Erasmus+ KA1 for Schools: A Plain-English Introduction
What Key Action 1 funds, who applies to whom, the two funding routes and five questions to ask before you start, without the jargon.
If you have never applied for Erasmus+ funding, the vocabulary alone can put you off: Key Action 1, KA121, KA122, National Agency, mobility. Behind the jargon the idea is simple. Erasmus+ gives schools money so that their staff can learn something useful abroad and bring it back. This article explains how that works in plain English, and where to go for the details that depend on your country.
What KA1 actually funds
Key Action 1 (KA1) funds the mobility of school education staff. A teacher, head teacher or other staff member travels to another programme country to take part in a structured course or a job-shadowing visit, then returns and shares what they learned. The courses we run at RoboTech STEM Center in Ptuj are structured courses of this kind. They are open to teachers and school staff from any Erasmus+ programme country.
Who applies, and to whom
In most cases it is your school or organisation, not you personally, that applies for the grant. The application goes to your Erasmus+ National Agency, the body in your own country that manages the programme. Your National Agency sets the application deadlines, publishes the forms and tells you which funding routes you can use. That is why exact dates and procedures differ from country to country, and why it is worth reading your agency's own pages before you plan anything.
Where the money comes from, in two routes
A school or organisation can fund a course through one of two routes:
- An Erasmus+ accreditation (KA121). Organisations that have been accredited can apply for mobility funding on a regular basis within the framework they were granted.
- A short-term project for newcomers (KA122). Organisations without an accreditation can apply for a limited mobility project.
You do not need an accreditation to send staff on a course. We explain how to choose between the two in KA121 or KA122? Choosing the right route.
What a grant is made of
An Erasmus+ grant is normally built from several budget lines: course fees, travel, and an allowance for subsistence, among others. The rules and the amounts for each line are set in the official programme documents and applied by your National Agency, so we do not quote figures here. What we can tell you is how our own part works: the course fee follows the Erasmus+ flat rate of 80 EUR per day, which is 400 EUR for a five-day course, and travel, accommodation and meals are budgeted separately in your grant. We go through this in detail in Erasmus+ course fees explained.
Five questions to ask before you start
- Who is our National Agency, and when are its next deadlines?
- Does our school hold an accreditation, or do we need a short-term project?
- Which colleagues will go, and what will they do with what they learn? A short plan for sharing the learning is a stronger application than a list of courses.
- What needs to be in the course description for our application? See our checklist.
- Is there a back-up plan if the course is cancelled or the dates move? Read the cancellation terms before you book travel.
Where to find the official rules
Treat the Erasmus+ Programme Guide and your National Agency's website as the authority. They are updated each year and they contain the definitions, eligibility rules and budget details that decide whether your application succeeds. If anything on a provider's website, including ours, seems to differ from your agency's guidance, follow your agency.
We are not a funding body and we cannot decide your application. What we can do is provide a clear course description, the details your agency asks for, and answers to practical questions. Our Erasmus+ Organisation ID is on every course page, and you can write to us at any time.
