News

Marking International Roma Day with the CHAVORE Quest

This year, we are marking the day with the launch of the CHAVORE Quest, an interactive, multilingual experience available in five CHAVORE languages. The Quest introduces a new way of supporting children’s mental health, well-being, and inclusion inviting users to explore, reflect, and learn through a more playful and participatory format.

ISSA Seeks Senior Program Manager

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…

ISSA Members are at the Forefront of Innovations in the Early Years Sector in Europe

The European Commission’s ECEC webinar “Working with families and the whole community” last week highlighted 7 initiatives from across Europe. ISSA or ISSA Members have been actively engaged in each of them. VBJK and were involved in the START…

Lessons Learned During the COVID-19 Pandemic – InTrans Policy Recommendations

In the last decade, children’s transitions across the home environment, early childhood education and care (ECEC), and compulsory school education have gained attention both in academic and policy debates. Despite this, very few…

The Road of Early Childhood to National Plans for Recovery and Resilience – a successful advocacy effort in Italy

COVID-19 pandemic is putting all countries in Europe under a hard test now: the ‘early childhood’ test, or in other words, the ‘long-term, visionary investment in the youngest generation’ test. While across the European Union, Member States are…

ISSA Seeks Consultant for Advocacy and Mapping Targeting the EU

ISSA seeks to hire a consultant to scan and identify advocacy opportunities at the EU level for the “Engaging men and promoting positive gender norms in early childhood” Initiative. The work is to be carried out in June 2021 from…

ISSA Seeks Admin and Office Assistant in Leiden

The deadline for this vacancy has passed. ISSA seeks to hire an Admin and Office Assistant. The position is based at ISSA’s office in the Child Rights Home, looking out on the famous Burcht in the center of Leiden. You will join two other…

Knowledge in the Hands of Users: Creative Ways of Sharing Early Childhood Matters

After a successful pilot in 2019, for a second year in a row, the ISSA Secretariat supported the dissemination of Early Childhood Matters articles through its Members[1] in 12 countries across Europe and Central Asia. A total of 14 articles…

Do Families Feel “In”… Even When Having to Stay “out”?

During the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, reopening has been very challenging for Italian early childhood education and care centers. Some practices and spaces had to be modified to comply with COVID regulations, including limiting the presence of…

Playful Learning – Collaboration on Transition from Kindergarten to Primary School

The Danish Union of Early Childhood and Youth Educators (BUPL), project partner in InTrans, is involved in a LEGO Foundation’s program in Denmark. By engaging academics, professionals, municipalities, children and parents, the program…

Survey: Public Perception Regarding Early Childhood Education in Romania

Bucharest, April 9th, 2021 - Parents in Romania are aware of the importance of education for a child’s development, however they associate the outcomes of education with discipline, conformism and school performance, while creative and…

New Flemish ECEC Magazine is Launched by the ISSA Member

ISSA Member VBJK is launching the new Flemish magazine on ECEC Kindertijd (which means ‘childhood’ in Dutch). The first issue of the magazine will be published in the fall of 2021. That means that VBJK will end the collaboration with the Dutch…

ISSA’s Professional Development Opportunities Boost Kosova Education Center’s Shift to an Advocacy Organization

Based on an interview with Hana Zylfiu-Haziri, Program Manager Kosovo Education Center As a membership organization, ISSA unites and supports professionals to deliver responsive, high-quality, and equitable services to all children and their…

Parenting as a Talent for Future Childcare Workers

The Childcare Unit of the city of Ghent, also ISSA member, is training parents as childcare workers. Parents involved in parent participation actions in the Ghent Childcare Settings are addressed and offered a training to gain vocational skills,…

Methodological Centers for Teachers will be Opened in the Czech Republic This Year

Nine methodological centers will be established in 2021 in different locations in the Czech Republic. These centers will be based nearby schools that are working with Step by Step program in different regions. The centers will become methodological…

ISSA Fundraising Workshop Builds a Secure Future at the AMURTEL Family Home

Author: Didi Ananda Devapriya, President of Neohumanist Education Association, Romania In 2017, when I received an email invitation from ISSA to a fundraising session with Bernard Ross, Director, =mc consulting, it literally felt like a sign from…

Rethinking and Transforming ECEC Spaces: Improving the Quality of Communication with Parents

Inspired by the results from the focus groups organized with parents and professionals within the EDUCAS project, the Lithuanian team (UIC Center for Innovative Education and ECEC Centers,1 Vaikystes Sodas and Aukštelkės mokykla-daugiafunkcis…

Free Harvard course: Addressing the Need for High-Quality Early Childhood Development Programs

February 26, 2021

With an estimated 250 million children younger than 5 years in low- and middle-income countries at risk of not reaching their developmental potential, there is an urgent need to increase multisectoral coverage of quality programming that…

Launch of two reports from the European Commission’s Early Childhood Education and Care Working Group

February 25, 2021

After 2 years of work, the European Commission’s Early Childhood Education and Care Working Group, in which the ISSA network was represented and made contributions, organizes an online launch event Early Childhood Education and Care…

ISSA Featured in European Early Childhood Magazine

February 16, 2021

We are happy to see our article introducing ISSA and its focus on equity included in the latest edition of the Children in Europe Today magazine – Issue 3, including the French version, Enfants d’Europe aujourd’hui, published by ISSA Member, Le…

In Memoriam Radmila Rangelov Jusovic – Our Rada

February 15, 2021

It is with great sadness that we share this news. Our beloved friend and colleague, Radmila Rangelov Jusovic, Director of the Center for Educational Initiatives Step by Step from Bosnia & Herzegovina, passed away on February 13th. We welcome…

How Can We Rethink and Transform ECEC spaces? Reflecting with Photos and Observations

February 13, 2021

Within the EDUCAS project, Belgium’s project partners VBJK (Centre for Innovation in the Early Years) and the two Flemish Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) centers involved, de Tandem and Hippo’s Hof, have put in practice two methods related…

‘I Like it Here, it Feels Like a Second Home’ – EDUCAS Presented to a Broad International Audience

February 12, 2021

EDUCAS project was presented to a broad international audience during the ISSA Connects Week in December 2020. The session gained the attention of 87 people from around the world. Participants included a wide range of professionals such as…

TOY for Inclusion shares Impact Evaluation and Policy Recommendations

February 10, 2021

The TOY for Inclusion consortium has released the project’s Impact Evaluation and Policy Recommendations.Using a qualitative methodology for data collection and analysis, this report evaluates the impact of the TOY to Share, Play to Care…

Maintaining Interaction with Families During the Pandemic: the Key for Smooth Transitions

February 9, 2021

The world has been facing a completely new way of life in the past year. The COVID-19 pandemic influenced the personal and professional lives of everyone, including families and professionals from the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) field…