Enhancing Transition Practices in Early Childhood Education Erasmus Project

Project Title

Enhancing Transition Practices in Early Childhood Education

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for school education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Pedagogy and didactics; Social/environmental responsibility of educational institutions

Project Summary

The fundamental competence of ECEC (early childhood education and care) professionals is the learning competence, which implies openness, readiness and the ability of life-long learning. Therefore, the ECEC professional has to be open for new knowledge, continuous professional training and development and continuous professional advancement. In addition, ECEC professionals are expected to cooperate with different range of professionals (i.e. primary school teachers) and parents to ensure children well being. It is challenge to ensure smoothly transition from one educational setting to another. Partner countries have different education systems (obligation to include children in ECE, age of children starting primary school). Although the difference in the traditions of transition could be understood as a challenge, it actually contributed to an understanding of the possibilities that different practices offer. This project started from the perspectives of all involved, analyzing the obstacles and advantages of different transition experiences in order to create training for professionals based on them. The project was based on the professional responsibility and competencies of educators, so the emphasis was on strengthening those competencies that can contribute to facilitating the transition between educational institutions.Innovation of the project is to incorporate multiple perspective – children, parents, ECEC professionals and primary school teachers.
However, to enhance transition processes early childhood education is one of the most important period. Hence ECEC professionals need to be able to understand and acknowledge transition process, different practices and procedures as a foundation for a quality fulfillment of educational tasks. The materials developed during the project provide significant support to educators in their lifelong learning and the transformation of existing experiences into new, more child-friendly, more understandable to parents and more innovative for educational institutions.
The immediate project participants were 30 early childhood teachers and 10 primary school teachers who were participating in project activities. Their participation had an effect on more than 40 other educators to whom they shared experiences from the project, and at least 350 children attending classes in which educators work. It is assumed that the effect is visible in an equal number (350) families of children whose educators were in the project. Since some of the members of the project team (6 of them) work at the university, the indirect participants were also ECE students and primary school teachers. Based on the starting points and outcomes of the project, an elective course “Processes of transition from ECE institutions to primary education” was launched at the University of Zagreb, which was attended by 120 students during two academic years.
The outcome of the project were fiished as planned and included report on analysed literature, training module and training manual. The project analysed existing literature and documentation to ensure determination of the transition term in different cultural and educational environment. Together with children, parents and teacher perspective it will provide unique picture of transition procedures. It was a foundation for developing teacher training module and training manual for ECEC professionals. Training of the ECEC professional should provide new competence in best interest of child. Due to the emerging conditions caused by the covid-19 pandemic, the training modules are fully designed as a set of video lessons that allow individual and group content monitoring. Reflective questions provide an opportunity to reflect on one’s own practice, possible changes, and spot potential obstacles. Each module concludes with recommendations for further research of existing literature thus allowing participants to learn at their own pace. The training manual is a supplement to the training modules and provides a theoretical framework that facilitates the monitoring of video content. The evaluation of the training participants shows that this is content that has its place in the lifelong learning of educators.
Due to the emergence of virtual training opportunities, the materials are available to all interested parties at all times via the Internet. In order to further interest the professional public, the final conference of the project was recorded, and the recording is permanently available on the project website and on social networks with the permission of the participants.
The implementation of the project has resulted in professional and scientific publications that are available to the interested public in order to encourage their active contribution to a quality transition and enhance their profesional competence. Implication of the project may be seen in the future students conference (ECE and PSE) on the topic of educational transition.

Project Website

http://omep.hr/trap/

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 117150 Eur

Project Coordinator

OMEP Hrvatska & Country: HR

Project Partners

• OMEP SWEDEN
• ECCE & PLAY EARLY CHILDHOOD IRELAND
• Kindergarten Dobro Drvo
• POLSKI KOMITET OMEP
• HASKOLI ISLANDS