Conference Program

The contribution presents activities carried out within the Erasmus+ project TEACH – Transforming Education: Achieving Innovation through Challenge-Based Learning, which investigates and pilots the integration of Challenge-Based Learning (CBL) in vocational education and training (VET) as a pedagogical approach for fostering active and resilient citizenship. In a context marked by climate crises, socio-economic inequalities, and accelerated technological transformations, VET is likewise called upon to redefine its educational mandate, moving beyond a merely technical-instrumental vision to assume a public function oriented toward social responsibility and democratic participation.

Grounded in a theoretical framework that intertwines critical pedagogy, experiential learning, and inquiry-based approaches, the project conceives the “challenge” as an epistemic and social structure of learning. CBL is understood not only as a teaching methodology but as a transformative matrix capable of activating processes of collective problematization, deliberation, and co-construction of solutions in real-world contexts. From this perspective, the classroom is configured as a miniature public sphere (Fine, 2012)—a laboratory of democracy in which students and teachers exercise agency, critical thinking, and intergenerational responsibility (Galdames-Calderón et al., 2024).

A central component of the experience was the co-design and implementation of a structured teacher training pathway, developed in a blended format and through a participatory approach involving teachers and school leaders from five European countries (Italy, Portugal, Spain, Romania, and Croatia). The activities integrated theoretical and methodological modules on CBL and its epistemological implications; workshops for the development of interdisciplinary challenges anchored in socio-ecological issues; and tools for fostering professional reflexivity within an emerging transnational community of practice. Teacher education was conceived as a transformative process of professional development aimed at strengthening facilitation skills, collaborative design competencies, and formative assessment practices oriented toward empowerment (Baggen & van den Beemt, 2024).

The course has then been made available as an e-learning toolkit, available in several languages. Within this framework, an open badge recognition system was also introduced to formalize and make visible the competencies acquired by teachers who became Teamchers—a hybrid professional figure integrating teaching, mentoring, and the facilitation of complex group processes. The badge does not merely certify learning outcomes; rather, it operates as a device of professionalization and symbolic legitimation, contributing to the construction of teachers’ identities aligned with pedagogical innovation and sustainability (Höffken & Lazendic-Galloway, 2024). Micro-credentialing thus becomes a tool of educational governance and a means for consolidating a European community of practice.

Preliminary findings from the pilot phase highlight a strengthening of students’ transversal skills—critical thinking, collaboration, and project-based agency—as well as a reconfiguration of assessment practices in a more dialogical and inclusive direction. At the same time, tensions emerged in relation to curricular constraints, schools’ organizational cultures, and the need for institutional support for a systemic adoption of CBL. Overall, the contribution offers a critical reflection on the potential of CBL in upper secondary education as a pedagogical infrastructure for educational democracy, interrogating the role of teachers’ training and professional recognition systems in promoting innovation.