Revolutionizing Adult Education and CPD With Erasmus Grants

Lifelong Learning has been a hot topic in the EU for almost two decades now. The premise that learning does not stop once we finish our formal education (e.g. a university degree) pushed European lawmakers towards making EU-wide legislations on adult education, including both formal and informal training. Erasmus, the largest EU program in the field of education, also includes adult education as one of its main areas.

Continuous Professional Development (CPD) is an important part of lifelong learning for professionals. It ensures constant improvement in our field of work, keeping us education professionals up to date with modern teaching approaches and methodologies, and making sure that the way we deliver education is appropriate for new generations of learners. In the language teaching industry, CPD is actually a requirement for all major quality assurance organizations and affiliations, such as International House or EAQUALS.

Erasmus program enables language schools to acquire EU grants for funding CPD through the adult education program. In fact, Jantar – IH Split received its first such grant in 2014; since then, we were able to provide continuous training abroad for all of our teachers and staff in areas such as inclusive teaching, 21st-century skills, education management skills, modern teaching methodologies, use of ICT in ELT classrooms and more. We have continuously improved our teaching capacities, which directly improves the education experience and acquisition of new knowledge and skills for our students.

Erasmus grants in the field of adult education are available to all institutions that deliver informal training to adult students. In addition to language schools, these include:

• Libraries
• Museums
• “Green” associations
• Institutions with art programs for people with disabilities
• Organizations teaching cultural heritage to adults

…and many more.

Erasmus projects are much easier to implement than most other EU projects, simply because they are not administration-heavy. At Jantar – IH Split, we were able to write, submit, implement, and administer all of our projects internally, using our own human resources. In addition, you can always improve your EU project management capacities through the Erasmus program itself.

Call for proposals for Erasmus KA1 projects in adult education is usually in February, with additional calls available in October in case of additional funds being available. For those institutions eligible to receive these grants, there is absolutely no reason not to utilize this amazing possibility.

Finally, as of 2022, we can utilize Erasmus KA1 grants in adult education for the mobility of our students. We are more than happy to say that Jantar already sent two groups of students to the study-abroad programs in Ireland and Spain over the last two years. This is, however, another story we will share soon.