Date: 12-10-2021

ISSA Connects: Early Childhood Education and Care during the Pandemic

Tags: Belgium, ECEC

On November 2, 3 and 4 ISSA is hosting another opportunity to Connect. ISSA Connects for Learning will include three professional development sessions, all free of charge. We asked workshop facilitators to share who their session is for and why you should join.

Nima Sharmahd, senior researcher, VBJK, Belgium, will co-facilitate a workshop titled Early Childhood Education and Care during the Pandemic on 4 November 2021. The session will present the results of a recent study conducted by the NESET network for the European Commission on lessons learned concerning governing quality ECEC during the COVID-19 pandemic. In her interview below Nima shares the highlights from the report and tells why it was important to have it now.

Q: Who can the session Early Childhood Education and Care during the Pandemicbe interesting for?

A: This session will be interesting for coaches, directors, professionals working in the early childhood education and care (ECEC) field, and also for policy makers.

Q: Why is NESET report important now?

A: The pandemic generated an unusual and unique situation to which ECEC centres and policy makers had to adapt quickly. This creates a crucial opportunity to look at what happened and learn important lessons not only to deal with future crisis, but also for the quality of ECEC beyond crisis periods.

Q: The NESET report explores how some countries and regions in Europe attempted to ensure high-quality ECEC for children and families during the first year of the pandemic. How the findings presented in the report can benefit other regions and EU member states?

A: The report explores how different countries responded to the crisis. The countries analysed have different ECEC systems and are geographically spread across the EU. They also adopted different measures to deal with the crisis. The variety of experiences is crucial for the readaptation to other EU contexts.

Q: What would the main highlight from this report for you?

A: There are several different crucial points. One of them is related to the more unified way in which integrated ECEC systems responded to the crisis, in comparison to split systems. Another important point is the difficulty in investing in accessibility of families and children. The report gives some concrete examples on how to invest in this direction.

Register for this session!