News

The International Step by Step Association (ISSA) is a vibrant international network that connects professionals and non-profit organizations working in the field of early childhood development. Established in the Netherlands in 1999, ISSA’s…

Integrated systems is a complex term; don’t let the name put you off. Integrating early childhood systems helps reduce disparities in learning outcomes for vulnerable children and help professionals meet the diverse needs of children and…

Bozidar Nikolic is a Pedagogical Assistant from Serbia, a big, fun guy. For 17 years he has been working to improve the education of Roma children in his own country. He was discriminated against when he started as a Roma Teaching Assistant, today…

Children are born with a desire for peace. 'Peace in Your Hands' aims to encourage children, parents and teachers to realise: you can always find peace within yourself. ISSA members, Neohumanist Education Association (Romania) and Mutant (…

Ibrahim always liked to talk, but when the topic of dinosaurs came up, he would speak passionately. He knows their difficult names, size and diet, how they lived and who their enemies were. There was not enough time to go through all the details in…

Award winning program is looking for an External Expert Quality Assurance Review and Report. The Irish LINC Program is an award-winning 1-year blended learning program – continuing professional development – for early childhood teachers who are…

'There are four magic points when you talk about integrated working:  a shared vision, time, sufficient support and guidance, and finally, action.' Integrated systems is a complex term; don’t let the name put you off. Integrating early…

The Bernard van Leer Foundation recently released 'Early Childhood Matters 2018.' The 2018 edition of Early Childhood Matters features keynote contributions from the President of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos Calderón, on the ‘De Cero a…

Cross-continental efforts for barrier free child participation in Minsk In June, UNICEF Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECARO) and UNICEF Belarus Country Office, together with other UNICEF Country Offices and partners together with the…

If integrated systems sound a little complex it is because they are. After all, how can systems address multifaceted issues without reviewing their complexities? Stepping outside of the standard approach to Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC)…

What is the role of civil society to support policymakers and communities in implementing the Nurturing Care Framework in Europe and Central Asia? A recent webinar from ISSA urged participants to ask themselves this question in the months after the…

Today, ISSA launched a review of the Peer Learning Activities (PLAs) carried out with our member organizations last year. ISSA’s member organizations have diverse theoretical expertise in various area

Today, the Early Childhood Workforce Initiative launches an insightful report, Supporting the Early childhood Workforce at Scale: Preschool Education in Ukraine.  It is released at a critical moment for early childhood services in Ukraine. As…

Small and big successes in Almaty, Kazakhstan Nazym, a five-year-old girl from Almaty, Kazakhstan, was in a bit of despair when a homework assignment required her to make a family newspaper. It was to be shared with her classmates, but her parents…

Piloting of the TOY Course in April and May, as part of TOY-PLUS was a huge success: 82 learners from Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Slovenia and Spain followed the online course and attended two workshops in their own country. 30 of…

Dear Visitor,Due to a system upgrade, the ISSA website may not be (fully) available coming Thursday 21st and Friday 22nd of June from 08.00 to 09.00 hrs CET.Our apologies for the inconveniences. The ISSA Secretariat.

Celebrating the Romani culture: Activities in (pre)school classrooms all over the United Kingdom Gypsy, Roma & Traveller History Month, is intended to be celebrated by all children, regardless of their origins and ethnicity, and is an…

Young children love nature. Nature and natural materials are a rich source for playing, learning and exploring. Early childhood is also an optimal time to develop life-long ecological values and habits, as well as facilitating a…

June 1, 2018 As many ISSA members in Eastern Europe celebrate Children’s Day today, the reality of funding limitations for programs that support young children underscores the festivities. Funding cuts often hit the most essential programs—the very…

'Common goal helps strengthen community.' Crnik is a small village in Macedonia, relatively close to the Bulgarian border: at equal distance from both Skopje and Sofia. It has a multiethnic population made-up of Turks, Roma and Macedonians. All of…

‘At REYN, we aim to break through the negative cycle’ In the late nineties of the previous century, finally social workers – both Roma and non-Roma - managed to raise awareness to improve and cultivate the inclusion of Roma and Traveller families…

The coordinator of REYN Bulgaria, Trust for Social Achievement (TSA), organized a grand meeting and see through in the Fakulteta Settlement outside Sofia. Fakulteta is one of the largest Roma settlements in Europe. An estimated number between 25.000…

Geneva, May 23, 2018 - Investing in early childhood development (ECD) is one of the best investments a country can make to boost economic growth, promote peaceful and sustainable societies, and eliminate inequality. To develop to their full…

Ankie, you’ve been a strong voice in European advocacy for the improvement of Early Childhood Development in the past decades. What has improved and what needs improvement still? First of all, I prefer talking about Early Childhood Education and…