Teaching excellence if of primary importance for the learning environment in higher education. Thus, TEACHEX is a project conceived to contribute to the continuous professional development of academic staff by offering adequate support structures (Centers for Teaching Excellence)and innovative, high-quality, flexible programs designed to promote better teaching and therefore enhanced learning as well. Other specific goals of the project are:1. To improve quality of education by contributing to university management in accordance with academic staff needs, connecting personal and civic fulfilment with the ‘transferable skills required for a rapidly changing world. 2. To develop and deliver training materials and follow up activities for staff working at CTEs. 3. To create support structures in CTEs that outline conditions for project sustainability 4. To produce benchmark tools for teaching excellence that serve as medium and long term analysis. 5. To disseminate the European experience in teacher training and preparation of documents necessary for enhancing the interaction between the CTEs and other educational key stakeholders in IL.The main outputs and outcomes areTo place sustainable structures for academic professional development in function of academic staff an student needs, connecting personal and civic fulfilment with the ‘transferable skills required for a rapidly changing world To develop and deliver training materials for professional development including elearning and active education in IL To evaluate the impact of training and use of materials in relationships between continuing education, academic and student groups through the piloting of professional courses To create a digital repository with open educational resources of easy access to allTo disseminate outcomes broadly in IL (ie website, newsletters, media) and internationally To create informal networks through a social media app generating conditions for sustainability

Curriculum reform programs have been central to European Commission’s TEMPUS and ERASMUS programs. Although assessment of the courses was included in these programs, none offered to develop relevant innovative tools and methods to evaluate these new innovative student-centered courses. Moreover with relation to the formative assessment (FA) essential tenet needed in these environments, these projects have pointed to a growing need to deepen the knowledge of faculty regarding the optimal design and implementation of assessment in general and FA in particular. The ASSET consortium provides the knowledge and pedagogical expertise aimed at developing and piloting creative and innovative course assessment tools (CATs) and methods adapted to the learning environments in use, and improving the effectiveness of teaching and learning within the IL and GE HE system, thus, bridging the gap between current educational goals of teaching and learning, and assessment processes for the 21st century. The proposed ASSET project will develop IL and GE faculty skills in planning, preparing, producing, and integrating CATs in their courses including ICT-based virtual environments, by organizing training workshops for professional development, providing an ongoing support to further the sustainability of FA implementation, and disseminate the set CATs in their HEIs and beyond. The development of CATs will allow partner HEIs evaluating students' lifelong learning (LLL) skills, both in personal and social levels. Moreover, ASSET proposal is of relevance to the labor market and certainly offers flexibility when taking into account issues of lifelong learning, non-traditional learning, and other forms of nonformal educational experiences, in contrast to the SA approach. The project will raise the quality and relevance of the teaching/learning experience and thus education at large, in line with the student-centered approach that lies at the core of the Bologna process.

Alarming numbers of beginning teachers (BTs) leave the profession within 1-3 years, while many remain in the system but become demotivated. The transition from education studies into teaching is often difficult, largely due to mismatched expectations. In Israel, despite the importance assigned to teacher training and induction programs, high teacher dropout rates persist. PROTEACH aims at capitalizing on the recommendations of the EU’s “Handbook for policymakers on developing coherent induction programs” (2010), the experience of the European members of the consortium, and the lessons learned from the Israeli “incubators” induction model implemented by some of the partners in previous years, to create a more effective model of teacher induction: MIT – Multi-player Induction Teams. This model will take into account all areas to be considered when developing coherent and system-wide induction programs, will support BTs’ diverse needs and will empower them to become active players in their own induction process and in their schools, while increasing their retention rates.6 Israeli HEIs and 1 educational institute take part in the project and are responsible for conducting the actions in schools from which our understanding of the role of BTs and the importance of “amplifying their voices” will emanate. 4 European partners –Romania, UK Estonia & Austria – represent knowledge and experience in fields that are needed for the achievement of PROTEACH objectives. Throughout 3 iterations, the model and related curriculum will be fine-tuned. MIT groups will be created at 12 Israeli schools, with 180 BTs and 450 participants in total.Outcomes expected: (1) Establishment of Intra- and inter-HEI frameworks for mutual learning; (2) BT will be empowered to serve as key actors in their induction and school; (3) BT retention rates at participating schools will increase; 4) MIT-principles will be included in HEI training programs and accreditation and adopted by policy makers.

The proposed project is built on a previous KA2/CBHE project – the Proteach project No.573877. In the previous project we developed the MIT (Multiplayer Induction Teams) model for amplifying beginning teachers’ voice during induction in order to sustain teachers’ retention. The model is based on a partnership between the academia, the school and related policy makers that meet once a month in the school to discuss pedagogical and managerial issues that arise from the beginning teachers' work. Although the role of the Mentors is evident in the MIT context, results show that they weren't involved enough with the induction process. In the PROMENTORS projects we will advance the MIT model for a new model of mentors training in Israel. The new model will combine innovative mentors training from EU that emphasis on peer group mentoring and other process that stem from groups' learning and collaborative meaning making. 9 Israeli HEIs and 4 EU partners supported by the Israeli MOE will develop and pilot 18 mentors training MITs to structure a new mentor training course that will be accredited, and will be certificated. The novelty of our approach from the Israeli HEIs perspective is that it brings faculty staff back to school to be part, lead and accompany day-to-day processes in schools through the MIT community. This make HEIs more relevant both for supporting BTs' work and for facilitating teachers’ professional development. The outputs of the project will be a the structured mentor training MITs model ready to be implemented in the israeli educational system. As the project fit both the Israeli MEO and the HEIs polices its impact is evident.

The reason for undertaking this project is to bring curriculum reform for promoting active Civic Education (CE) in academic teacher training (TT) programs in IL and in GEO a quantum leap forward through:1. Developing and implementing a comprehensive program of courses and student activities that promotes civic education and behavior within our TT program.2. Integrating these courses into the curriculum in partner HEI.3. Faculty and in-service Teacher Workshops4. Courses and activities will integrate innovative pedagogy that will strengthen the aims and objectives of the courses (e.g. PBL, Service-Based Learning, VaKE; experiential and peer learning and teaching; integrating new technology in teaching and learning, etc.).5. Create course readers or kits that will enable other professionals and teachers to benefit from the CURE’s innovative courses.6. Establish an international network of professionals who collaborate together, share knowledge and good practices.7. Establish centers for promoting CE on HEI campuses.8. Create a website to disseminate program. 9. Publish results and strategies (online and hard copy): articles and handbooks. CURE’s curriculum reform will enhance the quality of CE in CURE's teacher-training programs both for our faculty as well as for our students, who are future educators of our societies. The faculty, teachers and students who benefit from CURE’s program will be able to effectively present, discuss and challenge the rudimentary notions of civic involvement in our society. Moreover as educators, they will help shape knowledge, perceptions and attitudes towards responsible citizenship within a democratic setting, encourage critical thought and enactment of civil rights, actions and duties within their own classrooms thus sustaining and multiplying the program aims.