1.      Find Room In Curricula Where To Do Projects

Project work often clashes with curricular demands and the need to prepare classes for exams. It is therefore advisable to find room in the curricula for projects. For example, it is generally easier to work with younger students instead of those in the final years. In addition, there are courses which do not lead to exams and offer a greater scope for project work.

2.      Find topics in the curricula which are suitable for project work

Project work is easier to integrate if it covers topical areas that the curriculum demands anyhow.

3.      Make relevant topics for projects persistent, relying on teaching teams

If such topics have been found and the project work has been successful, the department should make sure that the projects are repeated on a regular basis in the following years so that they become part of the school's programme. A nucleus team of teachers should take care of the projects, develop them and introduce other teachers to them.

4.      Find outside partners for your projects

Working with outside partners brings extra expertise into your teaching. Let experts teach the students or explain relevant matters while you as the teacher keeps in the background. Students will show greater interest than usual. In international projects, you need foreign partners anyway.

5.      Give incentives to teachers involved

Projects mean extra work for teachers. Those who do them should be rewarded with certain incentives. These could consist of extra pay, extra free time, help from others, travel opportunities (like in the Lifelong Learning Programme), or the refunding of expenses.

6.      Collect information and produce a calendar / plan / website accessible to all

Project work might disrupt the routines of school life, so some coordination is necessary. In schools which do a lot of projects, a coordinator has to collect information on all that is happening, pass this information on and make sure that no problems arise. A calendar that keeps track of all activities is necessary. The calendar or a similar plan should be published in a suitable manner, e.g. on a board in the staffroom or (in bigger schools) on the Intranet. It helps if the school management team is able to check whether such information has actually been read by everyone concerned.

7.      Deal with absences of students during projects by means of organization

The absence of your students from their other lessons during their project work is not popular with your colleagues. This may not be a big problem if your school system is based on classes that are together in most subjects but can be a major difficulty in course-based systems where projects take just a few students out of other teachers' classes. Inform your colleagues well in advance – a good school has clear rules for this. Make sure the school has fixed dates for the sitting of tests that have been missed. Give the students a form on which the other teachers have to state what work needs to be done for their subjects during or after the project so that the students keep up with the required work.

8.      Share projects with other schools

Share your knowledge and experiences with others; do not make everybody reinvent the wheel. Share your project experiences with other teachers and other schools, e.g. through your school website or an organization like NEOS.

9.      Get feedback

During and after your project, get feedback from everyone involved. Use the results to evaluate your project work and identify weak spots which can be improved. Publish your positive results and make a project documentation for the next teacher who wants to do it.