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About This Erasmus+ Job Shadowing Programme
Five art and design teachers from an art secondary school in Riga, Latvia spent a week in Valencia, Spain on an Erasmus+ job shadowing placement coordinated by IBD Partnership Group in spring 2025. The group covered five disciplines between them: arts, painting, graphic design, woodworking and fashion design. They came not as tourists or conference delegates but as working professionals wanting to see how Spanish colleagues approach the same problems they face every day in Riga.
IBD Partnership Group arranged the full programme, including the Erasmus+ application, partner school access, accommodation in Valencia, and a structured schedule of school visits and cultural activities. IBD has been coordinating Erasmus+ job shadowing placements for teaching professionals since 2005 and has worked with educators from more than 25 European countries.
Valencia was the right choice for this group. The city has an unusually dense concentration of design schools, art institutions and creative spaces, and IBD’s local network gave the Latvian teachers access to environments they would not have reached independently: a restoration workshop, a ceramics school, a contemporary art centre housed in a 17th-century palace, and a design college with specialisms that map directly onto what the group teaches back home.
Feedback from Participants
The following feedback was provided by participants at the end of the programme.
“Thanks to the Erasmus+ programme, I had the opportunity to participate in a mobility project in Valencia, Spain. This experience was significant for my professional development as a fashion design teacher at an art secondary school. I became familiar with the Spanish educational environment and observed inspiring approaches focused on creativity, collaboration, and intercultural dialogue. Although I did not take part in fashion design classes specifically, the mobility helped broaden my view of design education at a European level. One of the most valuable aspects was the exchange of experience with teachers from other countries and learning about new methods that I can adapt in my own teaching practice in Latvia. The cultural and architectural environment of Valencia also provided additional inspiration for creative work. This experience strengthened my belief that international cooperation is an essential part of modern education.”
Skaidrite, Fashion design teacher
Learning Objectives
- Observe Spanish approaches to arts and design education across painting, graphic design, woodworking, fashion design and ceramics
- Exchange teaching methods and creative approaches with European peers in a live school environment
- Build direct relationships with Spanish design institutions for potential future Erasmus+ partnerships
- Draw professional inspiration from Valencia’s architectural and creative environment
- Identify specific methods and practices to bring back to their own classrooms in Latvia
What the Teachers Did in Valencia
The week was structured around school visits in the mornings and cultural and architectural exploration in the afternoons, with IBD’s local team providing coordination and access throughout.
School visits included Barreira Escola de Disseny, a design college offering specialisms across the disciplines the Latvian group teaches; Acanthus Taller y Escuela de Restauración, a restoration workshop and school where craftspeople train in the conservation of historic objects and buildings; Belarte Formación, a painting school; and CEEDCV, a public high school offering arts baccalaureate. The group also visited Escola Superior de Cerámica, a ceramics school that sits outside what most visiting teachers would typically see.
Each visit gave the Latvian teachers direct access to how their Spanish counterparts structure creative education, what they prioritise, how studios are set up, and how students are assessed. The conversations between teachers across different systems produced some of the most useful material of the week, particularly around how Spanish schools approach the relationship between technical skill and conceptual thinking.
The afternoons were spent moving through Valencia itself, which functions as its own kind of design education. The teachers walked the Ruta Valencia Modernista, visited the City of Arts and Sciences, explored the Hortensia Herrero Art Centre in the restored Palacio de Valeriola, and spent time at the Institut Valencià d’Art Modern. The Carmen district, with its street art, independent galleries and creative businesses, gave the group a feel for how design culture operates outside institutions.
By the end of the week, the fashion design teacher who provided feedback above had already identified specific methods to bring back to her classroom in Riga. That is a concrete outcome, not a general impression of having had a good time abroad.
