The EU-SIDE Project

CONTEXT AND RATIONALE

The EU-SIDE (EUropean Social Innovation & Democratic Education) project arises from the urgent need to respond to complex societal challenges — such as the erosion of democratic values, the increase in social inequalities, and the territorial disparities in access to quality teacher education. Across Europe, the teaching profession is under pressure due to:

• an increasingly diverse and fragmented educational landscape;
• the spread of disinformation and populist narratives that threaten civic cohesion;
• the lack of systemic integration between Initial Teacher Education (ITE) and Continuous Professional Development (CPD);
• and the underrepresentation of peripheral institutions in transnational teacher training initiatives.

Simultaneously, teachers are increasingly expected to act as civic educators, promoters of inclusion and participation, and mediators of cultural complexity. However, most curricula and professional development models in ITE and CPD still fail to systematically integrate democratic education and social innovation as core competences.

EU-SIDE directly addresses this gap by establishing a European Teacher Academy that acts as a driver of transformation across educational, territorial and institutional levels, especially in regions that remain marginalised in European education networks.

GOALS

EU-SIDE’S mission is to provide educators with pedagogical principles as well as social innovation competencies and democratic values, through a continuous, multidisciplinary, and international learning process, leading to the creation of an international community of practice that fosters transnational collaboration among teachers and education stakeholders.

EU-SIDE’s overarching goal is to develop, consolidate and sustain a European Teacher Academy focused on democratic education and social innovation, contributing to:

• Strengthening professional competences for democratic participation and inclusive practices in teaching;
• Reducing inequalities in access to quality training in civic education across Europe;
• Expanding institutional capacity for transnational cooperation, particularly in underrepresented regions;
• Linking educational innovation to systemic change, through evidence-informed policy dialogue and institutional embedding.

INNOVATION IN APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY

EU-SIDE adopts an innovative Design-Based Research (DBR) approach, which positions teachers and educators as co-researchers and co-designers of the project’s outcomes.

Key methodological elements include:

• Participatory co-creation: educators, researchers, students and policymakers work collaboratively on the development of outputs;
• Transdisciplinary and multi-actor cooperation: bridging pedagogy, social sciences, policy studies, and civic engagement;
• Territorial focus: prioritising inclusion of peripheral, rural and less internationally connected regions;
• Blended and flexible learning models: combining SAPs, BIPs and MOOCs in multiple languages and formats;
• Community building: establishment of a cross-national, multilingual and open-access Community of Practice;
• Scalable outputs: toolkits, frameworks and modular curricula designed for integration in diverse national systems.