Quality+Labels

=Quality Labels=

Introduction
eTwinning Quality Labels are granted to teachers with excellent eTwinning projects. They indicate that the project has reached a certain National and European standard. For this reason, there are two labels: the National Quality Label and the European Quality Label.

What are the benefits?
The Quality Label is concrete recognition to teachers and schools of the high level of their eTwinning activities. For pupils, this offers a boost to their work efforts, and for the school in general, a public affirmation of their commitment to quality and openness in European collaborative work.

**Who grants the national Quality Label?**
Are there application deadlines? The National Support Service (NSS) in each country evaluates applications from schools for the national Quality Label. Labels are awarded throughout the year, however, in some countries, deadlines are fixed so be sure to consult your NSS for information about this. Once the application is accepted or rejected, you NSS will contact you.

**What are the criteria?**
A project has to broadly achieve excellence in the following areas: (1) Pedagogical Innovation and Creativity, (2) Curricular Integration, (3) Collaboration between partner schools, (4) Creative use of ICT, (5) Sustainability and Transferability, and (6) Results and Benefits.

[[image:european_quality_label_logo_new.jpg width="150" height="150"]]
The European Quality Label is a second mark of success and is awarded //automatically// by the Central Support Service to schools in a project where at least two partners have already received the National Quality Label. As of October 2009, the European Quality Label is awarded only __once a year__ and featured through the eTwinning Portal.

You must have a European Quality Label to participate in the annual European eTwinning Prizes competition.


 * Step-by-step guide to applying for an eTwinning Quality Label**

Go to your Desktop and click on 'My Projects' at the top of the screen.
 * Step 1 - Sign in to the** eTwinning Portal


 * Step 2 - Select a project**

//Please note – in order for us to fairly assess a project for the eTwinning label and give you relevant feedback, it’s incredibly important that you let us have access to the project work. There are several ways in which you can do this://
 * Step 3a -**
 * 1) Use the field **Links to Project Outcomes** to paste in links to your project work, eg. to blog sites or wikispaces etc.
 * 2) Publish your TwinSpace and let us know that you have done so.
 * 3) Send us your work as an email attachment (not a preferable option, as it can be a little bit inconvenient to download large files)
 * 4) Invite a member of the eTwinning team to be a guest on your TwinSpace, if that is where the main part of your project work is recorded.

You can also upload relevant documents in the field **Other documents** – if you click on the **Browse** button, this will help you locate a file on your computer. When you click on **Open**, this will be added to your evaluation criteria in the Quality Label application. You can add up to three documents to your application. When you are finished with this step click on the button **Next**.
 * Step 3b - Add documentation**

This is the main part of your Quality Label application and you spend some time on each section, as you will be awarded points for each answer. //Tip – to avoid losing work in case the system ‘times out’, we would strongly recommend doing this bit offline (for example in a word document) and then pasting the relevant text into your application when you are online//.
 * Step 4 -**

This part of the application is sub-divided into 7 sections:
 * Pedagogical innovation and creativity
 * Curricular integration
 * Collaboration between partner schools
 * Sustainability and Transferability
 * Results and Benefits
 * Other Awards
 * Other Awards

//Tip – for further guidance on how to fill in this document, have a look at// [|//http://www.britishcouncil.org/etwinning-quality-label-application-guidance.htm//] //or get in touch with a member of the eTwinning team with any questions you might have// //etwinning@britishcouncil.org//

When you’re satisfied with the information you have provided, click on **Submit** and this will go through to your National Support Service. If you want to change anything before submitting, just click on the **Change** button.
 * Step 5**

We aim to acknowledge all applications within a few days and (depending on how busy we are) try to assess all applications within two weeks.

Further Information
For further information about Quality Labels and why you should apply for them, check out the eTwinning portal []