The ‘Teacher Academy for Maker Education’ research project has had its application approved under the ERASMUS-EDU-2024-PEX-TEACH-ACA Call.

The Maker Movement is currently regarded as one of the most inspiring and creative approaches for young people to engage with the world around them and develop interests and technological skills, facilitating the development of young people’s creativity, critical thinking, teamwork and problem-solving abilities – the essential skills required in 21st century workplaces. However, most of these take place in informal spaces such as libraries, clubs and extracurricular activities. In order for all students to have access to maker education, it must be integrated into school curricula and, currently, education systems are not prepared for this. The aim of this project is to fill this gap. To this end, the project aims to develop a Teacher Academy, designed to create innovative teacher training programmes. In addition, the project will develop the Maker Competence Framework, the necessary learning modules and resources, and run joint training courses.

The project, which is scheduled to start in 2025, is coordinated by Tallinn University (TLU) in Estonia and has partnerships with the University of Minho and the Carlos Amarante, Real and Sá de Miranda School Groups in Portugal, and the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH), the European Lab for Educational Technology (EDUMOTIVA), the Institute of Educational Policy (IEP) and EPAL Korydallou and Mandoulides schools in Greece, Trinity College Dublin (TCD) and St Joseph’s Secondary School in Ireland, the University of Education Weingarten in Germany and Kadrina Secondary School in Estonia.

It also has the Portuguese Ministry of Education and Science as associated partners, as well as a number of Greek and German government bodies, schools and companies, namely the Centre for School Quality and Teacher Training in Baden-Württemberg, the Intercultural High School of Athens, Gymnasium Mygdonias, Factory IKE-JOIST Innovation Park and DuckyCode.

At the University of Minho, the project will be coordinated by CIEd researcher Laurinda Leite.