The European Elos network aims for high-quality education, which explicitly prepares students at secondary general level (age 12-19, all school types) for their roles as European citizens, especially their future study and work in Europe.

The participating schools subscribe to a European oriented curriculum, in the subject areas and in international activities. Guiding tool is the 'Framework for Europe Competence', which defines knowledge, skills and attitude that students need to cooperate succesfully in an international setting.

The schools that work together as partner schools within the European Elos Network (abbreviated 'Elos Schools'), can be characterized (concerning the department or stream of the school that is involved) as follows:

• They participate in a national quality network that develops a European and International Orientation within a European Elos concept .
• They are involved in structural international exchange activities with several schools abroad (including at least one school that also implements Elos) and strive towards embedding these activities in the school curriculum and school work plans to ensure coherence and sustainability .
• They work toward the implementation of European key competencies inside and outside the classroom (knowledge, skills, and attitudes that pupils need for their future as European citizens), with a substantial number of pupils between the ages of 12 to 19.
• They make use of jointly developed documents, such as the Elos portfolio for pupils, and other instruments to measure and certify achievements.
• They take part in general monitoring and evaluation activities of the European Elos Network.
• They intend to allocate resources (such as staff involvement of an 'Elos school team', and training) to realize these Products & Events.

Schools can contact their national (or regional) coordinator within the Elos Network to find out more about the entry requirements (look under 'About Elos' - 'Organisation' - 'National coordinators'). In general, schools will have to confirm in writing that they are committed to striving towards an Elos school profile. The Elos Network facilitates this process by offering advice, partner finding and coaching/training.

Schools from countries that are not yet represented can contact the European coordinating team please send an email to elos@epf.nl.

Each Elos school should have several partner schools that want to work together around the Elos concept. The Elos Network will facilitate partner finding. Schools looking for partners can fill in a search form.

New schools that want to commit themselves to the Elos aims are welcome. We ask that schools send us a Letter of Commitment with a brief description of their stage of development towards the Elos School Standard, to ::formalize their Elos entrance status.

Although Elos does not focus specifically on language education, foreign language skills are very important to realising the Elos aims.

All Elos pupils need to share at least one communication language, which means that most pupils must acquire adequate foreign languages skills. What is 'adequate' will be defined for each school type and age group within the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). Language learning within Elos includes content-based modules, language instruction provided by native speakers, and periods of learning abroad.

Pupils can earn credits (grades, study points, etc.) at their home school according to the national educational system.

The Elos Network has developed a learner portfolio and a multiple choice test that assesses the knowledge dimension of Europe Competence. Both are in a try-out phase.

The Elos Network explores how to link certification of Europe Comptence with European innovations such as Europass and CertiLingua.

A Comenius 3 (or Multilateral) network consists of different types of educational institutions that work together to support educational developments. Often, these are large multilateral networks which focus on policies and general concepts.
Comenius multilateral school partnerships are projects between schools from at least two three countries, which aim at practical cooperation between pupils and teaching staff.

Comenius networks are expected to link with ::educational practice and to promote Comenius ::school partnerships. This is why the Elos Network also facilitates school partner finding for schools and teacher training.

Schools wishing to cooperate internationally with partner schools should apply for European grants at their National Agencies. The Elos Network will advise schools on these procedures.

In some countries, national funds have been made available for Elos schools. Please contact your national coordinator to find out what the possibilities are in your country.

Schools wishing to take part in Elos will also need to allocate resources themselves. Depending on your educational system, this could mean organizing in-service training, purchasing materials, etc.