Job shadowing shows up across almost every corner of Erasmus+, but it means something slightly different depending on which sector you’re in. A VET trainer job shadowing a peer abroad follows different rules, funding rates and durations than a youth worker doing the same thing, or a school teacher, or a grassroots sport coach.
That scattering is the main reason job shadowing is confusing to research: the official Programme Guide answers this question five separate times, once per sector, with the details buried inside much longer pages about mobility in general. This post pulls all five together in one place — what job shadowing actually is, how long it can run, who can take part, how it’s funded, and what changed in the 2026 Programme Guide.
Everything below is based on the current 2026 Erasmus+ Programme Guide. Figures and rules can shift between editions, so always confirm final numbers with your National Agency before budgeting a project around them.
📋 Key Takeaways
- Job shadowing is a staff mobility format across five Erasmus+ sectors — VET, school education, adult education, youth work, and sport — each with its own rules
- Duration is 2–60 days in VET, school, adult education and youth; sport is shorter, capped at 2–14 days
- Only organisations can apply — never individuals directly — either through a short-term project or Erasmus accreditation
- Funding is unit-cost based: organisational support, travel and daily subsistence, not a salary or stipend
- The 2026 Programme Guide adds a new rule for education sectors: every job shadowing needs a named mentor, with a maximum of two participants per mentor at a time
- A learning agreement is required before departure, and a Europass Mobility (or Youthpass in youth work) afterwards
What is job shadowing under Erasmus+?
Across every sector, Erasmus+ uses essentially the same definition: a period spent at a host organisation in another country, learning through observation rather than formal instruction. A participant follows staff at the host through their normal working day — sitting in on lessons, meetings, coaching sessions or training delivery — picking up practices, ideas and contacts they can bring back to their own organisation.
It sits alongside two other staff mobility formats that are easy to confuse it with:
- Job shadowing — observing and learning from a host, without delivering anything yourself
- Teaching or training assignments — the participant actually delivers teaching or training at the host organisation
- Courses and training — structured, pre-designed courses with a curriculum (not available as an option in the sport field)
A single mobility project can combine more than one of these — for example, a few days of job shadowing followed by a short course — as long as each activity is planned and budgeted separately.
New in the 2026 Programme Guide: the mentor rule
For VET, school education and adult education, the 2026 guide now requires every job shadowing to name a main mentor at the host organisation — the specific person the participant is following. No more than two participants can shadow the same mentor at the same time. If you’re sending several staff to one host, plan for more than one mentor to be available.
Job shadowing sector by sector
VET (Vocational Education and Training)
Open to teachers, trainers, in-company trainers, management staff, Erasmus+ coordinators and other non-teaching staff working in initial or continuing VET. The activity runs 2 to 60 days, arranged either through a standard short-term project or through Erasmus accreditation for organisations sending staff on a regular basis.
- Organisational support: €350 per participant (dropping to €200 once a project passes 100 participants for this activity type)
- Travel: a distance-based rate depending on how far the participant travels
- Daily subsistence: a national rate set by your National Agency, within an EU-wide range, reduced to 70% from day 15 onward
- Linguistic support of €150 per participant, where relevant language preparation isn’t available online
VET is the one sector where accredited organisations can send participants for job shadowing to a defined set of third countries beyond the EU and associated countries — a flexibility the other education sectors don’t have.
School education
Follows almost the same structure as VET — same 2–60 day range, same funding rates and rules — but for teachers, school leaders, teaching assistants, pedagogical advisors, inspectors and other school-system staff. The main practical difference is that school-sector job shadowing stays within the EU and Programme-associated countries; it doesn’t extend to the wider third-country list VET’s accreditation route allows.
Adult education
Same duration and funding structure again, but the range of eligible organisations is genuinely broad — adult learning centres, NGOs, volunteering organisations, libraries, museums, community and cultural centres, and organisations working with people with disabilities, older people, or people at risk of social exclusion. Anyone whose role touches adult education — including volunteers and counsellors, not just classroom trainers — can take part.
Youth work
Job shadowing here sits inside a broader format called Professional Development Activities, alongside youth worker exchanges, peer learning, and training courses. It follows the same 2–60 day range but has a distinctly lower funding rate: organisational support is €125 per participant, not €350. Daily subsistence uses fixed per-country rates rather than the banded system used elsewhere, capped at €1,100 per participant overall.
Two things set the youth sector apart: participants must be at least 16, and recognition of learning outcomes goes through Youthpass rather than Europass Mobility.
Sport
Sport is the outlier on duration — job shadowing here is capped at 2 to 14 days, notably shorter than every other sector’s 60-day ceiling, and sits alongside a separate, longer format (coaching or training assignments, 7–45 days) rather than a full menu of course-based options. Courses and training aren’t an eligible activity type in the sport field at all.
Eligible participants are coaches and other staff at grassroots sport organisations — clubs, non-profits, local public bodies — plus staff from national federations where their involvement clearly benefits grassroots sport. Funding follows the same €350 organisational support and banded subsistence rates as VET, school and adult education. Projects are capped at 10 participants.
Quick reference: duration and organisational support by sector
VET: 2–60 days, €350/participant · School education: 2–60 days, €350/participant · Adult education: 2–60 days, €350/participant · Youth: 2–60 days, €125/participant · Sport: 2–14 days, €350/participant. Travel and subsistence rates are added on top of organisational support in every sector.
Why job shadowing exists as its own format
The European Commission treats job shadowing as a genuinely different learning method from a course, not just a shorter or cheaper version of one. Sitting in on someone else’s daily work — asking questions in the moment, seeing how they actually handle a difficult class or a tricky coaching session — teaches things a structured curriculum often can’t. It’s also one of the more effective ways to start a lasting partnership: many organisations describe their first job shadowing as the activity that led to a full KA210 or KA220 project down the line.
What you need in place before you go
Every job shadowing needs a learning agreement — a short document, agreed between the sending organisation, the host, and the participant, setting out what the participant is expected to learn. This isn’t paperwork for its own sake: National Agencies use it to check that the mobility was properly planned, and it directly feeds into how well-organised your project looks at reporting stage.
After the activity, the participant’s outcomes need to be formally recognised — through a Europass Mobility document in VET, school and adult education, or through Youthpass in the youth field. In the education sectors, projects must also follow the Erasmus Quality Standards for mobility; youth projects follow a separate set of Youth Quality Standards.
Planning a job shadowing: practical tips
- Finding a host doesn’t require an existing contact. Each sector has its own partner-finding tool — the European School Education Platform and eTwinning for schools and VET, EPALE for adult education, and SALTO/the European Training Calendar for youth work. The Erasmus+ Project Results Platform is also useful for finding organisations that have already run similar mobilities.
- A preparatory visit can be funded separately if you’re setting up a brand-new partnership — a short, funded trip to meet the host and plan the details before committing to the full mobility.
- Keep it observation, not delivery. If your staff member ends up teaching a class or running a training session themselves, that’s a teaching assignment, not job shadowing — plan and budget it as the right activity type from the start.
- Start small if this is new to you. A short-term project with one or two job shadowing activities is a reasonable way to test the process before committing to Erasmus accreditation, which is a longer-term strategic commitment.
What job shadowing looks like in practice
An adult education organisation in Serbia sent three staff — one strategy lead and two adult educators — to job shadow a partner organisation in Slovenia, observing how the host selects training topics, publishes calls for participants, and keeps learners motivated throughout a course.
A Lithuanian University of the Third Age team spent three days job shadowing their Slovenian counterpart, sitting in on staff meetings and study-circle sessions, and taking part in workshops on digital literacy and inclusive education.
In sport, a group of professionals from Réunion (France) job shadowed peers in Tenerife (Spain) to study how sport is used for social and professional integration of young people — a partnership that also ran in the other direction, with Spanish staff later job shadowing colleagues in Romania.
Frequently asked questions
Can I apply for Erasmus+ job shadowing as an individual?
No. Erasmus+ funds organisations, not individuals. You need to apply through your organisation — either via a short-term mobility project or, if you plan to send staff regularly, through Erasmus accreditation.
How long can a job shadowing activity last?
2 to 60 days in VET, school education, adult education and youth work. In the sport field, it’s shorter — capped at 2 to 14 days.
Do I need to already have a host organisation lined up?
No. Each sector has its own partner-finding platform, and funded preparatory visits exist specifically to help you set up a new partnership before the full mobility takes place.
Is job shadowing paid, like a salary or stipend?
No. Funding covers real costs — organisational support, travel and daily subsistence — not a wage or personal payment on top of those costs.
What’s the difference between job shadowing and a teaching assignment?
Job shadowing is observation only — the participant follows and learns from host staff. A teaching or training assignment means the participant actually delivers teaching or training themselves at the host organisation. They’re budgeted and planned as separate activity types.
Do I need paperwork before and after the mobility?
Yes. A learning agreement is required before departure, and the outcomes need to be formally recognised afterwards — through a Europass Mobility document in the education sectors, or Youthpass in youth work.
Want the full picture across every Erasmus+ action?
Our free Erasmus+ 2026 Guide covers KA1 mobility for every sector — including job shadowing, teaching assignments and accreditation — alongside KA210, KA220 and every other action in the programme, in plain language.
This article is an independent summary based on the official Erasmus+ 2026 Programme Guide, published for general informational purposes. Exact funding rates, durations and rules can vary by National Agency and can change between programme guide editions — always confirm current figures with your National Agency before planning or budgeting a mobility. GrowthProjects.eu is an independent consultancy and is not affiliated with the European Commission, EACEA, or any National Agency.