Implementation of quality development processes in early years education and care institutions Erasmus Project

Project Title

Implementation of quality development processes in early years education and care institutions

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 vocational education and training

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Quality Assurance; Pedagogy and didactics

Project Summary

In recent years, more and more investments have been made to expand the number of kindergartens and nurseries in the European member states. Now, after the quantitative expansion, efforts are being made to increase quality development and assurance in the facilities. International studies show that children in high-quality institutions experience positive adult-child interactions more often and have higher self-regulation abilities. In this context, the professionalism of the early childhood educator is an important indicator of whether children feel comfortable in the institution and whether the visit is beneficial for the development of the children. Therefore, the focus of this project lies on the knowledge and skills of the early childhood educators.
On the basis of a needs analysis, which is available to the interested public in an interim report, it is determined what specialists know about pedagogical quality and in particular about the quality of interactions in institutional education and care settings (N= 300). Parallel to this,
an interaction quality measurement will be carried out in 50-60 educational institutions. Based on this current state, a flexible training program with digital elements will be designed, tested and evaluated. The aim is to enable early childhood educators to develop and ensure the quality of interaction on an individual basis. The advanced training program consists of diverse learning parts (50%), live groups (30%) and individual coaching (20%). The advantage of having both settings, the diverse learning and the live groups, taken place online, is that it saves time and resources of the early childhood educators when attending further trainings. During the training two additional interaction quality measurements take place in the participating institutions. These results are discussed and reflected in two individual coaching sessions with the early childhood educators on site.
In addition, both the participating early childhood educators and the coaches keep a learning diary, which will be evaluated after the implementation. With the development, testing and evaluation of the training concept, it can be ensured that scientific standards are developed in practice by early childhood educators at local and international level throughout Europe. The other evaluated educational modules can be used flexibly and in a variety of ways (education of early childhood educators, advanced vocational training as well as in pedagogical counselling).
A digital tool for self-evaluation and self-assessment of the interaction quality for skilled early childhood educators will be developed from the results of the evaluation of the tested training program. In the future, this tool will be used by skilled early childhood educators both as a starting point and as a conclusion of further quality development processes. The simple and self-explanatory handling enables skilled early childhood educators to carry out quality development and quality assurance processes professionally on site.
The consortium of project partners consists of a network of experienced institutions that share the capacity, expertise, experience and access to implement interaction quality processes in their daily practice. Against this background, the project partners consist of host institutions, scientific institutions and public institutions. The host institutions consist of an association of institutions where early childhood educators are employed. The access to these institutions is particularly important for the needs analysis and the testing of the training modules. The scientific monitoring of the development and evaluation of quality development processes in practice can be guaranteed by the participation of university and scientific research institutions. Public institutions are responsible for local quality development and assurance at both regional and national level. As stakeholders, they make an important contribution to the sustainable implementation of the content.
The digitalized elements and the translated documents in English and in the languages of the project countries, the training program can be therefore used and disseminated internationally and transnationally.

Project Website

http://qualimentary.uni-graz.at

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 231859,54 Eur

Project Coordinator

UNIVERSITAET GRAZ & Country: AT

Project Partners

• PEDAGOSKI INSTITUT
• APEI – Associação de Profissionais de Educação de Infância
• Società cooperativa sociale Sumo
• PECSI TUDOMANYEGYETEM – UNIVERSITY OF PECS
• Magistrat der Stadt Offenbach am Main, Jugendamt