Education in Europe
A Closer Look at Education in Europe
Europe boasts some of the most stable education systems in the world.
But a closer look reveals significant challenges and a reality that many children are not being prepared for the world and the future they will face.
These challenges disproportionately affect those from the most marginalized communities.
Challenges facing marginalized children include:
Preparing Europe's Children For the Future
For Europe to meet the challenges of this century, we must invest in strengthening our education systems and building an educational environment that is flexible and innovative. This is how we will ensure children in classrooms today can shape a better tomorrow.
Teach For All network partners are working in communities across the region and collaborating with schools, governments, and families to make education systems more:
- Innovative
- Inclusive (diverse, tolerant, and equal)
- Able to promote excellence by building the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values students will need to navigate a changing society and the new world of work
- Connected across borders so they can learn from each other
Teach For All's Impact in Europe
partners in Europe (15 in the EU) and growing
teachers in classrooms
alumni working in sectors including school leadership, public policy and social innovation
students impacted
Developing Leaders Across Europe Is Key
The public sector on its own cannot transform outcomes for students. We need coordinated efforts—strong, diverse leaders in government, civil society, and the private sector working together to create a strong European education infrastructure.
We must cultivate a rising generation of leaders across Europe who are making it their mission to transform outcomes for children over time.
Teach For All is helping to build this community of changemakers—people who can work together across sectors in Europe to realize this shared vision.
Impact in the Classroom and Beyond
After their two-year commitments, network teachers become network alumni. Informed by their training, development, and foundational experiences in the classroom, they go on to a variety of key roles in education and other sectors where they are helping to change outcomes for children, and many are being recognized for their deep and innovative contributions.
Watch these videos to see some of these extraordinary alumni in action:
What the Research Shows
Research shows the effectiveness of Teach For All's approach in Europe—in classrooms and in systems.
A New Way for New Talents in Teaching (NEWTT) was a two-year study that compared the development of Teach For All network teachers to traditionally trained teachers in five European countries: Austria, Bulgaria, Latvia, Romania, and Spain. The study demonstrated that overall, network teachers are as prepared, if not more prepared than, traditionally trained teachers before entering the classroom and network teachers developed as much self-efficacy and pedagogical knowledge as traditionally trained teachers. The study associated Teach For All’s approach to recruitment, selection, initial teacher preparation, and ongoing opportunities for professional development with the positive differences in teacher competencies.
From Innovators in Inclusive Education to Real Scale Transfer (FIERST) was a three-year project designed to inform EU education policy that brought together nine organizations from five countries: Bulgaria, Estonia, Romania, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The project aimed to increase the number of teachers addressing the needs of all students, especially the more vulnerable ones; establish professional learning communities in schools and beyond, enabling educators to work collaboratively to implement best practices in their classrooms; and develop insights from the process of upscaling best practices in inclusive education to be shared with the broader European and global education communities. FIERST was launched in January 2018 and concluded in December 2020.
Novice Educator Support and Training (NEST) was a three-year study that developed and evaluated a mentor training program for novice teachers in disadvantaged schools, addressing the need for effective mentoring to enhance teacher engagement and student achievement. Based on Teach For All’s approach to teacher support and training, the NEST model featured adaptive mentoring tailored to novice teachers' needs. Evaluation results showed that NEST improved mentors' adaptability, enthusiasm, and competence, while novice teachers reported increased teaching competence, professional resilience, and willingness to stay in the profession. The project led to the creation of Sensei, an induction program for novice teachers in Spain, and also influenced Romania's 2023 Law of Education that prioritizes mentoring in teaching careers.
A 2015 report from CfBT Education Trust explored the progress of the London school system between 2003 and 2011, when the city’s schools went from being the lowest performing in England to the highest performing. The report posited that Teach First (Teach For All’s UK partner and the oldest network partner in Europe) was one of the four enablers of London’s success.
The careers of Teach First Ambassadors who remain in teaching: job choices, promotion and school quality
A 2016 Education Datalab study of teachers from Teach First found that they were more likely to become education leaders when compared to other teachers from alternative certification programs in the country. Teach First teachers who remained in the classroom beyond their initial two-year commitments are twice as likely to continue working in low-income communities.
Investing in the Future of Europe
To realize our vision for Europe, we are working to:
- Enable cross-border learning and connectivity through partner staff, participant and alumni workshops, community peer groups, learning trips and conferences.
- Build local capacity to launch and enable scale through classroom and community impact workshops and innovate and contextualize global insights around recruitment, selection, marketing, training, support/coaching, digital learning skills, fundraising, partnerships, organisational development and public affairs.
- Secure resources and partnerships which allow us to build awareness and understanding of our work as well as access funding for and alongside our network partners that we need in order to make progress towards our collective vision
Regional Advisors
Teach For All's UK Board builds awareness of and support for Teach For All's work and impact in Europe and around the world.
