context and background: The OECD spread during CERI (Conference on Innovation, Governance and Reform in Education-Paris, 2014) evidence on how schools have to cope with diversity in the future. They noticed that diversity in education is one of the future challenges for schools the next decade. The current challenges are: - Practice, research and policy are disconnected; - Schools have to integrate diversity in their school models; - Teachers and students are disconnected. The OECD noticed that: - Teachers are not equipped to incorporate local diversity into their practice; - Schools are not ready to realize the integration of diversity in their models; - Schools and teachers are not ready to implement what is asked; - Support organizations are not ready to support the schools: o they don’t have the right knowledge; o they are not ready to provide IST. Practitioner inquiry by the members of the consortium recognize the current challenges and needs noticed by the OECD. objectives of the project: 1. To support school (teams) in coping with diversity in order to enhance student learning by: a. Supporting schools & teachers in connecting practice, research and policy according to diversity; b. Integrating diversity in school models; c. Connecting teachers and students according to diversity; d. Developing tools and IST-modules that support a, b, c; 2. To realize local, regional, national and international recognized professional learning for practitioners and providers of IST on diversity. number and profile of participants: - The primary target group (school teams): o informed schools (120 schools x 6 participants = 720) o associated schools: (60 school x 12 participants = 720) - The enlarged primary target group: o Providers of IST (at least 25) - The secondary target group: o advisers, stakeholders, policymakers,… (at least 180) description of activities: The project develops: IO1: a common frame of reference (CFR) on the content of the project; IO2: 72 tools on the CFR and 72 IST modules on each tools for professional learning; IO3: 60 local, regional and national IST courses (4 half days/each course) / 2 international courses for school teams (one in AT and one in SI) / two international conferences (one in CZ and one in IT); IO4: 1 international course for IST providers. methodology: The project will use the European examples of good practice on diversity as the starting point. From there on, the project will look on how teams & schools can be supported to use diversity as a strength in education to realise better learning. The consortium will learn together during 2 LTT-activities and work in a diamant model in triads, that share continuous their expertise. The project creates a (IO1) common frame of reference (CFR) to realise the needs formulated in the rationale of the project. This CFR on its own is not enough. Research by prof. Helen Timperley (Auckland univ. New Zealand) shows that real change in education happens on the working floor. So to realise this, school(teams) need support to incorporate diversity into their practice. Therefore the consortium will develop a (IO2) set of practical tools and IST-modules on the tools. To be sure that these tools will be used in the practice, the consortium will develop (IO3) local, regional, national and international professional learning (IST) for schools & teams, on IO1 and on IO2 and using the tools and the IST-modules on the tools. The consortium will use this ‘power of professional learning’ to incorporate and implement diversity in the practice. The experiences of the consortium with the IST will lead to (IO4) international IST for providers in the use of outcomes of the project to support the professional learning of local/national schools and teachers within Europe on the issue of diversity. To stimulate lifelong learning, the consortium will recognize and valorize the professional learning. impact The desired impact is that school teams can cope with the diversity in their classrooms and schools and that they can use the challenge of diversity to enhance learning by all students. So schools and school teams have a renewed frame of thinking on how practice, research and policy are connected and on how schools can integrate diversity in their models to enhance the learning of students through using the diversity. Their renewed frame of thinking is based on the CFR, developed by the consortium partners during the lifetime of the project. They have access to a lot of handy tools to cope with diversity to enhance learning by the use of diversity in their groups. Teaching in diversity has become a stance and a culture in their school. The results of the students will be optimized, which makes that students have better results, are more willing to come to school, are less excluded and there will be less drop out by the students.