On 22 and 23 April 2026, the ESLTI partnership held its Training of Trainers session in Málaga, hosted by the two Spanish partners, FECCOO and Asociación de Cooperación y Desarrollo Internacional.
The activity brought together expert trainers from the partner organisations to prepare for the next phase of the project: the delivery of national training sessions for school leadership teams in Bulgaria, Slovenia and Spain. The sessions were led by Lachezar Afrikanov from New Bulgarian University, who guided the partnership through the main elements of the training approach for school innovation teams. This stage is essential for scaling the project’s impact. By preparing trainers within each partner organisation, ESLTI helps ensure that the national training sessions will follow a common standard across the partnership while still allowing room for adaptation to national school contexts.
A key result of the session was the finalisation of the Training Programme for School Innovation Teams. During the two days, partners reviewed the future national training flow, the internal school innovation lab process, the school innovation template, and the quality criteria that will support follow-up and reflection. The discussions helped strengthen the programme and make it more practical for the trainers who will soon use it in their own countries.
The session also helped clarify the role of the trainer in the ESLTI approach. The work is not about presenting innovation in general terms. It is about helping school pairs move from good intentions to one valuable and realistic change that can be tested, improved and sustained in school life. That shared understanding is important for the consistency and quality of the next project phase.
Beyond the immediate preparation for the national piloting, the Training of Trainers also strengthened the capacity of the partner organisations themselves. It gave them a stronger basis for continuing to deliver work on innovation management and school leadership development beyond the project period.
With the training programme now completed and the methodology jointly reviewed, the ESLTI partnership moves forward with a stronger common basis for the national training phase that will follow in the three participating countries.