INTENTS is a project run by the French Federation of Circus Schools (FFEC) and funded by the ERASMUS+ programme for the 2014-2017 period. It brings together the members of the FEDEC and the FFEC. The project involves 33 partners located in 12 European countries, including 2 networks, 29 schools (circus arts vocational training centres and higher education institutions) and 2 organisations which specialise in professionalisation, employment and skills analysis.

The INTENTS project builds on the work conducted by FEDEC’s Focus Group 2 which internally defined the 1^st European profile of the profession of teachers (SAVOIRS00 publication) and helped to precisely identify the training needs.

The successful European Educational Exchanges project (EPE) conducted by the FEDEC from 2005 to 2007 and the many modules which brought circus arts teachers together to focus on one technique (from 2009 to 2014), have also served as a basis for refining the methodology and objectives of the training courses and writing single-discipline educational publications for each one.

INTENTS is an inter-network cooperation which capitalises on projects and the expertise obtained by the FFEC through planning and designing federal diplomas and state diplomas for circus instructors and continuing training programmes for youth and leisure circus teachers organised through the EYCO network as part of the CATE and PEYC projects.

The INTENTS project objectives

• Define the European profile of the circus arts teaching profession and draw up recommendations for the national and European qualifications framework (EQF-ECVET-EQAVET, Europass, CEDEFOP recommendations)
• Work for a better recognition of this profession
• Upgrade skills via themed continuing training sessions
• Develop a planning and design methodology for continuing training which can be copied and adapted by other sector professionals (youth, leisure, social) and other fields of arts education

• Establish an assessment method using observation and interviews, in order to identify the learning outcomes and the non-formal and informal skills acquired during continuing training
• Develop innovative teaching tools for initial and continuing training
• Strengthen cooperation in the sector and between partners and strengthen the training route and its professionals

INTENTS project activities

6 partnership meetings for monitoring and coordination:

• Partnership meeting #1 (22 October 2014  - Auch)
• Partnership meeting #2 (23 April 2015 - Chapitô, Lisbon)
• Partnership meeting #3 (20 October 2015 - Auch)
• Partnership meeting #4 (15 April 2016 - Codarts, Rotterdam)
• Partnership meeting #5 (20 October 2016 - Auch)
• Partnership meeting #6 (20 April 2017- Carampa-Teatro Circo Price, Madrid)

3 interdisciplinary and themed pilot training sessions focusing on teaching and artistic skills

• Session #1 – Verticality, weight and gravity based on the Chinese pole, the static trapeze, the rope and silks
• Session #2 - Propulsions: based on the trampoline: transfers and artistic developments
• Session #3 – Balance and support based on handstands, hand-to-hand balancing and the tightrope

5 free multilingual publications:

• 1 Guide to planning and designing continuing training, modelling a coherent and relevant training programme for a constantly changing profession (FR/EN)
• 3 free multilingual teaching publications (FR/EN/ES/DE) containing the expertise, issues and teaching methods shared during the 3 continuing training sessions
• 1 Competency Framework for the circus arts teaching profession called SAVOIRS01 (FR/EN)

3 transnational events promoting and disseminating the project

• INTENTS #1 Public Workshop (23 October 2015 - Auch)
• INTENTS #2 Public Workshop (28 October 2016 - Auch)
• INTENTS Final Conference (20 April 2017 - Madrid, Carampa-Teatro Circo Price)