ECER 2026 – NW 15 Special Calls

The nature of partnerships in education in Erasmus+ projects
NW 15 Research on Partnerships in Education

The European Commission provides funding to support and sustain different types of partnership projects. In this special call we invite proposals from projects that have been or are currently funded through the Erasmus+ initiative and share their critical reflection on the nature of partnerships that are forged. Proposals should examine how strategic cooperations in the field of education and training, form and describe the conditions that shape the coming together of different practitioners. We invite reflections that consider theories and methodologies that examine the nature of these partnerships in education.

Evaluating Research–Practice Partnerships (RPPs) in Education
NW 15 Research on Partnerships in Education

This ECER 2026 special call examines the evaluation of Research-Practice Partnerships (RPPs) in education across Europe. RPPs are sustained collaborations between researchers and practitioners focused on problems of practice, rigorous inquiry, capacity building, and actionable knowledge production. While diverse research-practice cooperations exist throughout Europe, systematic evaluation evidence remains limited. This call invites contributions exploring RPP implementation processes, partnership dynamics, and impact through innovative methodological approaches. Topics include partnership formation and sustainability, capacity-building outcomes, the role of brokers, equity and power dynamics, and participatory evaluation designs. By advancing RPP evaluation, we can strengthen these partnerships' conceptual foundations and build coherent evidence supporting their effectiveness in bridging research and practice.

Parternships for tackling educational inequality
NW 15 Research on Partnerships in Education

Education has a far-reaching role to play in addressing social inequalities. Promoting social mobility and equality of opportunity often requires institutions to look beyond their gates and form partnerships to ensure barriers to education are addressed and children and young people can thrive and succeed. We are seeking contributions that critically discuss how meaningful partnerships can be created and sustained to meet the challenge of educational inequality, to consider if or how it might be possible to address inequalities through partnership working, and the affordances and challenges of such partnership approaches.