Lessons learnt from case studies : TOOLBOX OF KNOWLEDGE, EXPERIENCES AND GOOD PRACTICES. Outcome of the TRACKs project

The project Transition Children and Kindergarten (TRACKs) is funded by the Erasmus+ European program and it is carried out in partnership with different institutions in three partner countries: Poland, Italy and Belgium. The University institutions are the Jagiellonian University of Krakow in Poland, the University of Bologna in Italy, and the University of Ghent in Belgium. Other local educational organizations collaborating are Artevelde University College in Belgium, the Komensky Institute in Poland, and the Cooperativa Assistenza Disabili Infermi Anziani Infanzia (CADIAI) in Italy. The purpose of our project is to focus on the voices of practitioners \u2013 such as Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) professionals currently working with children aged 1 to 6 years old \u2013 and future ECEC professionals, such as early years educators and pre-school teachers still in training. The project\u2019s foundation rests on the dynamic exchange of knowledge and practice between the two target groups in the three countries involved in the project. This transnational exchange between the ECEC professionals across the three European Member States is intended to improve quality of learning, assuming that the international contexts can feed into each other, exchange solutions and practices and respond to shared challenges. A further essential purpose of the project is providing high quality learning opportunities and nurturing environments for all children, especially those coming from multiply marginalized backgrounds, and those that are experiencing social inequalities, poverty and racism. Drawing on the method of video-coaching and video-analysis, the project encourages high-quality interaction of ECEC professionals with children (Fukkink & Lont, 2007; Fukkink & Tavecchio, 2010; Fukkink, Trienekens & Kramer, 2010). The research teams and professionals from the different countries observe the video recordings collectively, or in one-to-one sessions, and reflect on the interactions between professionals and children and among children. This report will shed light on the contextual conditions where such tools and methods were implemented and how. The purpose is to show how the video-coaching methodology can be implemented in different ways in relation to diverse contexts (\u2018no one model fits all\u2019). This will also facilitate reflection by trainers/pedagogical leaders/coordinators who might want to use this methodology in their services/with their teams on how to develop context-appropriate procedures and tools that make it relevant to the settings/professionals within which/with whom they are working

The professionalization of early childhood education, care educators and pedagogical coordinators: a key issue of adult education

This paper focuses on the issue of in-service training of personnel involved in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC), in light of the most recent European and Italian studies and regulations and in line with the principles of lifelong learning and adult education. The paper then illustrates the main aspects of a survey of the literature on in-service training of ECEC personnel, indicating the most significant experiences in Italy. Finally, as an example of good in-service training practices at university level, the case of the Master in “Pedagogical coordination of early childhood education and care services” of the University of Florence is described, together with some reflections on the role and function of the figure of the pedagogical coordinator, also as a promoter of in-service training of ECEC personnel.La formazione degli educatori di nidi e servizi prima infanzia e dei coordinatori pedagogici: un tema chiave della formazione degli adultiL’articolo affronta il tema della formazione in servizio del personale della Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC), alla luce degli studi e delle normative europee e italiane più recenti, nella prospettiva dei principi dell’educazione permanente e degli adulti. Presenta poi gli aspetti salienti di un’analisi della letteratura sulla formazione in servizio del personale dell’ECEC e indica le più significative esperienze realizzate sul territorio italiano. Infine, come esempio di buone pratiche di formazione in servizio a livello universitario, riporta il caso del Master in “Coordinamento di nidi e servizi per l’infanzia zero-sei anni” dell’Università degli Studi di Firenze, insieme ad alcune riflessioni sul ruolo e sulla funzione della figura del coordinatore pedagogico, anche come promotore della formazione in servizio del personale dell’ECEC

Transforming European ECEC services and primary schools into professional learning communities : drivers, barriers and ways forward

B

Democratic experimentation in early childhood education

Qualifications of the early years workforce are a salient predictors of quality and therefore of children’s outcomes. International reports advise that a majority of staff is trained at Bachelor’s levels and rank countries according to this criterion. There is fewer consensus on what this professionalism should be. In a majority of countries, large numbers of professionals are untrained, unqualified and sometimes invisible in the official reports. Many of these unqualified “assistants” take up crucial “care” tasks, while the teacher’s tasks are defined as “education”. The separation between care and education occurs in split systems as well as in systems where education and care are supposed to be integrated. In addition, the growing diversity of families challenges our preconceived ideas about “the good life” for children. These observations urge us to rethink professionalism in terms of reflexivity and the capacity of co-constructing pedagogy with parents and children. A case study in Ghent shows how low qualified professionals develop research capacities. The analysis of their experience suggests that “learning” may be less a quality of the individual than a quality of the systemic relationships that are build in the teams as well as in the interaction between teams and their social contexts

The Development of a United ECEC Workforce in New Zealand and England: A Long, Slow and Fitful Journey

A united child care and education workforce serving children under school age has many benefits but despite long held recognition of its advantages, progress towards this goal has been slow in many countries. This chapter traces policy trajectories towards, and away from, workforce integration in two countries, New Zealand and England, over the period 1986 – 2016. It takes three illustrative examples: workforce models, sector voices, and home-based ECEC, to document the complexities and tensions within integrationist shifts in early childhood education and care. New Zealand has made greater progress towards integration than England; nonetheless, sustaining unity is fragile

The integrated system of early childhood education and care of the Emilia-Romagna Region. Case studies of innovative services.

The Report analyses the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) services, which are certainly one of the core policy areas of the SIP – Social Investment Package (COM 2013/83). Moreover, according to the Europe 2020 Strategy, ECEC services are an essential requirement to achieve smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. The Report presents the results of an eight-month research program undertaken under the INNOSI Project framework. In order to verify the potentialities in term of Social Innovation of the ECEC services in the Emilia-Romagna Region, we opted for a “Case Studies” research methodology. We carried out an ECEC services analysis articulated at the micro (social demands), meso (societal challenges) and macro (systemic change) levels. We selected three cases: “Filonido” in the city of Bologna; “Girotondo intorno al Bosco” in the Apennines' village of Serramazzoni; “La Gabianella” and “L’albero delle meraviglie” in the town of Comacchio; one for each ECEC main typology operating in the system (daycare centres; complementary services such as meeting places for children and parents; family daycare). The qualitative analysis of the data collected through documentary sources, focus groups and interviews with stakeholders (including municipal administrators, pedagogical coordinators, professionals and parents) and observations were analysed across three main dimensions, recalling the complementary functions of ECEC: a) reconciliation of family and working life responsibilities for parents; b) equal educational opportunities for children’s development and growth; c) participation of groups which are at risk of social exclusion (low-income families, children from ethnic minority background)