A compendium of the 2023 European Innovative Teaching Award laureates

The European Innovative Teaching Award is one of the most important EU initiatives supporting the teachers and educators' role for achieving the European Education Area. It complements other initiatives, such as the Council recommendation on 'Pathways to school success' and the Digital Education Action Plan to enhance quality and inclusive education, training and lifelong learning. Teachers can benefit from cooperation with peers and carry out a learning mobility period abroad with Erasmus+. Furthermore, the Erasmus + Teacher Academies strengthen their professional development. Part of the teacher's job is to break away from routine, to create an innovative learning environment and to encourage young people to develop their potential. At the same time, rapidly emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, require specific skills to deal with new challenges, opportunities and risks. In this context, young people should start developing specific competences as soon as possible in life, for example in the areas of programming and coding. This is why this year's theme of the European Innovative Teaching Award is 'Education and innovation', with a focus on existing and emerging technologies. It is also closely linked with the European Year of Skills (2023), which aims to address skills gaps in the European Union and boost the Union's skills strategy. It helps people get the right skills for quality jobs and supports addressing the skill shortages in Europe. The projects awarded in 2023 are excellent examples of visionary and innovative approaches supported by Erasmus+. They show that innovation in education can derive from the grass-root level. This is possible thanks to enthusiastic teachers and schools working in collaboration to ensure that pupils acquire skills needed in our rapidly developing societies.