • coherence of the grant request in relation to the activities and outputs proposed will be checked

18. The application eform • Completed on-line only (no paper) • You’ll need the most up-to-date version of Adobe Reader • To submit and complete in full, you will need to be connected to the internet • It must be saved to your desktop before starting • There have been some reports of corruption when using a USB stick with a .pdf application, so that should be avoided

19. It should look like this

20. Context and participating organisations • Basic information • Applicant organisation cf. coordinator in Comenius • Details fill in automatically when ‘PIC’ input • Partners – as above • Click ‘add new partner’ for more

21. Description of the project, objectives • Rationale, issues and needs ie why this project? • Innovative or complementary: how does it fit with other activity? • Partners: how chosen? skills, knowledge, experience? New partners? • Communication and meetings, partners and stakeholders • Relevant Priorities/topics - drop down • Results: outputs, products, changes

22. Preparation and project management • Preparation: analyses, planning, building engagement, before funding starts • Budget control and time management: system for monitoring budget, cost effective and appropriate use of budget and value for money, rectifying • Quality of activities: monitoring quality of delivery; who, how (tools), when? • Risk management: internal and external, how monitored and mitigated • Assessing achievement: qualitative and quantitative indicators

23. Implementation • Organisation of activities: who, what, where, how coordinated, timings • Timetable of activities excel template (Gannt chart) • Target groups: who? cf. “needs”, above • Participants with fewer opportunities: number; proportion of participants • support for them • why is participation difficult?

24. Project activities (and outputs) • Menu caters for a range of projects in terms of in type and scale • Divided into types: Intellectual outputs Multiplier events Learning/Teaching/Training Activities

25. Intellectual outputs • For large, ambitious projects • What are they? Publications eg academic papers; policy recommendations at different levels; curricula , course materials; training materials; assessment methods, materials; handbooks, advice, guidance; case studies ; good practice; websites; innovative uses of IT and different media; software

26. Multiplier events • Directly linked to intellectual outputs • Emphasis on visibility and dissemination in Erasmus+ • Beyond participating individuals and organisations

27. Learning, teaching and training activities • Most likely activity for schools • Must clearly contribute to overall objectives of project • Short term staff and/or pupil training events lasting from 5 days to 2 months • Long term staff teaching or training assignments lasting from 2 to 12 months • Long term school pupil study periods for pupils aged 14 or over lasting from 2 to 12 months

28. Follow up - impact • Impact (effects, results, changes) on participating individuals and organisations, systems and practices and other stakeholders • Wider scope-impact beyond the project, local, regional, national, European if relevant • Measurement – who, what, how, when • See programme guide pages 93, 94 and 250

29. Follow up – dissemination and sustainability • Important in Erasmus+ - added value of EU funding, wider reach and impact • Communicating successes and results widely: for use by others to influence policy; into the future… • Measureable, realistic objectives • Consider target audience • Timetable • See programme guide pages 250-253

30. Budget • Menu of different cost items • Most payments conditional on justification in application • Unit costs i.e. flat rates • Ceilings • 2 cost items are common to any project: Project management and implementation Transnational project meetings

31. Project management and implementation • 500 EUR per month to the coordinator, and 250 EUR per month to each other partner • project management e.g. contribution to tasks such as planning, managing finances, coordination, communication, promotion and dissemination • Virtual cooperation and local activities • Information/promo/dissemination (e.g. production and dissemination of brochures, web info…)

32. Transnational project meetings • Travel and subsistence costs for project meetings between partners, hosted by one of the participating organisations • Distance bands as crow flies, -European Commission distance calculator 100km – 1,999km = 575 EUR per participant 2,000km and above = 760 EUR per participant • Ceiling 23,000 EUR per year in total for all partners)

33. Optional cost items linked to activities • Intellectual outputs: staff costs as applicable per day/role/country • Multiplier events: costs per local and foreign participant • Transnational learning/teaching/training activities: travel by distance 275 EUR/360 EUR, and subsistence per pupil 55 EUR and staff 100 EUR per day for first 14 days

34. Special needs • Additional actual costs incurred to support participants with special needs.   • Please enter actual costs as far as you know them, it may not be possible to provide extra funding for participants with special needs which has not been included in your original budget request

35. Exceptional costs • 75% actuals , subcontracted goods and services which partners cannot provide • Office equipment or other equipment normally used by partners will not be funded

36. Project Summary • Synopsis: to be used for publicity, uploaded to EC dissemination platform

37. Example of a Strategic Partnership between schools • Three schools in 3 programme countries • developing learning materials together on how to interest pupils in the subjects of maths and science in a creative and appealing way. • The expected output is the creation of a number of learning materials to be used in the maths and science classes • The activities would involve the direct cooperation of pupils in those classes both virtually (e.g. using eTwinning) and live for a project week.

38. For a two-year project the schools would apply for a grant covering: • Project management and implementation: a unit cost/flat rate grant per school • Transnational project meetings: 4 meetings including 24 mobilities • Transnational learning/teaching/training activity: a joint project week for which a group of 15 pupils each from two of the schools would travel to the third school and work together during a week with the materials, closed by an exhibition open to local schools and the local community of the hosting school.

39. Application process • Once you’ve completed the form, you should: • Validate • Print declaration • Have it signed • Attach the declaration • Attach the time table of activities (Gantt chart) • Submit the application online

40. Finding out more www.erasmusplus.org.uk For application guidance, forms, deadlines, the programme guide, Links and guidance for ECAS and PIC, and everything to do with Erasmus+, including more links erasmusplus.enquiries@britishcouncil.org 0161 957 7755