Erasmus+ is the European Union programme for education, training, youth and sport. It aims to modernise education, training and youth work across Europe. Organisations are invited to apply for funding each year to undertake creative and worthwhile activities in the field of knowledge and skills. Erasmus+’s ultimate goal is to strengthen the European knowledge-based economy.

Design Thinking is a human-centered design method. It offers plenty of opportunities for teachers to create interesting enrichment tasks and for pupils to work on 21st-century skills. In the two Erasmus+ programmes Bureau Talent was involved in we trained teachers, both in Dutch and in English, to work with Design Thinking. Since we believe in practise what you preach, the training itself is also based on the principles of Design Thinking. This means that the teachers go through the Design Thinking process themselves, so they literally experience it.

ECHA stands for European Council for High Ability and one of its activities is training people in the field of Gifted Education. The ECHA training has a scientific base and is geared to practical situations, in and outside school. The ECHA-specialists in Gifted Education in the Netherlands are united in the ECHA Association. ECHA also organises biennial conferences on the topic of Gifted Education.