Jean Monnet Cluster Meeting

EACEA promoted a Cluster Meeting for the organisations involved in the implementation of the Jean Monnet Action on “Other Fields of Education” (OFET), aiming to promote a better understanding, both in general education and vocational training, of the European Union, its policies, its values and of the functioning of its Institutions. OFET is implemented through calls for proposals launched yearly and more specifically:

• Teacher Training 

• Learning EU 

• Networks for schools (the one where Euro4VET is included).

The meeting was a great opportunity for representatives of Jean Monnet projects funded under these calls to network and collaborate, exchange knowledge and best practices, and to engage in dialogue with EACEA. Around 140 project coordinators and school/university representatives attended, with several objectives in mind:

• Networking: fostering collaboration of the JM community of teachers/practitioners;

• Learning and sharing: facilitating the exchange of practices, challenges and opportunities on teaching about EU studies

• Feedback for programming and operations: collect participants’ feedback on how the Jean Monnet actions, and Erasmus+ more globally, could be more suitable to reach its objectives;

• Support the creation of a community of practice;

• Support beneficiaries: provide tailored and in-person support to facilitate a smooth implementation.

Three partners from Euro4VET attended, from Finland, North Macedonia and Portugal, and all took an active role: as one of the speakers of the panel on the three existing Actions, explaining what a consortium of Jean Monnet schools is, based on the experience with the Euro4VET project, the first consortium of VET schools to be approved in 2023; and facilitating one of the working groups “Teaching and Learning about the EU”, named “Teaching and integrating the study of the EU in Vocational Education and Training institutions”.

Our project also had the opportunity to be presented to the entire audience, highlighting its main activities and results, in the “Marketplace”, a space dedicated to this purpose, where it received significant attention.