Enhancing inclusion of disadvantaged children by promoting intergenerational solidarity approaches in early childhood education and care systems

<< Background >>The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the ECEC sector in several ways, including temporary and permanent facility closures, reduced demand for ECEC places and workforce challenges. Also it has impacted preschool children in several ways, including social, emotional and behavioral development and mental health. The negative impacts on children's development and mental health due to changes in access to ECEC have been most pronounced on disadvantaged children and those with special educational needs and disabilities, as well as vulnerable children.In the countries involved in the project, closures of ECEC services have increased national pressures, and service providers have expressed concern about long-term financial sustainability. As stated in the Council Recommendation of 2019 on High-Quality ECEC Systems, children from disadvantaged backgrounds are in high educational need, so their participation in early childhood education and care activities helps to counteract early gaps in future skills.In line with this goal, LISTEN has been working to promote access to ECEC schooling and inclusive opportunities at the local and community level, helping to address the barriers and contributing to the creation of inclusive environments.<< Objectives >>Consistent with the EU's goals of supporting quality early childhood education and care provision for all, the LISTEN project has contributed to the greater inclusion of parents within the educational and local civil society communities, to support schools by introducing new and more innovative practices aimed at inclusive approaches, and, finally, to invest in teacher/educator training. For this reason, the goals of the project were: 1) To develop a high-quality early childhood education and care model that promotes an intergenerational solidarity approach method and actively involves local communities;2) To increase the skill development and professionalization of ECEC staff, teachers and educators in the provision of innovative ECEC using an intergenerational solidarity approach for the social inclusion of children with migrant/socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds; 3) To promote solidarity initiatives and innovative learning environments using formal and non formal methodologies to increase dialogue and cooperation among key stakeholders and actors at local, national and community levels.<< Implementation >>The LISTEN project carried out the implementation of: - an open curriculum with online training modules developed for teachers and co-created with educators that support the strengthening of their skills and promote the cognitive, linguistic, and social development of disadvantaged children to be integrated into ECEC schools. This activity involved 162 ECEC staff teachers who were trained in a blended version (on an online and in-person platform) on innovative ECEC approaches and how to include them in their teaching practices;- the production of lesson plans for volunteers and teachers;- in overall, 16 supporting parental actions were organized in 4 European countries with a total participation of 300 children of age 3 to 6 and their families to support parenting; the actions were based on the intergenerational approach and implemented in collaboration with local associations and volunteers; - a series of 4 events in local communities in collaboration with local associations to facilitate bridging activities and create inclusive spaces where the school is at the center of a process that has led to the integration of children, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds.- desk research to explore project themes such as intergenerational approach, social skills for social inclusion, community development, and policy. During the desk research, data were collected through focus groups from teachers and local organizations; - dissemination activities over the 24 months of the project and 6 multiplier events; - qualitative monitoring activities on project results and processes.<< Results >>LISTEN project has produced the following results:- Project result report nr.1 “Online Training Curriculum in Intergenerational Solidarity Approach for ECEC SCHOOLS” aim to support the professional development of ECEC staff by creating an open curriculum containing specific online training modules and guidelines tailored to social inclusion needs. The development process was based on collaborative approaches that actively involved the target groups of ECEC school teachers, educators and headed to create an OER (Open Educational Resource). In all project partner countries, 172 teachers were trained through the content of the online curriculum and were asked to experiment in classrooms with the methodologies acquired during the training. - Project result report nr.2 “Parenting and Volunteers Toolkit to restore community synergies” that includes a set of non formal learning resources and activity kit developed for ECEC staff to turn into action project approaches outside schools involving parents and volunteers. The toolkit provides for a collection of 16 lesson plans for teachers to support cross-sectorial and multi-target exchanges stimulating curiosity and contributing to cognitive and social development of children; and others 16 lesson plans for volunteers that gives teachers an overall managing perspective of educational activities integrating volunteers. Within the PR2, 16 workshops were organized for parenting support in order to help the ECEC educational community to promote social inclusion through intergenerational approaches put in practice. - Project result report nr. 3 “Community empowerment actions and impact report” that includes two assessment tools to monitor and assess children’s acquisition of key competencies, active participation activities customized on children and volunteers impact; community empowerment guidelines and policy recommendations.- A dissemination and exploitation plan to ensure a high quality design of the overall project dissemination actions and developed for the local/national and international level. The plan supported consortium members to implement activities in line with the dissemination goals. - A quality assurance and evaluation plan to guarantee the achievement of project results and assess processes and results within the partners activities. - 6 multiplier events (one for each partner) to present project results achieved involving ECEC schools, civil society, organizations, volunteers, families and institutional bodies.