Overview & Points for Discussion

EARLI SIG 5 – JYVÄSKYLÄ 2014

Early Childhood Education & Care • CARE’s mission is to contribute to a framework for defining

and assessing quality of ECEC that is culture-sensitive and takes into account concerns of parents, professionals and society at large.

• Focus on center-based provisions, distinguishing between 0- to 3-year-olds and 4- to 6-year-olds.

• Central concepts of interest are quality, well-being, curriculum and developmental outcomes: – how should these concepts be defined, – how are quality, curriculum and well-being related, – what are universal and culturally differing aspects, – what are relevant outcomes (also in view of 21st century skills)?

• CARE addresses the micro-system processes as embedded in the meso- and macro-systems of societies, including the governance and economics of ECEC.

Five reviews and meta-analyses

• Curriculum review based on invited country reports focusing on both the ‘official’ and the ‘implemented’ curriculum, for different age-groups.

• Review and meta-analysis of ECEC effect studies, with separate evaluation of European studies.

• Review and meta-analysis of approaches to professional development.

• Review of research into the determinants of access and use of ECEC.

• Review of types of funding of ECEC and costs-benefits analysis, based on outcomes of secondary analyses and meta-analyses.

Five empirical research projects • Secondary analysis of (ongoing) large-scale quantitative

longitudinal studies into the effects of ECEC on children’s development in six countries (N > 10.000).

• Multiple quantitative-qualitative case studies of observed process quality and implemented curriculum in seven countries (N=28+).

• Qualitative case studies of innovative approaches to professional development in three countries (N=3).

• Survey among parents (N=700), practitioners (N=200) and policy makers (N=50) in nine countries into beliefs, values and decisions regarding ECEC.

• Secondary analysis of European databases on use and inclusiveness of ECEC.

WP1 Management

WP2 Curriculum,

pedagogy, quality

WP3 Professional development

WP4 Effectiveness &

Impact

WP5 Inclusiveness,

funding & benefits

WP6 European quality

framework

WP7 Dissemination

Child, Classroom Teacher, Center Program, System Communities, Society

WP6/all Initial

frame-work

(D6.1)

WP2 Existing data: quality & outcomes (D2.3)

WP2 Curr.

Confe-rence (D2.1)

WP 4 Meta-analysis of (moderators of) impact

(D4.2)

WP2 Multiple casestudy in ECEC centers in 7 countries

(D2.4)

WP5 Costs & Benefits

(D5.4)

WP6 Interviews with stakeholders (parents, teachers, policy

makers) in 9 countries (D6.2)

WP6/all Final

frame-work

(D6.4)

WP5 Determinants of inclusiveness,

costs & funding (D5.1)

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3

WP4 Quality

monitoring (D4.3)

WP3 Professional development: review

(D3.1)

WP7 – Dissemination: website, stakeholder groups, workshops, video’s, ……., final conference

WP6 Adapted framework & indicators (D6.3)

WP2 Integration

(D2.5)

WP5 Policy

recomm (D5.5)

WP3 Typology

(D3.4)

WP 4 Literature review of impact

(D4.1)

WP4 Policy recom (D4.4)

WP5 Educational & employment impact (D5.2)

WP3 Quantitative anal. (D3.2)

WP3 Three case studies of good practice (D3.3)

WP5 Access disadvantaged groups (D5.3)

WP2 Curriculum overview

and template (D2.2)

Points for discussion & elaboration

• Curriculum as it ‘exists’ in official documents and teacher eduction courses vs. actual practice (or ‘implemented curriculum’): – Remarkable similarities across countires, at least regarding views

and intended practices, with tributes to Bolwby and Montessori. – What is the role of an official curriculum in determining the quality

of practice? Does it really matter?

• Defining quality and curriculum – demystification of the quality concept: – Curriculum as revealing culturally differing values and priorities (and

also: as revealing values and priorities of different stakeholders). – Quality – representing universalistic (psychological) principles (e.g.,

secure attachment) or cultural values?

• Can quality (the ‘how’ of pedagogy in ECEC) be separated from curriculum (the ‘what’ (and why) of pedagogy)?

Plenaries & closing conference • EARLI sig 5 conference (Jyväskylä, 26-28 August 2014):

– Symposium ECEC curriculum in Europe (Sylva, Mantovani, Ereky-Stevens, Ariescu, Moser, Leseman and others).

– Symposium self-regulation and executive functions in early childhood (Cadima, Slot, Vandenbroucke, van Ravenswaaij, Morrison and others).

– Symposium measuring ECEC classroom quality in four European countries (Slot, Cadima, Pakarinen, Lerkkanen and others).

– Symposium classroom quality and social-emotional competence (Cadima, Broekhuizen, Sylva, Salminen, Slot and others).

• Curriculum Review, and Impact Review and Meta-analysis conference (Berlin, 1-2 December 2014).

• Stakeholders’ Interviewstudy conference (Vestvold, June 2015). • Professional Development and Multiple Casestudy conference

(Milan, December 2015). • Closing Conference (Lisbon, December 2016). • EARLI 2015, EARLI sig 5 2016, EECERA, SRCD, …

Contact

• http://ecec-care.org/ • contact@ecec-care.org

• Publications of CARE until now:

– Leseman, P.P.M. (2014). Quality of the early years provisions: a European perspective. Utrecht: Utrecht University.

– Leseman, P.P.M., & Slot, P.L. (2014). Breaking the cycle of poverty: Challenges for European early childhood education and care. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 22(3), 314-326.

– Moser, T., Melhuish, E., & Leseman, P. (2014). Model for an Initial Quality Framework – Work in Progress. Vestfold, Norway: Working Paper Vestfold College.

Involvement of stakeholders

• Data base of organisations involved in ECEC practice, service provision, teacher education, policy making.

• Newsletter and targeted mailings.

• Discussion forum and mailbox via website.

• Invitations to attend CARE-conferences.

• Current topic: cultural views on quality and well-being.

Consortium of 11 research groups • Utrecht University, Netherlands: Paul Leseman, Janneke Plantenga, Pauline Slot, Emre

Akgündüz, Martine Broekhuizen, Jerry Andriessen

• University of Oxford, UK: Ted Melhuish, Kathy Sylva, Ana-Maria Aricescu, Katharina Ereky-Stevens

• ICSTE University of Lisbon, Portugal: Clara Barata, Cecília Aguíar, Joana Cadíma

• University of Jyväskylä, Finland: Marja-Kristiina Lerkkanen, Anna-Maja Poikkeus, Marritta Hainikanen, Jenni Salminen, Pirja-Liisa Poikonen, Gintautas Salinskas

• Free University of Berlin, Germany: Yvonne Anders, Hans-Günther Rossbach, Hannah Ulferts, Franziska

• Vestvold College, Norway: Thomas Moser, Kari Jacobsen

• Aarhus University, Denmark: Bente Jensen, Simon Rolls, Ulrik Brandi, Astrid Würtz Rasmussen, Peter Jensen

• Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium: Ides Nicaise, Steven Groenesz, Özgün Ünver

• University of Milan Bicocca, Italy: Susanna Mantovani, Giulia Pastori, Chiara Bove and Children of Reggio Emilia (subcontractor)

• University of Warsaw, Poland: Malgorzata Karwoska-Struczyk, Olga Wyslowska

• Hellenic Open University, Greece: Konstantinos Petrogiannis

• https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zXMHN42iyeEY.k6TmjRJUzJXk.

Complete list of goals • To examine curriculum, pedagogy and quality characteristics that contribute most to

child development, learning and wellbeing (WP2).

• To determine which professional competences are needed for implementing high quality ECEC and to identify effective strategies of professional development (WP3).

• To assess the impact of ECEC in Europe, in particular for disadvantaged children, and to identify factors that moderate impact, including quality monitoring (WP4).

• To identify factors that determine inclusiveness of ECEC, in particular for disadvantaged children (WP5).

• To identify strategies of funding that can increase the long term social and economic benefits and to perform a costs-benefits analysis (WP5).

• To identify and develop indicators of wellbeing that are sensitive to cultural variation and to differences in priorities of countries, for monitoring child wellbeing (WP6).

• To inform important stakeholders about key-aspects of quality and effective curricula in ECEC, and about effective strategies of governing and funding ECEC (WP7).