International Step by Step Association - Electronic Newsletter Fall/Winter 2007

Quality Early Education Program

Pedagogical Standards

The revisions of the ISSA Pedagogical Standards continue to be the primary focus of the Quality Early Education Program. A group of experts and ISSA staff met in June to continue the revision process and to discuss the next steps required to have a new working document by 1 January, 2009. The updated Pedagogical Standards will include the most current research on best teacher and program practices.

A draft of the revised Standards is currently being reviewed by educational experts in Europe and the US. ISSA hopes to receive feedback on the following questions:

  • Do the revised Standards reflect the most recent research on quality teaching and its connection with student outcomes?
  • Are ISSA's mission and beliefs reflected in the Standards clearly enough?
  • Could these standards be used equally well as a professional development tool and for certification of teachers?
  • Could these Standards be used for different age groups, such as infants/toddlers, preschool, and early primary school?

This feedback will be combined with feedback from specialists at the Institute of Education in London, UK and the Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning at the University of Virginia, USA in fall 2007.

In late August, Dr. Tatjana Vonta (Slovenia) presented the ISSA Pedagogical Standards and activities of QEEP with support from her colleagues and ISSA staff during a session entitled “Building Pedagogical Standards from the Ground Up for Quality Improvement” at the pre-conference seminar “Exploring Qualitative Paradigms” at the EECERA Annual Conference. The workshop began with a short overview about the ISSA Pedagogical Standards, their characteristics, and how they were developed. Participants had the opportunity to better understand how the standards can be used for supporting professional development and quality improvement processes with teachers. Discussions also centered on advertising, advocating for, and supporting the educational competences of different target groups including parents, students, donors, etc. As part of the session, participants practiced applying the ISSA Pedagogical Standards using short video clips and discussing reliability issues in small groups led by certifiers from the ISSA network.

Following the conference, the QEEP Regional Anchors and ISSA staff met in Vilnius, Lithuania to practice using the revised Pedagogical Standards in classrooms and to discuss an expanded structure for the Quality Early Education Program in the future.

The QEEP National Coordinators and ISSA NGO Directors will meet in Belgrade, Serbia, 6-8 December to discuss the draft of the revised standards as well as a new framework for QEEP activities which will emphasize providing support for professional development in a variety of forms including training, mentoring, networking; to advocacy and policy work as well as evaluation and research, awareness raising, and public relations. Ferre Laevers, Director of the Centre for Experiential Learning in Leuven, Belgium, will lead a short workshop at the meeting.

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