Up to 450 schools have discovered Socrates in the last four years, though that's not necessarily the famous Greek teacher.

At School With Socrates, a booklet by Leargas which was launched in Dublin recently, describes some of the Socrates projects funded by the EU and includes reports from teachers who have taken part in these exchange programmes. The Leargas-organised programmes aim to promote international communication and improve education by collaboration between schools across Europe. They range from forming direct school-to-school links to establishing in-service training courses and organising joint education projects for language learning.

Featured teachers in the booklet include Shane O'Donnell, a teacher at Holy Family National School in Monkstown, Co Dublin, who was sent to a fish-processing plant in Iceland as part of one exchange; and Ruth Barker, of St Dominic's High School in Sutton, Dublin, who went to electrical-engineering companies in Norway. The booklet is now available at education centres around the State.