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Innovative teaching and learning

Image removed.Image removed.🏆 Congratulations to the New Learning Award 2026 Winners!

We are thrilled to share the results of the New Learning Award 2026 - and as a Community, you played a part in it! 

The New Learning Award 2026 call for innovative teaching and learning practices was annonced in November 2025 jointly by the European Training Foundation (ETF) and its partners: European Association of Institutes for Vocational Training (EVBB), the European Forum of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (EfVET), the European Vocational Training Association (EVTA) and the Lifelong Learning Platform (LLLP). 

The aim of the competition was to collect and recognise innovative and creative teaching and learning practices helping learners to develop key competences across subjects and in real-life contexts. The New Learning Award 2026 call was open worldwide.

From the 461 applications received from 50  countries – including EU Member States and Partner Countries, and beyond - our international jury selected nine outstanding practices, chosen for the way they reimagined education and inspired real change. 

These nine innovative educators were invited to compete in the final phase of the Award competition which took place during the big international event “Connecting the Dots” in Brussels on May 27-29, 2026. 

The following nine finalists pitched their practices and passed through the competition tasks (in alphabetical order):

  • Anna Kyrpa - “Become an Agent of Social Changes – a digital simulation game for developing key competences through experiential learning” (Ukraine)
  • Asko Berens - “Navicup Location-Based Learning Ecosystem for Schools, Museums and Lifelong Learning Communities” (Estonia)
  • Dirk Staf (Belgium) - “Education, Entrepreneurship and Encounters @ Campus Corso VET Center” (Belgium)
  • Farah Zeedia - “Cooperative play” (Germany)
  • Hakob Hovhannisyan - “Community renewal Lab” (Armenia)
  • Nana Marghania - “Theatre and Simulation Methods: Replicable Tools for Noora El Wer - “Masahati Student Clubs” (Jordan)
  • Integrated Competence Development” (Georgia)
  • Mirjana Mihok - “Back to the nature” (Serbia)

  • Raquel Noboa - “Building a Greener Future” (Ireland)

The competition revealed the names of four 🎉 New Learning Award 2026 winners who deserve our applause for their outstanding innovative practices! And here are the names (in alphabetical order):

🏆 Anna Kyrpa – Become an Agent of Social Changes, for her digital simulation game creating a bridge between Ukrainian refugees and host communities, fostering empathy, ethical reasoning and civic responsibility (Ukraine)

🏆 Farah Zeedia – Young Builders – inclusive, play-based STEM for children of all abilities (Germany)

🏆 Nana Marghania – My Village, My Pride – student-led theatre turning classroom learning into community action(Georgia)

🏆 Noora El Wer – Masahati Student Clubs – safe, inclusive spaces for refugee and host community children to learn and grow together (Jordan)

The International Jury also acknowledged seven other practices which received Inspiration Awards for their remarkable innovations. Here are the educators who received our Inspiration Awards (in alphabetical order):

🏆 Ana Kintsurashvili –"Activating civic engagement through arts" (Georgia)

🏆 Dafna Kariv –"Entrepreneurial learning in the digital age" (Israel)

🏆 Gulmira Meshitbayeva –"Empowering teachers for impact with Scaffold" (Kazakhstan)

🏆 Leyan Zahdeh –"Integrating key competences through personalised learning" (Palestine)

🏆 Lidia Pokrzycka –"Gamification as key driver for local impact" (Poland)

🏆 Oksana Buturlina –"STEM for inclusive learning" (Ukraine)

🏆 Olena Shyyan –"Building resilience through system-level support" (Ukraine)

And finally, we are happy to reveal the winner of the “ETF Community’s Favourite” practice, that is Anna Kyrpa (Ukraine), with the digital simulation game Become an Agent of Social Changes. 🎊 Congratulations Anna! 🎊

Thank you, dear members of the ETF Community of Innovative Educators for getting involved and for casting your votes. Your involvement means a lot to the all innovative practitioners who made it to the New Learning Award 2026 final and who received a variety of awards! Your collective support is helping to keep education evolving, innovating and inspiring. This is what our Community is all about. ❤️

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