I want to stop, for a moment, before publishing another how-to guide.
Somewhere between mid-August and mid-September, the 2026-27 school year begins in almost every European country. German schools have been back for two or three weeks. French schools started this week on the traditional 1 September rentrée. Spanish, Italian, Maltese and Cypriot schools are starting between now and mid-September. Irish, Greek and Portuguese schools are in the middle of their first week. Scandinavian schools have been back since mid-August.
The dates are different. The stress on the first Monday morning is exactly the same everywhere.
A genuine thank-you
I built ErasmusCourse because I care about teacher training and I want it to be easier to find. But I want to say something more direct, on the day this note goes out.
To the primary teacher who spent the last two weeks of August setting up your classroom, laminating name tags, printing labels, thinking about the child in your class who will need extra care this year. Thank you.
To the secondary teacher looking at your first Year 9 class of the year and wondering if this cohort will be the tough one. Thank you.
To the coordinator who is holding a stack of Erasmus+ mobility paperwork and still trying to figure out how to fit it around the timetable. Thank you.
To the headteacher who has been at school since 7am every day this week fielding parent emails and staff nerves. Thank you.
To the SEN teacher, the inclusion coordinator, the school counsellor, the librarian, the tech support person, the cook, the caretaker and the secretary who together are the people students actually see all day. Thank you.
A quiet observation about this specific year
Every school year has its texture. 2020-21 was the pandemic year. 2022-23 was the recovery year. 2023-24 was the first AI-in-classrooms year. This one, 2026-27, feels like a settling year. AI is now part of the room, not a novelty. Attendance issues that spiked in 2021 are broadly back to normal. Curriculum reforms in most countries have stabilised into their new shape.
What is different this year is money. Most European ministries are entering this budget cycle tighter than the last. Substitute cover budgets are smaller. Materials budgets are smaller. Professional development budgets are smaller. Erasmus+ funding is one of the few line items that has held its purchasing power because it comes from EU-level programmes rather than national ministries.
This is worth remembering when you plan the year. If your school has an Erasmus+ grant approved and you have not yet booked mobilities, treat that budget as real training money you can actually use, in a year when the national training budget is doing less.
Wishing you a good year
For the coordinators and headteachers reading this: I hope the year goes better than you expect. I hope the tough class turns out to be softer than the reputation. I hope the parent who wrote you an unpleasant email in June has calmed down. I hope your best teachers stay another year. I hope your Erasmus+ project comes back with something your whole staff room actually uses.
For everyone else in a school right now: the students remember more of what you do for them than they let on. Nine years ago they will still remember your name and one specific thing you said.
Have a good year.
Whenever you are ready to plan the next mobility, the catalogue is here. But right now, focus on the first term. The rest will keep.