If your school wants to send staff on an Erasmus+ mobility, there are two doors into the same building. One is accreditation — KA121. The other is a short-term project — KA122. They fund the same activities. What differs is the commitment you make and how much competition you face for the money.
KA122: the short-term project
A KA122 is a single, self-contained mobility project. You apply, you describe the activities you want to run, and if it is approved you have a fixed window — typically between six and eighteen months, depending on the call — to carry them out. There is a cap on the number of mobilities, normally around thirty.
It suits you if: this is your first Erasmus+ project, your school wants to test the water before committing, or you have a specific, bounded need — four teachers who need training in one area, this year.
The catch: it is competitive. Every call you reapply, you are scored against every other applicant, and a project approved this year says nothing about next year. Schools that run on KA122 indefinitely spend a great deal of time writing applications.
KA121: accreditation
Accreditation is not a project. It is a recognition that your school has a coherent, multi-year internationalisation plan — the Erasmus Plan — and that you are capable of running mobilities well. You apply once. Once you hold it, you request funding each year through a much simpler procedure, and you are no longer competing against the general pool.
It suits you if: your school intends to make mobility a permanent part of how it works, rather than a one-off.
The catch: the application is more demanding. You are not describing a trip; you are describing objectives for several years, how mobility connects to your school development plan, how you will select participants fairly, and how you will spread the impact across the staff. It takes real institutional thought, and it usually needs the leadership team involved rather than one enthusiastic teacher.
Which one should you go for?
The honest heuristic:
- Never done this before, no clear multi-year plan? KA122. Do one, learn how the machinery works, then accredit from a position of experience.
- Already run one or two projects and know you will keep going? KA121. The application effort is front-loaded once instead of repeated every year.
- A consortium option exists too. If your school is small, an accredited coordinating body can take you in as a member. You get the funding without carrying the administrative weight alone.
What does not change between the two
This is the part people miss. Whichever route you take:
- The eligible activities are the same — structured courses, job shadowing, teaching assignments.
- The funding rates are the same. Course fees are covered up to 80 € per participant per day, capped at 800 € per activity, under both.
- The justification is the same: attendance certificate, Europass, participant report.
So the choice of route does not restrict which course you can attend or change what it costs. You can browse our KA1 courses and plan the activity before you have decided which door you are walking through.
Deadlines
Accreditation and short-term projects have different deadlines, and both are annual. Missing one costs you a full year, so the single most useful thing you can do today is find your National Agency's calendar and put the date in the school diary. If you tell us which country you are in, we can point you at the right page.