Visibility of eTwinning Projects Group July 2026 Newsletter
From Local Projects to 100 + Online Events: Fifteen Years of Strengthening the Croatian eTwinning Community by Nataša Ljubić Klemše and Tomislav Pavlović
When we began organising online sessions for Croatian eTwinning teachers, we could hardly have imagined how enduring this form of professional exchange would become. Over time, the sessions developed into a sustained peer-support initiative: a place where teachers could ask practical questions, learn from colleagues’ experience and remain connected through major changes in education and on the eTwinning platform. Together, and alongside other ambassador colleagues, we have contributed to more than one hundred eTwinning online events and multi-day e- courses. What matters most, however, is not the number itself, but the professional community that grew around them.
Our eTwinning journeys began separately in 2010. Tomislav joined the platform while working at OŠ Ludina, a small primary school in Velika Ludina, and took
part in early projects such as An Exchange of Hand-Made Easter Cards and Farming Around Europe. In the same year, Nataša launched the first eTwinning project in Bjelovar-Bilogora County and began promoting international project work among teachers and pupils. We were both appointed eTwinning ambassadors in 2014. Our shared ambassadorial role, classroom experience and belief in learning from peers eventually brought us together behind the same microphone.
Those beginnings shaped the way we later approached professional support. In a small rural school, international cooperation can open a window onto experiences that would otherwise remain distant. In a larger school and county centre, it can connect classroom innovation with a wider professional network. Although our working environments were different, we had reached the same conclusion: teachers are more likely to try something new when they can see how it works in a real classroom and discuss it openly with a colleague.
A Turning Point: The Pandemic Years
The importance of online professional support became especially clear in spring 2020, when schools across Croatia moved abruptly to distance learning. Teachers needed more than general guidance: they needed concrete examples, reliable digital
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