The European Award for Innovative Teaching is a new European Commission initiative aimed at promoting the work of teachers and schools, in the framework of European cooperation in the field of education and training, supported by the Erasmus+ program. The initiative aims to promote innovative teaching practices and is given for the first time in 2021 after evaluating all the programs that were implemented in the last five years.
Through this process, the Cyprus CLIL Coordinating Center with its Erasmus+ project "CLIL in Pre-primary Education: Building a network of good CLIL practice”, was awarded the European Innovative Teaching Award 2021, as it stood out as one of the most innovative projects in Europe.
The award was announced on 16 September 2021 in an online event during which the European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Mariya Gabriel, announced the winning projects which received the European Innovative Teaching Award of 2021. The awards ceremony took place online on October 20, 2021.
The project "CLIL in Pre-primary Education: Building a network of good CLIL practice" aimed to develop and implement an innovative approach to teaching and learning in Pre-Primary education. Specifically, it applied the CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) approach. CLIL implements dual-focus teaching in which a subject is taught through a foreign language. Through CLIL, the learning of a foreign language in Pre-Primary education is successfully implemented for children aged 3-6 years old. Children have the opportunity to come into contact and learn a foreign language effortlessly through the schools’ daily life. The approach has been adopted by the new Pre- Primary Education Curriculum and is currently implemented in 50% of Cyprus Public Pre-Primary schools.
The Cyprus CLIL Coordinating Center supplied the educational tool "Interactive Talking Wall" to all public Pre-Primary schools which were registered with the Centre for the school year 2020-2021.
The educational tool was delivered to all the CLIL schools in events which took place at the CLIL Coordinating Center in Nicosia, at the Larnaca/Ammochostos District Education Office, at the Limassol District Education Office and at the H’ Public Pre-Primary school of Paphos - Anavargos.
Instructions for use as well as suggestions with appropriate activities were sent to Pre-Primary CLIL schools. The tool was also presented in an online meeting during the CLIL Coordination Center’s – “CLIL Teachers Meet”, online meetings series.
Two pre-primary education teachers attended a five-day training seminar at ETI - Executive Training Institute, titled "CLIL-Practical Methodology for teachers working with CLIL", from 17 to 21 October 2022 in Malta. The activity took place within the framework of the Erasmus+ project CLIL INCLUSIVE: MIGRANT CHILDREN IN CLIL CLASSES. 
As part of the ongoing support of schools that apply the CLIL approach, the CLIL Coordinating Center held an online seminar for Pre-Primary and Primary Education teachers on Monday, June 6, 2022, titled "Speaking activities to promote oral confidence in CLIL classes". 
Six Primary and two Pre-Primary teachers from Piedmont, Italy, participated in an educational visit organized by the Cyprus CLIL Coordinating Center to Pre-Primary and Primary schools in Cyprus from May 31st to June 3rd ,2022. The aim of the visit was to learn more about the implementation of the CLIL approach. The Cyprus CLIL Coordinating Centre organised training for the headteachers of Public Pre- Primary schools in Paphos on May 31st, 2022. The training included a presentation about the CLIL approach and observation of a CLIL Physical Education lesson implemented by a Pre-Primary teacher of the 8th Pre-Primary school of Paphos – Anavargos which hosted the event.
At the invitation of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki the Cyprus CLIL Coordinating Center presented a workshop titled "Games as tools in promoting an effective learning environment in Pre-Primary CLIL classrooms" on May 14, 2022, in Thessaloniki.The 2022 online meetings for pre-primary teachers, a practice that the Cyprus CLIL Coordinating Center started in 2021, successfully continued this year with three different meetings held on 16 February, 16 March and 10 May 2022.
The teachers who participated had the opportunity to exchange views and talk about their teaching in relation to the application of the CLIL approach, to have questions answered and to become familiarized with educational material. At the meetings, various educational websites were presented to be used for creating 3D educational games as well as electronic ones.
On November 25, 2021, the Cyprus CLIL Coordinating Centre held the 2nd CLIL Awards Ceremony for Pre-Primary and Primary Schools which implement the CLIL approach.
The Cyprus CLIL Coordinating Centre through the award scheme celebrates schools that present good CLIL practice. The awards ceremony is held biannually, and schools are evaluated based on specific criteria that are announced via a ministry circular.
As part of the Cyprus CLIL Coordinating Center's actions as an Erasmus+ Accredited Organization, a Pre-Primary teacher had the opportunity to attend a seminar at the ETI - Executive Training Institute, in Malta, titled "CLIL-Practical Methodology for teachers working with CLIL" from the 15th to the 19th of November, 2021.
The purpose of the seminar was to explore the dimensions of CLIL and get an overview of its application, to develop pedagogical and methodological skills, to design dual purpose learning materials and to experience the cultural heritage of Malta with its bilingual linguistic environment.
After the seminar, the teacher stated: “I realized the possibilities offered by the CLIL approach and now I feel more confident in teaching a subject using the English language. I had the opportunity to discuss pedagogical issues with the participants and to identify similarities and differences between the different education systems."
