The consortium brings together 6 partners from 5 countries and addresses Strategic Objective 2 of the EU policy on Education and Training (ET2020) ‘Improving the quality and efficiency of education and training’. The focus of this Strategic Partnership is to develop and transfer innovative practices at a European level with the aim of: • improving the quality of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) and in particular the transition from a trainee to a second year teacher • improving the capacities of schools in the professional development for both new teachers and experienced teachers through coaching and mentoring. • developing new and innovative approaches to the training of school teachers and supporting the dissemination of best practice • reducing the drop-out rate of teachers at the start of their professional lives It builds on work undertaken by Carmel College of the UK Schools Direct programme and the objectives of the project are to identify the strategies, tools and resources required to develop a set of training packages, which are applicable to all schools across the EU for facilitating the transition from trainee to fully qualified teacher. The outcomes will be a model that is applicable across the EU. The training objectives will be to: • identify the tools used to support trainees and NQTs including formal training, induction programmes, teacher support, coaching and mentoring, and in-house professional development • develop a draft scheme of work for a set of training modules • pilot, test, evaluate and refine the training modules in 5 schools in each of 5 countries • identify and use the tools to evaluate impact in the short, medium and longer term, including data and feedback from trainees, teachers and pupils • develop a final set of training modules • develop accreditation for the training The outputs of the project will be: • A project website hosting downloadable resources and case studies • A final down-loadable set of 5 training modules each with two levels – ITE and Newly Qualified Teacher (NQT) on: • Coaching and Mentoring • Developing an ITE/Induction package • Teaching and Learning • Behaviour for Learning and Special Education Needs • Measuring Pupil Progress and Impact • Assessment and accreditation of ITE & NQTs • A handbook to support the training • A set of case studies in 5 countries in both Primary and High Schools illustrating practical strategies used for transition • A model scheme for accreditation • A set of dissemination materials and seminars in 5 countries • A final international conference to promote the training resources The project will develop, trial and disseminate a set of downloadable training resources. These will directly involve 340 school leaders, teachers and trainers across the partnership. Additionally, through the dissemination strand, the project will reach a further 365 key stakeholders including leaders of school leadership organisations, teacher training institutions including HEI, local and regional authorities, the inspectorate, ministries, teacher unions, and NGO. Within the exploitation strand, partners will exploit their networks to reach European wide organisations. The anticipated impact will be improved capacity of schools to take on a leadership role in offering school based training, operating as hubs of nest practice. For trainees and NQTs, and the anticipated impact is improved practical pedagogical knowledge, improved classroom practice and improved confidence. This in turn aims to address the issue of teachers leaving the profession prematurely. For the teachers directly involved, the anticipated impact will be skills of leadership and management, performance management and coaching and mentoring which can be applied more widely to support other teachers in their professional development and to address poor school performance.