CARE2LEARN - Supporting the Transition from Early Childhood Education and Care to Primary School

<< Background >>Primary Education programs provide fundamental academic skills, establishing a solid foundation for learning. Successful transition to PE requires child maturity, quality education, and a support system that acknowledges unequal development and opportunities. Ignoring these can exacerbate social inequalities.Key early skills for school readiness include gross and fine motor skills, social and emotional maturity, independence, language and communication skills, understanding elementary concepts, and the ability to follow rules and focus. These skills are often practiced in ECEC settings, but many children do not attend ECEC, necessitating family-based reinforcement. Engaging parents in home activities with their children can significantly promote intellectual and social development. Effective programs combine early, child-focused education with strong parental involvement and family support.The CARE2LEARN project aimed to develop an early intervention tool to strengthen key early skills, laying a quality foundation for education and improving life outcomes. << Objectives >>The objectives of the CARE2LEARN project were:1. Increase Key Early Competencies: Enhance early competencies in children to improve their chances of early academic success and positive life outcomes. This objective focuses on developing fundamental skills in children at local, regional, national, and EU levels, ensuring they have a solid foundation for future learning and development.2. Increase Parental Capacity: Empower parents of preschool children to better support their children’s development of early key skills and academic achievement. The project aimed to provide parents with the resources and tools needed to actively participate in their children’s education, fostering a supportive home environment.3. Relieve Educator Pressure: Alleviate the pressure on ECEC and primary school teachers by increasing parental involvement in early education. Overall, the CARE2LEARN project aimed to create a comprehensive support system that benefits children, parents, and educators, enhancing early childhood education and ensuring better long-term outcomes for all stakeholders involved.<< Implementation >>The CARE2LEARN project implemented several key activities to achieve its objectives:1. Development of the C2L SCHOOL READINESS DEVELOPMENT TOOL CURRICULUM (PR1): - Conducted scientific literature review, expert interviews (5 people x 3 countries), and parent interviews (5 people x 3 countries), to create a document detailing validated key competencies for children transitioning from preschool to school. - Defined 4 broad fields and key competencies for parents to support their children in this transition. - Developed activities and materials to support children and parents, later digitalized in PR3 in 4 fields: socio-emotional (6), psychomotor (3), language, literacy, cognitive (7), motivation and learning (4). - Translated relevant materials to multiple languages for broader accessibility and use across the EU.2. Creation of the C2L SCHOOL READINESS ASSESSMENT TOOL (PR2): - Developed a tool to assess and monitor children's progress in validated competencies troughout 4 broader fields. The activity was led by psychologists, ensuring ethical and professional standards. It was based on the results of PR1, aimed at providing parents with a checklist to track their child's development. - Translated relevant materials to multiple languages for broader accessibility and use across the EU.3. Development of the C2L Mobile App (PR3): - Digitalized the activities from PR1 and the assessment tool from PR2. - Designed with features for assessment and monitoring, skill development, and parental support. - Offered multiple activities for promoting skill development, with a balance of online and offline tasks, to develop key competencies while limiting screen time. - Included weekly articles to support parents in the transition process (30 in total). - Conducted pilot testing of the app by experts in each partner country: Organized focus groups to gather feedback and improve the app based on expert evaluations. - Involved parents and children in testing the app for a month: Held focus groups to evaluate the app from the target group's perspective, and made final adjustments to the app before its official launch based on feedback. - Translated relevant materials to multiple languages for broader accessibility and use across the EU.4. Dissemination Activities: - Organized 6 multiplier events in 3 countries with 162 participants in total, to present and share project results with stakeholders. - Engaged ECEC and primary school educators, parents, and other relevant stakeholders. - Promoted the project through various channels, including social media, partner and project webpages, newsletter and social network. - Prepared and distributed promotional materials (articles, infographics, newsletter, leaflets) and press releases. - Translated relevant materials to multiple languages for broader accessibility and use across the EU. - Following progress and creating dissemination reports5. Quality Assurance and Evaluation: - Conducted regular quality assurance checks and final quality reports. - Gathered feedback through questionnaires and focus groups to continually improve project outcomes.<< Results >>The CARE2LEARN project produced several concrete outputs and achieved significant results, contributing to its overarching goals of enhancing early childhood education and supporting the transition to primary school:1. C2L SCHOOL READINESS DEVELOPMENT TOOL CURRICULUM (PR1):The consortium developed a methodological framework and trough validation process, including literature reviews and interviews with experts and parents created a comprehensive document detailing validated key competencies for children transitioning from preschool to school.In that document key competencies for parents to help them support their children during this transition are defined with activities targeting these competences also defined.2. C2L SCHOOL READINESS ASSESSMENT TOOL (PR2):A practical assessment tool for parents to monitor their child's progress in key competencies was developed, targeting competences identified trough PR1. This tool provided a simple checklist to track the development of early skills, ensuring parents could easily assess and support their children's growth.3. C2L MOBILE APP (PR3):An innovative mobile application that digitalized the activities from PR1 and the assessment tool from PR2 was created.Key features included:- Assessment and Monitoring: Allowing parents to track their child's skill development.- Skill Development: Offering activities, with a mix of online and offline tasks, to develop key competencies.- Parental Support: Providing weekly articles related to child development and the transition to primary school.- The app was made available in multiple languages (English, Croatian, Serbian, Greek), ensuring broad accessibility.Reports detailing the feedback and evaluations from expert pilot testing and parent beta testing were also created. These reports informed final improvements and adjustments to the mobile app before its official launch.5. Multiplier Event:In total 6 events held in 3 countries with 162 people involved, exceeding plans and expectations (90 people planned). The events disseminated the project's results, allowed participants to try out the C2L app, and facilitated networking and feedback collection.6. Dissemination Materials: A common graphic identity and guidelines for these materials were created and ensured consistent and effective communication of the project's goals and results. Project web page, Facebook page and Instagram page were created.A variety of promotional and informational materials, including infographics, press releases, leaflets, and articles. All these materials were regularly shared trough these channels, web pages and social media of the partners and newsletters of the partners.