' eTwinning is about collaboration between schools in Europe using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to carry out a pedagogically relevant activity. ' - www.etwinning.net
What is eTwinning?
Click to visit the eTwinning website |
eTwinning is part of the European Commission's eLearning programme.
It is a supported scheme to promote, enable and showcase partnership activities undertaken by two or more schools in Europe.
You will find the home of this scheme on the Web at:
www.ukla.org
The Website of the United Kingdom Literacy Association.
Here you will find out about eTwinning and its benefits for you, and how to
- register your school
- find the right project and the right partner
- set up your project and register your partnership
- work together with the collaboration tools and share the results of your work
- inspire other colleagues and become famous
For a UK perspective, go to the British Council's eTwinning pages at
www.ukla.org
The Website of the United Kingdom Literacy Association.
For help locally, please contact:
Andy Nunn, Teaching and Learning Consultant, ICT (hands-on support for schools)
Tel: (01482) 392473
E-mail 1: andy.nunn@eastriding.gov.uk
E-mail 2: secondary.ict@eastriding.gov.uk
Why should you get involved?
| I think that eTwinning permits a change of the working form in the traditional classroom and contributes to pedagogical innovation. eTwinning has contributed to increasing our school's European contacts and has opened our school to the surrounding world. | | |
- Thérèse Hagberg, teacher at lower secondary level, Sweden.
What are the benefits of eTwinning?
The scheme enables you to cooperate with colleagues from other European countries, using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to carry out a pedagogically relevant activity and to discover, innovate, motivate and share. All over Europe, eTwinning activities and events take place all year round.
The quote on the right is how a teacher feels about eTwinning.
Getting started
If you need inspiration for a theme or project, go to the section on Ideas and Practice at:
Alternatively you may wish to look at examples of existing projects, which you can emulate or perhaps join. There is a gallery of these at
To get help to set up a project or with using the eTwinning tools, take a look at the section Helpdesk and Tools at
Here you will find guidelines to eTwinning software tools, a link to the helpdesk of the Central Support Service (CSS), guidance on the education systems of different countries and on managing your project.
Registering your school
You need to register to start on eTwinning and get access to the eTwinning tools.
When you register, you give information on yourself and your school as well as your twinning preferences for subject(s), language(s) and countries. You also describe your project idea. The information is stored in the TwinFinder and is used to match you with potential partners.
As eTwinning is about using ICT for communication, you also have to consider the ICT tools available at your school and your skills to use them.
Find the right partner to do the right project
This is the key to the success of your future project. If you do not already have a partner, you can use the meeting point or subscribe to the eTwinning newsletter. When you are registered on the eTwinning site, you can log in and use the TwinFinder to find possible partners. Good projects are made by partnerships that function well together. It is important to spend time to get to know each other. Use the tools available on the eTwinning Desktop to communicate and discuss project ideas. If you need inspiration, go to Ideas and Practice or have a look at good eTwinning projects in the gallery. There are more than 40 schools in the Yorkshire and Humber area that are registered, including Walkington and Wilberfoss primaries and Wolfreton Language College.
Funding of projects
There are no grants available for eTwinning, but equally there should not be any costs, other than your time. You will probably want to undertake activities that you were going to do anyway. eTwinning could be undertaken in conjunction with other activities, such as the International Schools Award or Teachers' International Professional Development (TIPD).
eTwinning should help schools meet targets for the use of ICT and international awareness, as well as raising attainment in specific subjects or among given cohorts of pupils. An eTwinning project would fit well with the agenda of Computer Clubs for Girls. Although projects are not funded, there are prizes of travel for the best projects.
Software tools
The eTwinning portal provides participants with a virtual learning environment, called the TwinSpace. The TwinSpace is a forum where files, documents and links can be shared between partners. It has an internal messaging system and chat room where teachers and students communicate in a closed network. It is browser-based and works with all operating systems.
You may, however, wish to use other tools such as instant messengers (MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, for example), voice over Internet Protocol systems (such as Skype), Web logs (blogs) and audio recording software (such as Audacity). There are links to many freeware and open source applications at
Get the Newsletter
The e-twinning newsletter appears monthly. It is available in 21 languages. You may wish to receive it in your own language or that of the country with which you wish to collaborate. Get it from
Frequently-asked questions
1. What is eTwinning?
eTwinning supports collaborative projects between at least two schools from at least two different European countries. They form a partnership and use Information and Communication Technology to carry out a pedagogically relevant project.
In eTwinning, schools communicate and collaborate via the Internet. There are no grants or administration connected to the scheme, and face-to-face meetings are not a requirement.
2. Who can take part?
An eTwinning project can be carried out by two or more teachers, teams of teachers or subject departments, librarians, headteachers and pupils from schools across Europe. Collaboration can be within the same subject or cross-curricular through the use of Information and Communication Technology.
Pre-school, primary, secondary and upper secondary schools can all participate (age range of pupils: 3 to 19).
3. Which countries take part in eTwinning?
eTwinning applies to the Member States of the European Union: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Other overseas territories and countries are also eligible, including Norway and Cyprus.
4. What happens when I register for eTwinning?
Once you have registered, you will get a username and a password which will enable you to go to the Desktop where you can use the eTwinning tools to find partners, communicate and collaborate with them. Once you have a partnership, you get a TwinSpace, a private space that you can use to work together. The TwinSpace is available from the Desktop which you reach when you login. In addition, all registered partnerships are given the official eTwinning Label.
You can work on any topic you and your partner choose. The project should have a good balance of ICT use and classroom activities, and should preferably fit into the national curriculums of the schools participating in the project.
If you are stuck for ideas, get inspired by the project examples and kits available on the portal.
6. How do I set up a partnership?
To set up an eTwinning partnership, you need to decide on a topic and find a partner. Your topic can be within your own subject or field, or you can collaborate with teachers of other subjects. If you already have a partner, you can register your school and your partnership. If you do not yet have a partner, you can search using the TwinFinder. You have to register your school in order to access this tool.
Once you have found a partner and decided on the project, you then register the partnership on the eTwinning portal. Now you have access to the collaborative tools in the TwinSpace.
7. How do I find partners for my project?
Once you have registered your school, you can use the TwinFinder to search for partners. Go to the Desktop and carry out your search. You can combine different search criteria to narrow down the results. You can also join the daily chats, look at the messages in the meeting point and the newsletter.
The information you give when you register your school is stored in a database and used for matching you up with potential partner schools. Your preferences for partners, topics and country should therefore be relatively broad to give you a good range of potential matches. Provide the information in a language which is commonly understood across Europe.
8. How many partners can participate in the same project?
There is no upper limit to the number of partners in a project.
9. Is it possible to have several partnerships at the same time?
Yes, but you have to indicate this when you register your school. Check the box "Open to multiple twinning projects" in the registration step of eTwinning preferences.
10. Where can I see the schools from my country registered for eTwinning?
Go to the eTwinning map, select your country (and region, for larger countries, including Britain) and a list of registered schools and partnerships involving schools from your country appears. To see the full details, you need to login and search using the TwinFinder.
11. What is the eTwinning Label and who can get it?
The eTwinning Label is granted to partnerships that are approved by the National Support Services in the countries of the schools taking part. Schools submitting a partnership receive the eTwinning Label no later than one week after registering.
12. What are eTwinning prizes?
European eTwinning prizes are given to schools that have run high quality eTwinning projects. There are three categories: School Collaboration, Pedagogical Innovation, and Digital Resources.
Schools must register for the competition, and projects are evaluated by experts at national and European level.
Some countries have national eTwinning competitions which are announced through national eTwinning websites and on the Events section of this portal.
13. I've forgotten my password. What do I do?
Click on "Forgot my password" in the login box on the entry page. Insert the email address which you used for registration and hit "submit". You will then receive your login data and a new password.
14. We've tried to change the data of the contact person in our Profile. Now, neither the old contact nor the new contact can login. What do we do?
You can get your login data by clicking on "Forgot my password" in the login box. Follow the same procedure as if you had forgotten your password.
15. Is information available in all languages?
All 21 language versions are mostly identical in content, except for information on events, which is currently only given in the original language and in English.
Note that information submitted by schools does not get translated. Therefore you should consider giving information in a commonly-used language when registering and describing your project idea.
16. Do I need to be an ICT expert to get involved?
In short, no! One of the objectives of eTwinning is to improve teachers' ability in ICT and to make it part of daily life in the classroom.
For more information please contact:
Andy Nunn, Teaching and Learning Consultant, ICT (hands-on support for schools)
Tel: (01482) 392473
E-mail 1: andy.nunn@eastriding.gov.uk
E-mail 2: secondary.ict@eastriding.gov.uk
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