The Education Commission of the European Chess Union seeks to promote chess for educational purposes in schools. We work with the all federations in the ECU sharing ideas and best practice. The Commission is composed of leading chess teaching experts from several European countries. Together they devise and implement plans to bring chess to schools and to ensure that it is taught according to modern standards.
We believe that chess equips children with the right sort of skills to face the digital age. The requirement for communication, creativity is stimulated and developed through exposure to chess in a supervised rich environment. We produced a short video setting out our perspective.
The ECU achieves its strategic aims by sponsoring chess and education conferences and by certifying chess teacher trainer courses. The vision is to give the opportunity for anyone who wants to teach chess effectively in the classroom to receive all the necessary materials and training.
ECU Certified Teacher Training Courses
European Chess Union
The European Chess Union is the representative body for 54 national chess federations in Europe and neighbouring regions. The Education Commission of the ECU promotes chess as a pedagogic tool to develop the social and intellectual skills of children. The Education Commission was established in 2014 to lead the development of Chess in Schools across Europe. It launched a School Chess Teacher Certificate scheme to recognise school teachers who have the knowledge and ability to teach chess in the classroom.
The ECU School Chess Teacher training course was designed by the leading chess educationists in Europe and is validated by the ECU Advisory Board which is an international academic panel with experts in disciplines from cognitive science and psychology to statistics and pedagogy. The certification was developed following the Declaration by the European Parliament on 15th March 2012 that Chess in Schools should be encouraged for educational purposes.