Newsletter #01 

November 2025

• The FEDORAS Academy project
• The kick-off meeting
• Local Open Schooling Network Establishment 
• The International Kick-off Change Lab
• 2nd Project Meeting in Girona

The FEDORAS Academy project

FEDORAS is a new European Teacher Academy that seeks to create open and collaborative spaces where researchers, teachers, and other stakeholders come together to reimagine the role of schools in today’s world — their mission, values, and place in society. Building on a future-oriented vision of education, FEDORAS promotes participation, critical culture, and imagination, supporting teachers and learners to address contemporary challenges and co-create meaningful knowledge.

The FEDORAS Academy builds on the insights, methods, and findings of previous European projects such as FEDORA, SEAS, CLIMADEMY, I SEE, and IDENTITIES, which focused on future-oriented science education, sustainability competences, and interdisciplinarity. FEDORAS aspires to embed these approaches into real school communities and to challenge existing assessment cultures by developing innovative tools that can track and support deep learning, collaboration, and institutional change.

Learn more about the project: https://www.fedoras-academy.eu/about-the-project/

The Kick – off meeting 

On February 27–28, 2025, the FEDORAS Academy held its official kick-off meeting in Bologna, gathering partners from across Europe to launch the project. The two-day event focused on shaping the Academy’s shared vision, planning the first steps, and discussing strategies for collaboration, innovation and transformative teacher education. 

Learn more about the kick-off meeting: https://www.fedoras-academy.eu/fedoras-academy-begins-reflections-from-the-bologna-kick-off-and-our-shared-vision-for-change/

Local Open Schooling Network Establishment 

The Academy is grounded in five Open Schooling Networks – in Greece, Finland, Italy, Norway, and Spain, with additional support from Lithuania. These Networks bring together secondary schools, universities, teacher educators, students, and local community stakeholders.

FINLAND – Open Schooling Network

The Finnish OSN gathers science teachers to rethink science education in uncertain times through a combination of in-depth reflection on thinking and teaching, and school-based experiments. We have started by mapping the expertise and the wonderful work that schools and teachers are already doing, in order to build interdisciplinarity, future-thinking and new understanding on top of the good that we already have. Together we are building a network where we can support each other in raising the quality of our work.

GREECE – Open Schooling Network

The Greek OSN connects secondary and pre-service STEM teachers with research centers, science museums, NGOs, and educational policymakers to reflect on existing practices in schools and to foster the exchange of experiences and ideas for the design and development of activities that “futurize” science education and promote interdisciplinary learning.

ITALY –  Open Schooling Network

The Italian OSN combines existing networks from previous projects like SEAS, FEDORA and CLIMADEMY, along with well-established collaborations between teachers and universities, such as the Liceo matematico. Together with two associated schools involved in the FEDORAS project, we are currently exploring and aligning efforts to develop projects and activities that support the FEDORAS pillars.

NORWAY –  Open Schooling Network

The Norwegian network includes two upper secondary schools that focus on real-world challenges, such as the environmental crisis in the Oslofjord, which covers biodiversity loss, pollution, and water quality decline. The network uses place-based development and collaboration with artists to create spaces that foster creativity, learning, and cooperation among local stakeholders like businesses, NGOs, and volunteers. Future thinking skills are incorporated into teaching interdisciplinary themes within the Norwegian curriculum, including Public Health and Life Skills, Democracy and Citizenship, and Sustainable Development. These themes are integrated with subject-specific competency goals to explore future skills and complex sustainability issues.

SPAIN –  Open Schooling Network

The Spanish Open Schooling Network has at its center two upper secondary schools: Institut de Celrà and Institut Salvador Sunyer i Aimeric. Located in two different socio-demographic contexts, the network spans a wide set of actors addressing diverse socio-ecological issues, from the preservation of environmental and cultural spaces to issues of racism and environmental (in)justice. Together, the actors involved—including students, educators, university researchers, and  local organisations—foster innovative, interdisciplinary learning linked toward a more sustainable and socially just world. 

Learn more about the Local Open Schooling Networks: https://www.fedoras-academy.eu/academy/

The International Kick-Off Change Lab

On October 9, 2025, the International Kick-off ChangeLab of the FEDORAS Academy brought together, for the first time, teachers from the five local Open Schooling Networks across Europe. During this online event, participants were introduced to the project’s goals, rationale, and ambitions, setting the stage for collaboration and shared exploration. The session aimed to help teachers feel part of a wider European academy united by a common vision for future-oriented and transformative education.

2nd Project meeting in Girona

On October 23–24, 2025, the FEDORAS Academy partners gathered in Girona, Spain, for the project’s second face-to-face meeting. Over two inspiring days, participants exchanged ideas, shared progress, and worked together to shape the next phase of the Academy. A highlight of the meeting was a workshop on assessment, where educators and researchers reflected on current challenges and tensions and envisioned what assessment could look like in the “school of the future.” The rich discussions from this session helped lay the groundwork for the Initial Assessment Model (Deliverable 4.1) — a set of preliminary guidelines to support meaningful and future-oriented assessment within the Open Schooling Networks (OSNs).