News about the Activities of ISSA Council Members

Azerbaijan

ISSA was very pleased to be a part of the review of the national 1st-4th grade “Life Knowledge” curriculum in Azerbaijan.  At the request of the Education Sector Development Unit of the World Bank and the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan, ISSA’s Program Director, Aija Tuna reviewed the curriculum and returned feedback and suggestions.  The request was based on ISSA’s broad experience in early childhood education and strong support for democratic values.  The curriculum aims to help all children become successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens, and effective contributors to society and at work.

Bulgaria

The Step by Step Program Foundation-Bulgaria has begun implementing the MATRA project: Roma Educational Inclusion through School Improvement. The project seeks to promote successful models of Roma children’s inclusion in mixed schools, which can be replicated from the local to the national level.

The Step by Step Program Foundation-Bulgaria is also pleased to announce that will implement the project Roma Education Inclusion through Community Development, with funding from REF. The project will support the development of municipal policies in the area of Roma integration in compliance with the government priorities in the area of education.

The Foundation continues to work with ISSA on development of 9 training modules for school directors with funding from the Bulgarian Ministry of Education and the World Bank.  The Modules will be presented to the National Institute for School Directors in the first trainings this November.

Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia

Step by Step Czech Republic is pleased to announce the recent approval of the international project V4 Early Childhood Trainers Get Together funded by the International Visegrad Fund. The project is coordinated by Step by Step Czech Republic, and partners include Ec Pec Foundation (Hungary), Wide Open School Foundation (Slovakia), and Comenius Foundation for Child Development (Poland).

The project will bring together early childhood trainers, teachers, and educational professionals for a training session in each country that will be designed as a thematic workshop.  The project seeks to promote networking among V4 countries, as well as sharing of experiences, best practices, and enhancement of conceptual work which will contribute to the concept of quality in education on all levels. The pilot trainings will start in January 2008 in Poland and will finish in May 2008 in the Czech Republic.

Haiti

Tipa Tipa (Step by Step Haiti) continues to deepen its partnership with the Methodist Teacher Training School in Petion-Ville, Haiti.  With funding from CIDA, Tipa Tipa and the school have completely revised the teacher training curriculum to reflect child-centered SbS methodology.  Tipa Tipa staff are also working at the teacher training school to provide training courses for student teachers.

UNICEF has been cooperating with Tipa Tipa in improving early childhood education and child care throughout Haiti. This led to partnership in writing a document outlining the situation of early childhood in Haiti and suggesting policies for improvement.  The Haitian Ministry of Education’s released policy document for EFA strongly reflected Step by Step concepts and methodologies.  The Ministry has since contracted with Tipa Tipa as one of three organizations who are providing teacher training.  UNICEF also continues to fund Tipa Tipa to provide teacher training in public schools.

Kazakhstan

Step by Step Kazakhstan is proud of the success of its Family Resource Center, which has become an example of real assistance to the most vulnerable part of the population.  Unemployed parents, whose children have no access to school, have begun attending a cycle of school readiness workshops in order to learn how to prepare their children for first grade.  A parents’ committee works in close collaboration with the community, and the Center is an open place where anyone can come in and learn. The Family Center is based at a SbS preschool, and the preschool’s teachers serve as facilitators to help parents.

Step by Step Kazakhstan is also working with the Early Childhood Preschool Center at the Ministry of Education and Science to provide trainings.  Last year, they worked together to create standards for preschool, which takes into account the inclusion of disabled children in mainstream classrooms to most fully develop the children’s potential.  At the primary level, SbS Kazakhstan continues to provide training to primary school teachers at three in-service institutes.

Moldova

On 13 August, Programul Educational Pas cu Pas began a central training for 105 local trainers, who will further deliver cascade-like trainings in 33 regions based on a new package of ECD materials produced under the EFA/FTI project. ISSA and Pas cu Pas played a very active role in developing these materials. Regina Rimkiene from Lithuania was an international consultant for the curriculum, and several Moldovan Master Teacher Trainers made significant contributions to the teacher guide.  Learning & Development and Teacher Standards were introduced, and because Cornelia Cincilei was the national consultant/writer of the Teacher Standards, they are very much in tune with the ISSA Standards. Pas cu Pas staff also proposed the idea of introducing “Big Books” and Valentina Lungu became co-author of the first such book. A team of Step by Step preschool and primary teachers developed sets of teaching materials accepted by the MOE/FTI.

In addition, Mihaela Ionescu of the Romanian Step by Step Center for Education and Professional Development was an international consultant for development of all of the materials.  And, finally, the preliminary negotiations were held by Sarah Klaus and Cassie Landers, and later Liana Ghent, at the international level with UNICEF and WB representatives, as well as with MOE officials.  Overall, this has been a considerable breakthrough in Moldovan education policy due to the unwavering support of ISSA and OSI. The Moldovan team would like to thank everyone who participated.

Romania

ISSA’s national member NGO in Romania, The Center for Education and Professional Development, recently bought a franchise to offer the enrichment program FasTracKids International in Romania, as an income-generating activity.  FasTracKids is an after-school enrichment program (2 hours per week per child), with an approach and philosophy very similar to the programs carried out by the ISSA network NGOs, which requires minimal additional training for teachers to carry out.  The staff of the Center is eager to share information with other NGOs.  Please contact Carmen Lica at carmenlia@dnt.ro for details about the program and potential opportunities for bringing the program to new countries.

Tajikistan

The Ministry of Education, UNICEF and the Step by Step core team in Tajikistan are working together to create a Working Group on developing standards for early learning and development.  This is crucial in Tajikistan, due to shortages and, in some areas, a complete lack of standards for this level of education.  The program of the Working Group is to develop standards and to draw up a plan for implementing them in practice.  The SbS team also hopes that the Group will develop a strategy at the national level for early childhood development.

Back to Previous Page