The coordinator, University of Patras (UPatras) (P1) is a public university in Patras, Greece. It is the third-largest university in Greece with respect to the size of the student body, the staff, and the number of departments. The Department of Educational Sciences and Early Childhood Education (DESECE) belongs to the School of Humanities and Social Sciences of the UPatras. It was founded in 1983 aiming at the development of research in the Sciences of Education and the provision of academic education to teachers. The mission of the Department has been and remains to promote cutting-edge pedagogy and to prepare culturally responsive and technologically savvy, skilled teachers. The Department serves more than 1000 undergraduate students, 50 postgraduate students, and 65 PhD students. Undergraduate studies are required to be completed in no less than four years or eight semesters (240 ECTS). The courses cover a wide range of educational topics, including Pedagogy, Curriculum Development, Psychology, Sociology of Education, Philosophy, Sociolinguistics, Literature, Arts, Movement Education, Educational Policy, Science Education, Statistics, Research Methods, ICΤ, Life-long Learning, History of Education, Children’s Rights, etc. DESECE is populated with well-qualified teaching and research staff. It currently employs 23 academic paid staff, 13 special teaching paid staff, 4 technical support paid staff, and 4 paid administrators. It has signed 50 agreements and MOUs with many Universities around the world and has successfully implemented many European and international projects. According to its external evaluation report, DESECE is an exemplary Department, highly committed to serving the goals of excellence in educational research and authentic contribution to creative culture. It currently ranks first amongst Educational Science Departments nationally in research output. The academic staff of the Department has already conducted more than 2000 scientific researches and collaborates with individual researchers and research groups nationally and internationally, conducting comparative studies. Within this framework, the Department is involved in several national and international partnerships and projects with universities, research centres, NGOs, organisations, private companies, etc. Over the last five years, it has attracted 1.0512 million euros from external funding sources. Since 1993, DESECE hosts a UNESCO Chair on Learning, Evaluation, and Didactics, and since 2023 a UNICEF Center for Children’s Rights. The DESECE is extremely concerned about lifelong learning policies and teachers’ education and has a large network of collaborating teachers, schools, and stakeholders. It’s important to stress the Department’s supplementary role as a provider of Professional Development Programs for teachers and as an accredited Center for Training the Trainers. Over the last years, the Department has provided numerous trainings for teachers in PE, Social Theory, Policy and Educational Practices, Language, Culture and Arts Education, Didactics, Science, and New Technologies. The Department has strong links to national authorities responsible for education and is a major player in providing training solutions to the field as well as has great experience in curriculum development. It serves its local community in a multitude of ways. Not only does it provide the local youth with a very high-quality qualification and professional title, opening opportunities beyond the formal school educational system, but it also serves as an academic and intellectual hub for the community via its school practicum and its research activities which provide in-service opportunities for local schools and teachers. The Department has established a track record of service as an educational resource for local teachers, parents, and mostly children through other activities (Children’s Festival, EU projects, etc.).