FOSTERING EUROPEAN TEACHERS: AN ETWINNING LAB FOR CITIZENSHIP, COMMUNICATION, COLLABORATION, AND DIGITAL COMPETENCE IN INITIAL TEACHER EDUCATION

This paper presents a reflective analysis of the International Teacher Education (ITE) eTwinning Lab 2025-26, a transnational collaborative project involving pre-service teachers at the University of Cagliari (Italy) in partnership with Aix-Marseille Université (France), the University of Castilla-La Mancha (Spain), and the University of Tuzla (Bosnia and Herzegovina). Framed by the eTwinning annual theme “Citizenship education: celebrating what unites us”, the 12-hour laboratory engaged pre-service primary teachers (Pinter, 2017) in designing and simulating transnational, project-based learning experiences using English as a Lingua Franca. Grounded in the principles of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) (Coyle, Hood, & Marsh, 2010) and digital pedagogy, the lab aimed to develop participants’ soft skills and transversal competences: digital literacy, intercultural communication, collaborative project design, pedagogical innovation, and professional discourse community building (Swales, 1990). Employing a mixed-methods approach, data were analysed from post-project questionnaires (N=95 [Cagliari], N=10 [Tuzla], N=10 [Aix-Marseille], N=8 [Castilla-La Mancha]), ongoing formative assessments (through the usage of several tools as Mentimeter, AnswerGarden, and Padlet), and analysis of collaborative outputs (Canva projects). Findings reveal significant improvement in digital tool mastery, particularly with AI chatbots and collaborative platforms, and, most of all, enhanced intercultural awareness and learners’ self-confidence. It is argued here that this experience, with both its products and processes, can contribute to the growing literature on online teacher education and can provide a replicable model for integrating eTwinning into university-based training programs across Europe.