Knowledge Hub

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.

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.

Health by the Book is not only a nutrition book, it is also an educational handbook for well-being and a healthy life style. Step by Step Centre for Education and Professional Development in Romania developed this guidebook together with the Lidl company. The format of the handbook is a magazine with 36 pages containing primary school applications, games, healthy recipes to be cooked by children with parents or teachers, recommended activities for in the home, experiments, crosswords. This resource is full of scientific information expressed in language for children, teachers and parents and illustrated with relevant pictures.
The main purpose of the handbook is to develop healthy habits in children between 6 – 12 years old by integrating nutrition knowledge into the school curricula and practicing healthy habits in every school day and at home.

The main issues addressed refer to: knowing food and how to eat a balanced diet, appropriate portions, shopping, hydration, what is dangerous to eat, allergies and intolerances, obesity, and the importance of physical activities.

Through every topic, the authors send the message that the key to health is life style and this is built in the first years of life! Another important message is that healthy habits and physical training are built in the families and in schools, so parents are the important educators!
Every primary teacher can use this resource integrating healthy habits in school activities, practicing recommended activities, and working with parents through children and/or directly. They can also be inspired by this guide to create their own activities, recipes, experiments for promoting healthy habits.

Embracing Diversity Training program for adults promotes the values of anti-discrimination, anti-bias, equity and respect for diversity in different settings: in communities, at the workplace, and in society. Embracing Diversity guides participants through a process of personal transformation, which helps them to become agents of change towards inclusive and social cohesive societies.

During the training, participants get theoretical overview and knowledge about most relevant concepts related to diversity, interculturalism, equity and social justice and they also build critical consciousness trough naming reality, giving voice to those who are usually silenced and by building alliances. The program consists of well-elaborated theoretical part, guidelines for reflection and 25 training sessions. Additional materials and resources listed can serve for adaptation of the program to meet the needs of diverse participants and specificity of different contexts.

A number of childcare facilities (children under 3 years of age) of the City of Ghent incorporated sustainability and ‘green principles’ in their pedagogical vision and daily practice, engaging children, parents, community and the care team. Each of our childcare centers works from a well-defined, holistic pedagogical vision, focusing on total wellbeing and involvement of children and their environment. The so-called ‘profiled centers’ elaborate a specific aspect of this vision. The “Green childcare centers” look for different ways to bring children in contact with nature and to bring nature into their childcare. To support this, each child gets its own ‘GREEN BOOKLET’: a personalized notebook with a series of ‘green’ activities each child should experience before the age of 3, such as walking barefoot on grass or sand, play with water, dance in the rain, stare at clouds, make mud cakes, smell flowers, watch a bug, help to prepare and eat natural healthy foods… Whenever a child does any of these activities for the first time, it’s indicated in his green booklet, if possible with a picture of the child enjoying this activity and personal notes of the childcare team, such as when did the child do this, how did he experiment, enjoy the activity…. 

It stimulates the care team to ensure that each child (as an individual and member of the group) is offered a varied scale of green and sustainable experiences. Nature offers a wide range of materials stimulating children’s phantasy, creativity and senses. The goal is that each child does each of the ‘green’ activities at least once before he leaves childcare. The booklet is used as a tool to talk with the team, children and parents about what the kids do, focusing on the green and total development and wellbeing of each child. The practitioners start participation with observing children in a natural environment. Children’s language development is stimulated by telling and sharing the stories of their discoveries. The care team and parents can discuss the child’s development, wellbeing and the integration of green principles in the child’s education. And most of all, the Green booklet is a valued souvenir for children and parents when they say goodbye to the childcare. The green booklet was first designed by Childcare center, De Bubbels, and further developed and implemented by the “Green colleague group”, consisting of the coordinators of all green childcare centers and a pedagogical coach of the City of Ghent. The booklet can be easily adapted to any child and any environment a childcare center works in.

With the project “ZAMISLICE” (CHILDEAS – Tiny Little Thoughts), ISSA member from Slovenia, Mala Ulica  wished to acquaint all new parents with the importance of early interactions. They provided parents with a pendant that can also serve as a pram mobile – a small, but important gadget that offers 30 handy cards with ideas for simple activities with babies which promote the child's overall development, anywhere, any time. In addition to description of a concrete activity, each card contains a brief explanation of why this activity is important and how it will foster child development. That was the way to encourage parents and stimulate them to engage with children in meaningful interactions, making them aware that all sorts of activities,  even if they seem inconsequent, such as singing, dancing or counting fingers are more than simple games. That they are activities that intensely promote the development of children's brain. And shape their future.

The material for “Zamislice” is developed in cooperation with the Pedagogical Institute and the Community Health Centre Ljubljana. Zamislice are presented and given to parents at their first baby health check by the pediatricians in Ljubljana. The project has various options for upgrading, e.g. the same accessory for toddlers (1–2 years, 2–3 years and 4–5 years), a mobile application and web site with instructions for early learning, etc., which Mala Ulica is planning  to realize and implement in the future. The results of numerous research papers in the fields of neuroscience, developmental psychology, pedagogy and other disciplines prove that experiences up to the third year of children’s life have an extremely strong influence on the realization of their social, physical and mental potential. Children's brains develop the fastest in the early years of life and thus create the basis for learning in the future. The future of our children and consequently the future of our society are therefore first and foremost in the hands of their parents.

Trust Based Parenting is an educational material for professionals and para-professionals working with Romani communities, for Romani parents, grandparents and children at an early age. The material can be used for trainings, workshops and home visits. Content of the manual consists of  various topics connected with education for social justice, building the confidence of Romani parents and preparation of Romani children for primary education.

The Planned Activities for Cohesive Education (PACE) program was initiated by Balkan Sunflowers Kosova in their learning centers. This program outline activities to be used with children within the national curriculum to improve their core competencies necessary to succeed in school and life. PACE incorporates science and literacy activities and technology based learning from the Balkan Sunflowers Kosovo"s Reading for Discovery and Learning Through Experiments project.

The Second Edition of the PACE curriculum was published in the Fall of 2016, outlining learning outcomes for practical and hands-on activities for children in primary school - Grades 1-6. It incorporates the innovative component of Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) that aims at helping, monitoring and evaluating the social-emotional learning of the children.

The Nest Center is an open, close-to-home type of center, where a stable, fixed group of 30 to 60 children aged 7-16 from multi-problem families spend time before and/or after school, and in weekends and holidays.

The overall objective of the Nest Center is to provide children from multi-problem families with a safe space, where they can enjoy interaction with peers and adults in leisure and learning activities, to enhance their psychosocial well-being and strengthen their resilience.

For each child attending the Nest Center an Individual Action Plan (IAP) will be formulated, with clear, mutually agreed upon goals and activities (contributing to the afore mentioned overall objective). This IAP will be regularly monitored and adapted to give the best possible support to a child.

The Macedonian handbook Math through play is comprised of 50 activities that aim to improve lower grade students’ numeracy skills. All activities are divided in six teaching and learning areas (Numbers; Math Operations; Measurement; Data Analysis; Word problems and Geometry) as defined in the Macedonian national teaching curricula. The Handbook describes each activity separately, 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 manual is a useful resource for the lower primary grade teachers and to the parents. Both teachers and parents can use one activity at a time and in this printable version of the Handout they can also write their comments when conducting the activity with their students/children.