Schools, teachers and pupils in Europe are confronted with a range of new challenges. Schools are asked to help young people acquiring the necessary competences for personal development, future employment and active citizenship. While this has always been their role, the competences that young people need for their future lives are changing. Foreign language skills and intercultural competences are becoming more and more important within Europe and its globalised economies. ICT skills have become another unquestionable key competence for all and their use in the classroom continues to develop accordingly.

School populations reflect migration patterns, changed family situations and the very diverse needs of education and training. The role of teacher has changed; today they are asked to organise and monitor learning processes rather than to impart manifest knowledge.

In November 2007 Europe’s Education Ministers agreed on the need to ensure high quality teacher education in Europe and adopted a set of common principles how this should be achieved. Among these principles, they highlighted mobility programmes for teachers, student teachers and teacher educators which are designed to have a significant impact on their professional development. Mobility fosters better understanding of cultural differences and an awareness of the European dimension of teaching. It supports teachers in their learning processes and supports their professional development.

It is not only teachers who “move to learn”. Meeting their peers from other countries also helps young people to enrich their intercultural and foreign language competences. Class exchanges and periods abroad widen their perspective on school, on everyday life in Europe and on the variety of European culture. Studies show that international and European cooperation motivates pupils to learn foreign languages and raises their tolerance towards other cultures and towards minorities in their own country.

Through its support for mobility the Lifelong Learning Programme offers pupils, students, trainees, adults, professionals, professors and teachers at all educational levels a unique chance to gain education, training and work experience in a foreign country. As in Comenius, mobility activities are a major priority also within the other sectoral programmes of the Lifelong Learning Programme, i. e. Erasmus, Leonardo da Vinci and Grundtvig.

This brochure presents examples of successful initiatives funded by the Comenius Programme. They all created new learning opportunities by crossing borders. I would like to invite European citizens to follow their example: Mobility creates opportunities!

Jan Figel’
Member of the EuropeanCommission responsible for Education, Training, Culture and Youth

Brochure