Knowledge Hub

The AFLATOT program for children who have not yet entered primary school (typically 3 to 6yrs old) aims at providing the building blocks of social and financial literacy, equipping children with the skills and competencies that will ensure they contribute to sustainable development – individually and collectively. The AFLATOT Manual should be used by professional teachers or facilitators who are equipped with Aflatoun technique and pedagogic to deliver sessions from the manual. Aflatoun believes that children need a balance of social and financial education if they are to become agents of change in their own communities.

Even in their early years, children are highly capable and competent, regardless of their backgrounds, experiences and ages. Children are active, self-motivated learners eager to understand the world in which they live. They learn best when supported through adult interactions. The early childhood years offer a unique window of opportunity in which to nurture a child’s physical, intellectual, emotional and social development. Positive learning experiences in this period lay the firm foundation that is essential if children are to reach their full potential. 

Two ISSA members, CIP (Center for Interactive Pedagogy/Serbia) and VBJK/Belgium, co-authored this manual as a result of the work they carried out under two large projects in Serbia:

• IMPRES Project – Improvement of Preschool Education in Serbia, with funding from the European Commission and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development/Serbia
• Kindergarten without Borders: Expanding Early Learning Opportunities for Young Children - supported by UNICEF and IKEA.

Both projects have focused on creating conditions to increase the coverage of children age 3 to 5 in less developed areas of Serbia with high quality preschool programmes of different content and duration. For that it was
crucial  to  create  new  understanding  that  preschool  provision  can  be  improved  not  only  through  building new kindergartens and organizing full day programmes, but also through development of diversified programmes adjusted to the needs of children, parents and communities as well as to the capacities of Local Self-Governments.

Growing through sharing together: Needs and aspirations of Romani early childhood professionals report was developed to support  ISSA and Early Childhood Program at the Open Society Foundation to launch The Romani Early Years Network (REYN).  The selected group of practitioners provided information through questionnaires and interviews regarding their continuous professional development needs stating that it would be of great importance to combine formal and in-service training which would result in either certification or diplomas. They also showed significant interest in study-visits as a form of in-service training, and saw value in participating in a European ECD network supporting emerging and established Romani early childhood development professionals, as well as other professionals working in the field of ECD with Roma, Ashkali, Egyptian, Sinti, Gitano and other communities. 

Given the results of the study, ISSA and OSF/ECP moved forward with launching a new partnership initiative in the second half of 2012. The Romani Early Years Network (REYN) is a network hosted and managed by ISSA, launched as a partnership with Open Society Foundations' Roma 'Kopaçi' initiatives of the Early Childhood Programme. The Network focuses on emerging and established Romani early childhood development professionals, as well as other professionals working in the field of ECD with Roma, Ashkali, Egyptian, Sinti, Gitano and other communities. REYN's main purpose is to support the development of skills and good practice, extend the knowledge drawn from experiences of working effectively with Romani families and children in ECD, establish effective partnerships between Roma and other ECD professionals and paraprofessionals and support professional development for those working with these marginalized and excluded groups. Practitioners who are interested in joining the REYN network are encouraged to write to membership@issa.nl.

The report Early Childhood Education and Care Services for Children from Birth to Three years Old contains results from the survey run among ISSA members to map the strengths, weaknesses, and the gaps that exist in early childhood systems in their respective countries for the birth to three age group. Particular attention was paid to legislations, types of services, accessibility, financing, quality insurance and the workforce. 

Each child its own story: Diversity in child care centres (from birth to 13 years) is a book acknowledging that every child starting at a childcare centre (day care, preschool and afterschool care) brings along its own experiences and its own history. An early childhood centre is like a micro society for children, families and professionals where diversity plays a key role among children, the adults and their ideas. The centre is a meeting place that gives a feeling of belonging to the child and where nobody is less or more important.

Each child its own story tells about respect for diversity, handling similarities and differences in issues like preferences, talents and cultural backgrounds. Attention is also paid to children with special needs. This publication has been written for parents, educators and teachers inviting them to learn from each other and to experience how diversity can broaden their horizons and their world. So they can encourage each child to feel welcome. The publication is based on the Dutch national pedagogical framework Diversity in child care centres 0-13 years’ (2012) from the same authors.

This publication is available only in Dutch.

The UPSI-5 is an easy to administer instrument to measure the psychosocial well-being of 5 year old children. The UPSI-5 consists of 29 questions which can be filled in by someone, for example a teacher or a social worker. The UPSI-5 provides an urgently needed counterpart to the strictly physical indicators and mortality indicators commonly used to measure young children’s well-being and survival.

The UPSI-5 can be used for comparative research, programmatic as well as for lobby and advocacy purposes. Specifically, the UPSI-5 might be used:
- For baseline and evaluation of programmes aimed at improving young children’s (psychosocial) well-being;
- Comparative research, for instance drawing comparisons between provinces/ regions in a particular country as well as between countries;
- Longitudinal study, whereby comparisons are made at different points in time over longer periods of time;
- Analysis of correlations between the UPSI-5 of a population of children and other indicators such as under five mortality rates (U5MR), school enrollment and achievement indicators, socio-economic status, and other relevant social and health related indicators. In a similar vein, UPSI-5 results might be used against the backdrop of an analysis of current child welfare and protection policies;
- Finally, we expect that the UPSI-5, in combination with, for instance, correlations with health and welfare indicators, can be used as powerful means to support broad child welfare lobby and advocacy initiatives.

Summer Program curriculums contain different educational activities to be implemented with the children ages 6 - 12. Each curriculum has 4-5 weeks of planned activities.

School Mediation Training Manual contains 20 training modules and can be used for teachers and school mediators with the aim to prevent dropouts, increase cooperation between educational stakeholders and parents involvement.

This tool specifically illustrate (for primary school levels of education) each of the 85 indicators of quality in the ISSA Principles of Quality Pedagogy. It deconstructs how educators move on a continuum from inadequate practice, to a good start, to quality practice and then into transformational practice whereby they begin to create systemic change in the teaching paradigm and practice. Concrete examples of the different kinds of action educators may take at different levels of practice are given for each indicator of quality, in a continuum format.

However, the tool also recognizes that quality is a concept that is socially constructed. The tool was designed with dialogue in mind by asking a question at the end of each indicator: What are other ways that educators can...? Although the tool may be very useful in describing levels of practice, there are always other examples of behaviours or actions in each of levels for each of the indicators, and such examples could be developed by educators working with others so that different perspectives can be presented and reflected upon. The examples are meant to be changed based on the specific and diverse contexts that educators work in, and not as fixed indicators. 

Professional Development Tool for Improving Quality of Practices in Kindergarten illustrates each of the 85 indicators of quality in the ISSA Principles of Quality Pedagogy. It shows how early childhood educators advance and move on a continuum from inadequate practice, to a good start, to quality practice and then into transformational practice. Concrete examples of the different kinds of action educators may take at different levels of practice are given for each indicator of quality, in a continuum format. The tool was designed to foster a dialogue on quality when different perspectives can be presented and reflected upon.

The examples are meant to be changed based on the specific and diverse contexts that educators work in, and not as fixed indicators.

Ensuring quality in early years services is essential for young children's well-being and healthy development. The Early Childhood Development Quality Assessment Tool or ECD QUAT developed by ICDI is a free and accessible tool for practitioners, parents and communities to jointly measure and improve the quality of services where young children spend their time. The six dimensions of the ECD QUAT: child friendliness; connectedness; safety, health and protection; staffing; sustainability and agency are based on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

ICDI believes that quality measurements gain additional meaning when framed in open and ongoing discussions, where contextual variables, inputs from all stakeholders, values, visions and dreams all have a place. Ultimately, there has to be a commitment by all involved to improve quality for children and their families. The ECD QUAT is designed to support this process. It can be adapted for use in a wide variety of services for young children such as daycare centres, pre-schools, kindergartens, toy-libraries and home based provision. The ECD QUAT is also available in other versions: for toy libraries, for ECEC Play Hubs.

The culmination of many years of work in defining and promoting quality pedagogy, ISSA’s Quality Resource Pack proposes a practice-research-policy blended approach to quality, enabled by various tools that can be used with practitioners, pre- and in-service trainers, supervisors, parents and policy makers. The package is grounded in ISSA’s Competent Educators for the 21^st Century, a policy document that proposes ISSA’s Definition of Quality Pedagogy.

The Quality Resource Pack is a comprehensive set of tools, which aims to:

• Facilitate the process of building a shared understanding around quality practices among practitioners, managers, parents, children and policy makers.
• Support and provide guidance to preschool and primary school practitioners in improving their everyday practice by enriching and expanding their competences through self- and group reflection, video recording, peer learning and cooperation, being part of professional learning communities and engaging in continuous dialogue with parents and communities
• Inspire pre- and in-service training providers with strategies and instruments to nurture sustainable mechanisms for continuous quality improvements.

Given its complex and systemic approach to quality, the pack provides the opportunity to address a wide range of target audiences, such as: educators (individuals or professional communities), pre-service and in-service training institutions, parents (individuals or associations), communities, policy makers, education authorities, pre-school/school administrators, evaluators, researchers, mass media, as well as the general public. Specific ways of addressing different audiences, as well as ways of introducing the resource pack or its individual resources, need to be carefully explored by those working with the resources.

The resources in ISSA's Quality Resource Pack have been developed using the expertise of ISSA members with generous support from the Open Society Foundations.

The Quality Resource Pack includes guidebooks and tools that complement each other, but can also be used separately. Some of them can be freely accessed, and some of them are subject to purchasing a license to use them. All the resources in the Quality Resource Pack are:

• The ISSA Principles of Quality Pedagogy (ISSA, 2010)
• Putting Knowledge into Practice: a Guidebook for Educators on the ISSA Principles of Quality Practice (ISSA, 2012)
• The Professional Development Tools for Improving Quality of Practices (in Kindergarten) (ISSA, 2012
• The Professional Development Tools for Improving Quality of Practices (in Primary School) (ISSA, 2012)
• Instrument for Assessing Quality Practices in Early Childhood Education Services for Children from 3 to 10 Years Old (ISSA, 2013)
• An Online Video Library on Quality Pedagogy (2012)
• Professional Learning Communities (2016)
• Leaflets for Advocacy Initiatives for Quality Practices (ISSA, 2014)
  • Invest in Quality Teachers
  • Give your child the best start
  • Early Childhood Educators Change Lives
• Roads to Quality: Strengthening Professionalism in Early Childhood Education and Care Settings (ISSA, 2016)

AÇEV Foundation, ISSA’s member organization in Turkey, is please to share this report, which is the result of a joint project. Yale University, UNICEF, AÇEV Foundation, the Fetzer Institute and other global partners have embarked on a joint initiative to achieve the common objective of analyzing the linkages between early childhood development (ECD) and peace building through scientific research, to disseminate results and advocate for better policies on global platforms - as a pathway to sustainable peace. 

A new report launched by the European Commission includes a case study exploring the work of ISSA’s network and of the Open Society Foundations (OSF): OSF/ISSA Approaches to Teacher Training and Pedagogy. The case study was written by Dawn Tankersley (ISSA Program Expert) and Sarah Klaus (Director, Early Childhood Program, Open Society Foundations).

Building Opportunities in Early Childhood from the Start - A Teacher's Guide to Good Practices in Inclusive Early Childhood Services is a guidebook developed within "The Good Start Project", funded by the European Commission and led by Roma Education Fund in partnership with ISSA and other organizations. The project aimed to raise early childhood education and care (ECEC) outcomes for Romani children in an effort to enhance school readiness and long-term life opportunities, while scaling up access to quality ECEC services for disadvantaged Romani children. The guidebook is organized around ISSA Principles of Quality Pedagogy. Besides brief theoretical parts, it is promoting examples of good practices as well as different activities which can be used with professionals, families and children. 

Activity book for early childhood educators contains a body of activities for early childhood educators for planning for integrated teaching using a thematic approach. The main purpose of this book is to help professionals, and give hints and ideas to creatively plan activities for children from 2 to 6. In particular, this activity book uses the rhymes and stories created by Georgian poetess Teona Beqishvili. The resource was created for Tbilisi (capital city of Georgia) kindergartens, but in few years it was scaled up to the entire country. 

Putting Knowledge into Practice: A Guidebook for Educators is a reference book that describes in depth each of the Principles of Quality Pedagogy and the related Indicators. The Guidebook connects theory with practice and research and provides clear examples on how to use the Quality Principles. Lastly, it makes evident how children benefit from teachers using the quality tools consistently.