Building an international network of scientists and practitioners: the case of the Digital TA project

AbstractThe European Commission has included the establishment of ‘Teacher Academies’ in its development plan for the European Education Area, as part of Erasmus+ projects. This article aims to explore cooperation networks as a strategy for addressing the challenges beginning teachers face during their transition into the profession. The authors describe the international educational community (Digital TA project), which includes representatives from five countries: Belgium, the Czech Republic, Spain, Ireland, and Poland. They also outline the principles of Teacher Academy projects and the process of building such communities. The authors illustrate the mechanisms for building a cooperation network on the digital platform, which is based on the methodology of problem-based learning (PBL), mentoring, case studies, and digital tools designed to support teachers’ self-reflection.