The European Commission continues the European Innovative Teaching Award (EITA), which aims to highlight excellent teaching practices implemented under the Erasmus+ programme and to recognise the work of teachers and schools at national level.
The Award, starting in 2021, will be awarded annually throughout the 2021-2027 programme period. From 2025 onwards, the Award will be merged with the European Language label (ELL). EITA and ELL are aimed at a common target group and share broader common objectives, focusing on the participation of teachers and trainers in European cooperation through Erasmus+. These are non-monetary awards, which aim to enhance the attractiveness of the teaching profession, and in particular to recognise teachers’ participation in successful Erasmus+ projects and to acknowledge their results. The merger of the two awards, with the inclusion of ELL as one of the EITA categories, is expected to increase the visibility of the awards.
The specific objectives of EITA and ELL are:
– to recognise the achievements of teachers and schools and to further promote their work,
– to identify and promote good teaching and learning practices,
– to encourage the mutual exchange of knowledge between teaching and non-teaching school staff,
– to highlight the value and contribution of the Erasmus+ programme to cooperation between teachers at European level.
The prize is awarded to successfully completed Erasmus+ projects that have been assessed as Best Practices and whose themes are in line with the thematic priority set each year by the European Commission (EC). As Erasmus+ projects are by definition grant-funded, the award has a symbolic value and does not provide additional financial benefits to the awardees. Nevertheless, the awarded EITA projects are promoted at European and national level as examples of good practice in innovation in Education.
From 2025, the categories, from four (4) (Early Childhood Education, Primary Education, Secondary Education and Vocational Education) become five (5), as follows:
- Early Childhood Education and Care
- School Education (Primary and General Secondary)
- Vocational Education and Training
- Adult Education
- European Language Label.
The thematic priority of the European Innovative Teaching Award for 2025 is: “Participation in democratic life, shared values and civic participation”.