Every year Erasmus+ publishes the Erasmus+ Programme Guide with all the rules and regulations for the 2021-2027 Erasmus+ Programme. Here’s a summary of the key updates from the official Erasmus+ Guide 2026 regarding KA1 Mobility projects that could influence your project planning.
To make it easier for you, we’ve prepared a short overview of what’s new for 2026 and what still applies from 2025.
These changes affect School Education, Adult Education, and VET alike, so it’s essential to adapt your plans accordingly.
They apply both to new project applications submitted at the 19th February 2026 deadline and to organizations which already have accreditation.
Minor updates for KA1 projects starting in 2026:
1. Job shadowing – maximum 2 participants per mentor (all sectors)
Extract from the 2026 guide: ¨Job shadowing requires a clear identification of the main mentor at the hosting organisation – the person who is being shadowed by the participant.
A maximum of two participants can be shadowing the same mentor at the same time.¨
➡️ You can still send more than two staff at the same time — they simply need to shadow different mentors.
2. Host organization’s staff must lead the mobility
Extract from the 2026 guide: ¨All learner and staff mobility activities must be hosted at an organisation abroad, with hosting organisations’ staff in the lead role (hosting organisations are also referred to as ‘receiving organisations’).¨
➡️ This reinforces the need for genuine involvement from the host organisation’s team.
3. Subsidiaries of the sending organisation cannot host mobilities
Extract from the 2026 guide: ¨Sending organisation’s subsidiaries or other entities related to the sending organisation cannot act as hosting organisations if they do not fulfil the requirement for transnational activities.¨
4. For Adult education sector only: Clarification on proof of working relationship
Extract from the 2026 guide: In all cases, the tasks that link the participant to the sending organisation must be documented in a way that allows the National Agency to verify this link (for example with a work or volunteer contract, task description, or a similar document). The National Agencies shall establish a transparent and consistent practice on what constitutes acceptable working relationships and supporting documentation in their national context.
➡️ National Agencies must now verify the link between participant and sending organisation (through work/volunteer contracts, task descriptions, etc.). This clarifies previous requirements rather than changing them.
5. Subsidiaries of the sending organisation cannot host mobilities
Extract from the 2026 guide: ¨Group mobility of adult learners must take place at the hosting organisation. Exceptionally, activities can take place at another venue in the country of the hosting organisation, if justified by the content and quality of the activity. In this case, travel of participants from the hosting organisation to the venue will not be considered as a transnational mobility activity. Additional funds therefore cannot be requested for this purpose.¨
➡️If the host organization organizes a mobility for adult learners in another venue in the country, there is no additional funding for the local/national transportation. This applies both to individual and group mobilities.
Recap of the most important changes in 2025:
1. Funding limits (for School and VET education only!)
In the case of School and VET Education, the total grant for ‘Courses and training’ is now limited at 50% of the awarded project grant (except for projects under €40,000, where the limit is €20,000). This does not apply to Adult education sector.
This means you’ll need to plan both staff and learner mobilities in your projects. A recommended ratio is approximately 1 teacher for every 2-3 students. The exact ratio depends on distance and other costs, so make sure you check your budget carefully before submitting the application.
Extract from the Guide:
¨The total grant for ‘Courses and training’ will be limited to a maximum of 50% of the awarded project grant. As an exception, for projects with total awarded grant up to 40 000 EUR, this limit will be set at 20 000 EUR.¨
2. Maximum participants per course:
3 from the same organization or 10 from the same consortium.
This means that you can still send several staff at a course in Tenerife during the same week, but it has to be for different training courses.
As Tenerife Courses is a consortium of local organizations, depending on the topics and period, we sometimes host more than 1 course at the same time, even with different host organizations. So if you want to send more 2-3 flows of 3 persons at a time, write us an email at info@tenerifecourses.com.
This new structure enhances networking opportunities, allowing participants to connect with a broader range of colleagues. As we value diversity, we typically host open-call courses with participants from 4 to 8 different nationalities (depending on the group size and course topic). We’ve observed that such diversity leads to a richer exchange of ideas, perspectives and experiences, fostering a more inclusive and engaging learning environment.
3. Each participant can only attend one course per project.
Since one person won’t be able to attend more than a course per project, what you can do is to extend the number of days of the course. We also organize courses of 6, 7 and up to 10 days.
In addition to coming for a course to Tenerife, you can also go to a job-shadowing visit. As a non-profit organization we can only host job-shadowing for Adult education. However, we can facilitate you the contact with the International office in Tenerife to get in touch with schools here.
Other important rules to keep in mind:
The KA1 mobilities need to have a transnational component
Fortunately, this will be inevitable with having max 3 participants from an organization per course. Apart from having participants from different countries, we also involve various local trainers in the courses as well as we do activities at the premises of different local organizations, so there is direct interaction and exchange of ideas with different staff from Tenerife.
Extract from the guide:
¨The training must include a clear transnational component, for example by fostering learning interaction between participants from different countries or by integrating other elements of transnational transfer of practices, such as strong involvement of School Education/Adult Education/VET staff from the hosting country to interact with and demonstrate their practices to colleagues coming from abroad.¨
The difference between individual and group mobilities for learners
This is not a change in 2025, but due to the many questions we received about learners mobilities, it’s important to clarify:
- Group mobility of adult learners: organizational support only 125 EUR/person – it is not a course, but lighter activities (collective, informal learning, volunteering, existing resources etc).
- Individual mobility of adult learners: organizational support only 350 EUR/person – it can be sent as group, but the program is individual and specifically for the participants (formal, non-formal and informal learning).
In summary, if you want to send more than 1 learner, you can still use the Individual mobility option if the program is specifically designed for your learners.
Extracts from the Erasmus+ Guide:
Group mobility of adult learners:
A group of adult learners from the sending organisation can spend time in another country to benefit from innovative learning organised through cooperation between the sending and hosting organisations (purchase of commercially available training services is not supported). Activities may include a combination of various formal, informal and non-formal learning methods and techniques, such as peer learning, workbased learning, volunteering, and other innovative approaches. Qualified trainers from the sending organisation must accompany the learners for the entire duration of the activity and take part in the implementation of the learning programme. The content of group mobility activities should focus on key competences of adult learners or the inclusion and diversity, digital, environmental sustainability and participatory dimensions of the programme.
Short-term learning mobility of adult learners: adult learners can spend a period abroad at a hosting organisation to improve their knowledge and skills. An individual learning programme must be defined for each participant. The learning programme may include a combination of various formal, informal and non-formal learning methods.
Please note that the difference between group and individual activity formats is not based on travelling and accommodation arrangements, but rather on requirements for collective or individual learning programmes, as described below under ‘Documentation of learning outcomes’. Accordingly, a different level of organisational support is provided for group and individual activities, as defined in the funding rules presented at the end of this chapter. The group mobility format is recommended for simple activities that make use of existing resources and content, while individual formats are better suited for activities that require specific investment from the sending and receiving organisations (including in cases where several participants will be travelling and staying together).
We recommend reading the Erasmus+ guide when preparing your project application.
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