Date: 13-10-2021

ISSA Connects: How Can We Support Meaningful Interactions in Early Childhood Education and Care?

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.

Henriette Heimgaertner, ISSA Board President and co-founder of the Berlin Early Childhood Institute for Quality Development, Germany, will co-facilitate the session titled How can we support meaningful interactions in early childhood education and care? on 2 November 2021. The session will present the findings of the OECD’s Starting Strong VI report discussing the five policy levers that are instrumental for building Early Childhood Care and Education (ECEC) systems that foster quality in children’s everyday experiences. In her interview below Henriette shares the highlights from the report and tells what this new report is bringing to shape quality in ECEC settings.

Q: Who can the session ‘How can we support meaningful interactions in early childhood education and care?’ be interesting for?

A: The session on the Sixth Starting Strong report is relevant for ECEC practitioners, trainers and pedagogical consultants, heads of services as well as policy makers responsible for various levels of governance in the ECEC field.

Q: Why is the Sixth Starting Strong report important now?

A: This report is timely as over the past decade, we see a shift from focusing on setting and designing norms (on safety, buildings, materials, staff-child ratio etc.) to emphasising the quality of daily interactions between adults and children, their environment as well as among children. 

Q: What is this report bringing to better support professionals to enhance quality in ECEC?

A: The report identifies five policy levers as instrumental to enhance the quality of children’s daily interactions in ECEC settings: curriculum and pedagogy (1), workforce development (2), family and community engagement (3), quality standards, governance and funding (4), and monitoring and data (5). The first two are at the centre of this policy review.

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

A: This report is the first comprehensive report spanning 26 countries (from Belgium to Hungary, Portugal, Slovakia to Russia and Mexico), examining 56 curriculum frameworks to define prerequisites and conditions for ‘high process quality’ for children from birth to school entry. Finally, it discusses to what extent existing policies are supportive of high quality interactions in OECD countries.

Register to attend the session How can we support meaningful interactions in early childhood education and care? here