European Commission’s School Education Program to enhance Basic Skills

Deadline: 27-May-25

The European Commission (EC) is pleased to announce the School Education Program to enhance Basic Skills.

The objective of this priority is to support EU countries in their efforts to enhancing literacy, maths and science skills by implementing effective teaching, learning and assessment practices, with a specific focus on foundational years (ECEC and primary education).

Themes and Priorities 

• Educational outcomes, in terms of knowledge, skills and attitudes developed during schooling, are strong predictors of a balanced, healthy and successful adult life. Measured in terms of ‘educational achievements’ and ‘educational attainments’, they are fundamental for laying the foundations for adult life.
• The acquisition of basic skills (literacy, mathematics, science and digital) set the foundation for further learning, hence essential for students’ academic and personal development.
• At European level, initiatives such as Pathways to School Success seek to address these challenges and achieve success at school for all children, no matter their personal background or story.

Funding Information

• The estimated available call budget is EUR 32 000 000.
  • School Education: Enhancing basic skills
    • EUR 3 000 000

Project Activities

• Projects should address at least two of the activities described below with focus on basic skills acquisition. Projects can propose additional activities.
• Building on available national and international research, identify effective practices for teaching, learning and assessment to enhance literacy, math, science, and digital skills and develop a scale-up strategy. Selected practices should have been properly assessed and be supported by available evidence of impact;
• Pilot the selected practices on an adequate sample of school and ECEC settings and create networking opportunities among the participants to the pilot;
• Develop and implement guidance for educators in employing and combining effective and innovative approaches to basic skills teaching, learning and assessment. Guidance should also be provided to address gender issues in basic skills acquisition (including low expectations regarding boys’ achievements) and gender-sensitive teaching practices that are more conducive to motivating and engaging boys and girls;
• Assess the transferability of the piloted practices and the sustainability of the project results after the end of the project.

Expected Impact

• Enhanced basic skills of learners in selected schools;
• Increased capacity of schools to work in a whole school approach to support acquisition of basic skills of their learners;
• Increased capacity of teachers and educators to address challenges related to basic skills acquisition.

Eligibility Criteria

• Eligible participants (eligible countries)
  • In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must:
    • be legal entities (public or private bodies) active in the fields of education and training, research and innovation or in the world of work.
    • be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.:
      • Erasmus+ Programme Countries:
      • EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs))
      • non-EU countries:
        • listed EEA countries and countries associated to the Erasmus+ Programme
    • for higher education institutions (HEIs) established in Erasmus+ Programme Countries: be holders of the ECHE certificate (Erasmus Charter for Higher Education).
• Specific cases
  • Natural persons — Natural persons are NOT eligible (with the exception of self-employed persons, i.e. sole traders, where the company does not have legal personality separate from that of the natural person)
  • International organisations — International organisations are NOT eligible. The rules on eligible countries do not apply to them.
  • Entities without legal personality — Entities which do not have legal personality under their national law may exceptionally participate, provided that their representatives have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf, and offer guarantees for the protection of the EU financial interests equivalent to that offered by legal persons.

For more information, visit EC.