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The SAGE Handbook of Early Childhood Policy draws critical attention to policy in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) its relationship to service provision and its impact on the lives of children and families all around the world.

ISSA's program staff contributed to this relevant publication with the Chapter 33, dedicated to introducing the ISSA’s Quality Framework for Early Childhood Practices in Services for Children under Three Years of Age, a policy document and a tool that invites policy makers and professionals working in various early childhood services across sectors to dialogue about quality, practices and policies for the benefit of the young child’s development and wellbeing.

Part 1: The Relationship Between Research, Policy And Practice: Country Case Studies
Part 2: Equitable Early Childhood Services: Intervention to Improve Children’s Life Chances
Part 3: Extending Practice: The Role of Early Childhood Services In Family Support
Part 4: Participation, Rights and Diversity
Part 5: Future Directions for Early Childhood Policy

This handbook is essential reading for practitioners, stakeholders and others committed to working within early years services to achieve an awareness of policy and its implications for services and practice.

Chapter 33 written by the ISSA program staff is dedicated to introducing the ISSA’s Quality Framework for Early Childhood Practices in Services for Children under Three Years Old. This is a policy document and a tool that invites policy makers and professionals working in various early childhood services across sectors to dialogue about quality, practices and policies for the benefit of the young child’s development and wellbeing.

The report Quality of Early Childhood Education Services - Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro resulted from a consultancy carried out by Jan Peeters from VBJK (ISSA's member from Flanders) for the UNICEF Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia (UNICEF ECARO). The report was commissioned based on the findings and recommendations of the 2014 Multi-Country Evaluation (MCE) on Increasing Access and Equity in Early Childhood Education carried out by UNICEF ECARO.

The MCE covered all UNICEF activities related to advancing Early Learning and School Readiness (ELSR) efforts for children in the 3-6 year age group and covered the period from 2005 to 2012. The report addresses the possible risks to quality of practices and services arising from rapidly increasing access. 

Full Title: Integralno dićhipe sićimašće inkluzijako: ažutipe rane barjarimasko ande funkcija e prevencijako katar o inklistipe andar o sićimasko sistemo ke rromane čhavorra, Integrisani pristup obrazovnoj inkluziji: podrška ranom razvoju u funkciji prevencije napuštanja sistema obrazovanja kod dece romske nacionalnosti.

The manual was created within the framework of the "Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) in Function of Preventing Dropout and Increase Of Education Attainment of Roma Children in Novi Sad" project, implemented by the Know How Center in partnership with the Center for Social Work of the city of Novi Sad and the City of Novi Sad Education Administration. The project was financially supported by the European Union under the IPA 2013 program - Development of effective community-based services in the field of education and social protection at the local level.

The manual “ECEC in function of dropout prevention of Roma children” promotes an integrated local approach to education inclusion of Roma children. The manual can be useful to different stakeholders in different ways: civil society organizations can use it to support similar approaches and professionals in primary and secondary schools can use it to facilitate the implementation of all legal obligations aiming to prevent pupils from dropping out, by the following concrete guidance and implementing inspirational activities at school level.

For representatives of social protection, the manual can serve as a guide for working and cooperating with relevant local actors. The manual contains 1) methodology of outreach work in informal Roma settlements, 2) methodology for establishing and working in school dropout prevention teams including action plans and providing psychosocial support to children, and 3) local intersectoral networking model as an example of the noteworthy practice at the local level.

To promote child's holistic development and prepare children for the competences needed in the XXI century, Bambi Kindergarten (Bucharest, Romania) implemented a programme to stimulate child's initiative and entrepreneurial abilities and independent skills - autonomy (age- appropriate) in the teaching and learning process. These competences are promoted in the children’s work in activity centres as well as through study visits in the community. For example, when children were studying the theme of Physical Activity and Health, they visited a fitness centre and a stadium which inspired them to organize a centre for renting bicycles/scooters in the kindergarten, including creating a business plan, decorating the rental facility, writing the schedule and rules, using money for renting, negotiating their roles, communicating and interacting with 'customers.'

With these types of activities, children are able to practice a wide range of skills. In these activities, teachers act as facilitators of learning by equipping the activity centers with the needed resources and scaffolding children's efforts. Techers play a key role in organzing the environment, proposing some of the activities, and empowering families to encourage their children to practice their new abilities. Another key role is played by families who become learning resources. By expanding the learning opportunities into the community, children make a closer connection between learning and real life, raising their motivation to learn. This practice can be scaled-up based on sharing this experience using direct approach (workshops for teachers), but also sharing resource (handbook with good practices examples, video, teachers’ and parents’ testimonials).

The book Child Protection in the Early Years provides information on what is child abuse and the its causes. It explores how to provide safe, nurturing environments for young children. It also explains the impact of trauma on young brains and explores how practice can be developed. It also addresses your responsibility to be safe practitioner. 

What is permaculture and why is it vital in the quest for ecological viability on planet earth? Why it should have a prominent role in education of the youngest? This short video offers a succinct glimpse of the vision that guided the “Children in Permaculture” project and effects it had on young children.

It is also introducing practical resources now available for free online. We recomendt the video to awaken awareness amongst kindergarten and primary school directors and educational staff and to motivate them to embed the ecological ethics and principles of education into early childhood and primary school curriculum. Thematic projects or subjects are not sufficient for forming  the lifelong attitudes, values and habits that are needed for creating a sustainable future.

The Macedonian handbook Step by Step to Literacy- 50 activities for improving student literacy skills is composed of 50 activities divided in six teaching and learning areas (Listening and talking; Reading and writing; Language; Literature; Verbal expression and creative writing and Media culture) as defined in the Macedonian national teaching curricula for the first three grades.

The handbook describes each activity, including the necessary materials, the preparation process and the method of conducting the activity. Additionally, each activity is supported with one or more photos presenting the preparation process. All of the activities can be easily replicated in the classroom with affordable and easy-to-get materials. This handbook is a useful resource for the primary grade teachers who want to expand their array of innovative and effective strategies for improving student literacy.

With Friends to the Seaside is a picture book created by children under the mentorship of preschool teachers at a meeting attended by Roma children and their parents. It is written in Slovenian and Romani with the possibility for including additional translation of the text. 

The book presents the psychology of parenthood.
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ProuD! Is a manual of how to use documentation of children’s learning including photos, audio-visual recordings, quotes, written notes, and children’s work products to reflect on children’s learning and development through discussing and reflecting upon them with colleagues. These kinds of systematic discussions support reflective collegial learning,  promote better knowledge of yourself and your colleague(s), and both demonstrate and reinforce professional work and growth.

NESET II report on Professional Learning Communities. 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 in English and Dutch.

The High 5 Quality Scan is an evaluation tool based on the European Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education and Care accompanying the 5 Steps to Quality Training Package. ISSA has translated this resource so it is now available in English.

This document offers childcare centres, nurseries, after-school care, and integrated childcare centres the ability to evaluate and improve their internal quality on these five principles.
This explicitly sets the link to the national pedagogical frameworks and curricula, and the organization’s own pedagogical policy. A reflective method where the involvement of all participants is crucial.

The training package was developed by Bureau Mutant and VBJK in the framework of the Peer Learning Activities supported and co-financed by ISSA in 2015/2016:

The training package 5 Steps to Quality is promoting the implementation of the European Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education and Care (EQF) with the aim to building and improving the quality in early childhood education and care services at country and organisation level. The training focuses on awareness raising, reflection and dialogue on the five quality elements in the EQF (accessibility, workforce, curriculum, monitoring and evaluation, finance and governance), at the same time linking these five quality elements with the contextual country guidelines and laws.

The training package was developed by a cross-country team led by ISSA members Bureau Mutant (The Netherlands) and VBJK (Belgium) in 2015-2016, within a Peer Learning Activity supported financially by ISSA. A second Peer Learning Activity provided members from Bulgaria, Macedonia, Moldova and Montenegro and Slovenia with the opportunity to explore together with their colleagues in The Netherlands and Belgium how they can further use the training package in their respective countries.

The Role of Special Ed Teacher in Early Education is a guidebook for special education teachers working in early childhood settings. Special educators for kindergartens are new to the Georgian kindergarten staff. The main goal for the creation of the guidebook is to help these professionals realize their role in development of inclusive practice in early childhood settings.

Putting SDG 4 into practice: School leadership, a technical brief describes why professional learning communities (PLC) matter for quality education, VVOB’s approach to sustainably creating and managing these communities, and how this works in practice in our partner countries.

PLCs play an important role in the professional development and motivation of teachers and school leaders. VVOB’s model for successful PLCs is two-dimensional: both the policy environment and the capacity to implement are crucial to organizing effective and sustainable PLCs, that genuinely enhance the professional development of teachers and school leaders. The experiences of VVOB demonstrate how reinforcing the capacities of national and local education authorities to establish and support PLCs is indeed of crucial importance to the success of these communities.

The Slovenian National Guidelines for the inclusion of Roma children and their parents into preschool programs are aimed at kindergarten and municipalities as decision makers in the field of early childhood education.