Create Erasmus+ mobility project with high impact

Impact and dissemination bring you almost one third of scores in assessing the quality of your mobility project. Therefore, it is worth to put an effort to this part of your project.

The impact of the projects is related to the learning outcomes. Concrete learning outcomes lead to impact and this logical link has to be clearly demonstrated in the application form. But not just that. It is equally important to consider, how your mobility project will affect stakeholders outside your organisation. Different levels are important: institutional, local, regional, national and/or international levels. By tips below we aim to provide some ideas for effective arguments in the impact part of the application form for KA1 mobility projects.

Show concrete competencies. Ask your course provider to prepare a list of competencies that you will acquire during the mobility project. With a list of competencies your task will be easy, because you will be able to show that the training programme addresses the proposed competencies, learning outcomes are reflected in the higher levels of those competencies and the project will improve the quality of participant’s teaching activity. If your course provider can give you some information on how you can integrate competencies into your work, you can use those arguments and connect them with your specific subject. In our case Erasmus+ courses by Primera we prepared a list of competencies and ideas for integrating competencies into work for every single course. You can find them under the course descriptions.

Think about the impact on your students. Even if the participants of the mobility are teachers only, the project will have an impact on students as well. You can write how many new activities for students you aim to implement upon your return from the mobility. Be clear, how those new activities will increase their skills, strengths, or knowledge. For instance, after the creativity course I aim to organise creativity clucbs for students as a structured course consisted of 30 pedagogical hours. With this new course students will increase their level of constructive and creative thinking skills resulting in more new ideas, considering different perspective in decision making and providing high quality arguments in expressing their thoughts.

Also, provide an answer for how long will you exploit the results of the project. From the sustainability perspective it is better to structure your mobility project in a way that you will be able to exploit the results even after the project is already concluded. Your project documentation will have a higher quality if you are able to deliver some ideas on how to exploit the results after the formal end of the project.

Show, how your mobility project will contribute to the European dimension of your organisation. How many new contacts will you establish during the mobility? How will you use new contacts? How will you promote your institution during the mobility? Present concrete numbers. Will your students get more information about Europe based on your mobility project? Will the project results be incorporated into the management of your organisation?

What about regional, national and international level? This is a little bit trickier, but not impossible. Remember, that sustainability is also a part of the impact of the project. Maybe you can organize some new activities with your parents, based on the competencies that you acquired during your mobility period. If you are able that, this can potentially strengthen your local community. Also, some activities with other schools may add some additional quality to your mobility project.

On the national and international level, you may focus on creating new projects from the topic of your mobility. Remember, it is important to be concrete. It is better to list one project idea and justify it properly that enumerate ten different ideas without any clear logic. For instance, you can say that you would like to create a multicultural project, but currently you need to increase your competencies in multiculturalism. So, based on your acquired competencies from multicultural training abroad you plan to create a new international (with schools from different countries) or national (with other schools from your country) project addressing the multicultural challenges in your organisation.

Note the difference between dissemination and impact. Dissemination is for instance if you prepare a brochure and send it to teachers from other schools in your community. By a brochure you spread around the word about your project. So, dissemination is all about spreading information about your project. Impact on the other hand comprises activities which aim to increase competencies of the people. For instance, impact activity is if you go to entrepreneurship course and upon your return you organize a workshop for teachers from other school in which you share pedagogical material and show them how they can use it with students. You may write this activity under the impact because you help teachers to increase their competencies based on your learning outcomes from Erasmus+ course.
Impact is usually the weakest point of applications. Even in cases when evaluators recognize good project idea applicants struggle to show the impact with concrete examples. The main idea of the impact chapter is to show changes you expect to occur as a result of the project. French national agency suggests to be systematic in showing impact of the project on students, teachers and school.
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Desired impact for students:

• self-confidence,
• knowledge of the European Union,
• knowledge of lifestyle and education in partner countries,
• knowledge of native culture
• strong bonds with students from partner schools,
• digital skills development,
• foreign language skills development,
• team work development,
• social skills development,
• interest in other countries and their cultures,
• motivation in all subjects and studies,
• motivation to study foreign languages,
• tolerance with regard to different cultures.

Desired impact for teachers:

• experience of different teaching methods,
• experience of new subjects/knowledge,
• knowledge of the European Union,
• knowledge and understanding of partner countries’ educational system (content and assessment),
• knowledge of own subject field,
• creation of strong bonds with partner country teachers,
• project management skills development,
• digital skills development,
• English language skills development,
• language skills development in a language other than English,
• social skills development,
• motivation to work in a multi-disciplinary team,
• motivation for professional training and skills development,
• motivation for the job.

Desired impact for the school:

• improvement of school climate,
• development of interdisciplinary approaches,
• development of openness and cooperation with schools from other countries,
• development of work placements abroad, stronger relationships between students and teachers,
• better team work between teaching, administration and management departments,
• better team work among teachers,
• financial impact,
• introduction of new teaching systems,
• new content,
• strengthening of the European dimension and its development,
• increased support and involvement of family members in school life,
• increased support and involvement of other stakeholders: local and regional authorities, companies, parents’ associations.

Don’t be scarce with measurement. Results indicators help recognise to what degree the project objectives have been achieved. Include different concrete indicators of your results such as: Number of information sessions for school staff to learn about skills gained by students during project activities, Number of delivered Europass Mobility, Number of training sessions by peers, Number of students/teachers involved in mobility activities, Number and type of organisations involved in a project other than schools e.g. any local/national businesses involved, Absenteeism rate, Number of new contacts established, Average satisfaction of the participants.