INOVA+ has approved the Living Smart Schools project, an initiative funded by the Erasmus+ Programme, which aims to transform education across Europe. The project brings together higher education institutions and schools from Portugal, Spain, Croatia, and Ireland, promoting the empowerment of school leaders and teachers to implement innovative and sustainable pedagogical practices, with a strong digital component.
In collaboration with various European institutions, Living Smart Schools creates a regenerative, inclusive learning environment that is adapted to the emerging needs of society, focusing on the integration of artificial intelligence, well-being, and sustainability in education. In Portugal, in addition to INOVA+, the partnership is led by the Institute of Education at the University of Minho and involves the José Estêvão School Cluster in Aveiro. INOVA+ will lead communication, dissemination, and exploitation activities for the project’s results, as well as design the platform that will host the “Living Smart Schools Virtual Academy.”
Challenges of Multicultural, Sustainable, and Digital Education in Europe
School education is facing significant challenges due to increasing cultural diversity, sustainability demands, and digitalisation. The Living Smart Schools project emerges to address these needs by tackling gaps in the training of school leaders and teachers, with a focus on promoting quality, inclusive education with a strong environmental and digital component. This project also responds to current societal needs, particularly in ensuring more resilient, flexible educational systems, better prepared to train future citizens capable of facing global challenges.
Objectives of the Living Smart Schools Project
The main objective of the project is to equip school leaders and teachers with the necessary skills to address the challenges of 21st-century education. The training will be developed and offered at three different levels: for school leaders (with a creative leadership programme), for in-service teachers (focusing on multicultural classroom management and well-being), and for future teachers (within the scope of inclusive and sustainable education).
The training will be made available through the “Living Smart Schools Virtual Academy,” allowing continuous access to training materials and educational resources. The integration of digital technologies and sustainable education practices will be a central part of the training approach, with the use of artificial intelligence to personalise teaching and promote sustainability in schools. This project is funded by the Erasmus+ Programme, Teacher Academy Action.
Impact of Living Smart Schools on European Schools
The impact of the project is expected to be significant in the short, medium, and long term. In the short term, the teachers and school leaders trained and empowered by Living Smart Schools will be able to implement innovative pedagogical practices tailored to local needs, fostering more inclusive and sustainable learning environments. In the medium and long term, the project will contribute to the creation of more resilient schools, with greater capacity to face social, environmental, and technological challenges, as well as strengthening the recognition of the importance of school leadership in educational transformation.
The project involves collaboration between higher education institutions and schools from Portugal, Spain, Croatia, and Ireland, ensuring a transnational approach and the sharing of knowledge and best practices between different educational contexts. This partnership brings extensive experience in initial and continuous teacher training, pedagogical innovation, and the integration of new technologies in teaching, ensuring the successful implementation of the project in different European contexts.
First Steps of the Project
In the coming months, the partnership will focus on in-depth research into national educational systems and policies that promote the initial and continuous professional development of school leaders and teachers. The results of this phase will guide the (re)design of training programmes for current school leaders and teachers, as well as support the creation of a pre-induction programme for trainee teachers, reinforcing a more inclusive, multicultural, sustainable education aligned with the objectives of the Erasmus+ Programme.