Early childhood education and care in Europe: Working with families and the whole community
It takes a whole village to raise a child
On 10 June, the European Commission will host an online event on early childhood education and care (ECEC) in Europe.
This webinar is part of the series ‘Early childhood education and care in Europe’, initiated by Commissioner Gabriel at the launch event on 3 March 2021.
It will discuss how ECEC staff can efficiently work with families and the whole community to ensure that provision of education and care to young children is inclusive and of high quality.
The event will be held in English. Further online events will be organised throughout the year. Stay tuned for more!
Background
At the ECEC in Europe launch event on 3 March 2021, Commissioner Gabriel presented the Toolkit for inclusive early childhood education and care.
On 27 April, a first webinar examined how to improve availability, accessibility and affordability of ECEC.
The ET 2020 Working Group on Early Childhood Education and Care also published guidelines that examine the variety of professions and profiles working in ECEC settings, the need to recognise the value of their work, how to make the professions attractive and how well-trained staff contribute to high-quality ECEC.
The EU Quality Framework for ECEC, annexed to the 2019 Council Recommendation for High-Quality ECEC Systems, underlines the importance of working closely with families while recent research findings and European projects highlighted the benefit of fostering cooperation between ECEC services and other services which work with children and families.
Programme
Welcome
- Anna-Maria Giannopoulou, Deputy Head of Unit, Schools and multilingualism, Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture (DG EAC), European Commission
Working with families
Why and how to engage with families?
- Géraldine Libreau, Policy Officer, Schools and multilingualism, DG EAC, European Commission
Inclusive practices for working with families
Including the Erasmus+ projects Toy for inclusion, EDUCAS (Creating child and family friendly learning spaces in ECEC centres) and START (A good start for all: Sustaining Transitions across the Early Years).
- Giulia Cortellesi, International Child Development Initiatives (ICDI)
- Hester Hulpia, Centre for Innovation in the Early Years (VBJK)
The value of integrated work
Introduction
- Géraldine Libreau, Policy Officer, Schools and multilingualism, DG EAC, European Commission
The First Years, First Priority Campaign
- Agata D’Addato, Eurochild
The concept of integrated work and the ISOTIS (Inclusive Education and Social Support to Tackle Inequalities in Society) project
- Pauline Slot, Utrecht University
The INTESYS (Towards Integrated Early Childhood Systems) project
- Mihaela Ionescu, International Step-by-Step Association (ISSA)
Staff competences for working with families and the whole community
Introduction
- Géraldine Libreau, Policy Officer, Schools and multilingualism, DG EAC, European Commission
The EQUAP (Enhancing Quality in ECEC through Participation) project
- Nicola Catellani, Sweden Emilia-Romagna Network (SERN)
Conclusion
* Questions can be asked in advance by writing to eac-et2020-wg-ecec@ec.europa.eu or during the event via Erasmus+ on Facebook.
Follow the event online
Watch the online event live from 14:00-16:00 Central European Summer Time (CEST) on 10 June!
You can also watch the event at
Towards a European Education Area
Early childhood education and care policy has a key role to play in the European Commission’s vision to achieve a European Education Area by 2025, as outlined in the 2020 Communication on Achieving the European Education Area by 2025.
One of the dimensions of this vision is on fostering inclusive education across all levels and sectors of education and training.