At TELLConsult Training we have been pleading with the EU #EACEA organisation  for some years now to also financially support blended forms of  courses in the #ErasmusPlus Mobility Programme. So a combination where providers of professional development courses offer an intensive 3-day face-to face, international meeting with lots of input on innovative educational concepts & related procedures where delegates also get to know & trust each other professionally. 

To be followed up with a trajectory where delegates pilot the innovative ideas presented in their own context in the current or next school year. And -as part of the course- are expected to document & report these experiences on a shared course platform.  Coaching and further discussions can then take place during a number (2-3) of online meetings.

An additional advantage (and in fact key to the success of the actual use of the grant programme) is that this approach would also address the increasing resistance at school management level to send staff abroad for 5-7 days as teachers’ abscence from work would have less impact on the school organisation and besides could lead to involvement of more (departemental colleagues) improving the chances of successful implementation of innovation at school level.

For more support for the rationale of this approach to #CPD also see the arguments put forward in this blogpost by Katie Martin on her views on effective professional development in education.