Last week, the partners of the Diversity+ project spent two days in Bratislava for the first in-person Transnational Partners Meeting warmly hosted by a project partner and ISSA Member Skola Dokoran – Wide Open School. The meeting brought together project partners from Bulgaria, Czech Republic, and Italy and two representatives from ISSA, Zorica Trikic and Teresa Moreno. Partners from the UK and one partner from Italy  joined the meeting remotely.

The meeting started with a thought-provoking presentation by Ms. Erika Szaboova, representative of Open Society Foundation (OSF) Slovakia, introducing one of the “inspiring practices” identified within the Diversity+ project. The AFLATOUN program is implemented in 15 Roma marginalised communities in Slovakia, reaching over 150 preschool children and their families. With a focus on social and financial education, families learn essential strategies to support their children in implementing independent decisions perceiving their emotions, building self-esteem, and self-regulation.  

With the Diversity+ Charter launched, and the Diversity+ Footprint Assessment Tool in the piloting phase (both lead by ISSA), project partners focused on defining the next steps for the following Intellectual Output: European Quality Framework of Diversity Ambassador in ECEC environments, which will involve desk and field research in the national contexts of the consortium, and at European level.

 

Check how diversity inclusive your ECEC provision is and help test the interactive assessment tool!

You are welcome to take part in the piloting phase of the Diversity+ Footprint Assessment Tool.

Use the Tool and let us know what you think of it (feedback form)

Project partners, first in a plenary session and then in the frame of co-creative workshops, jointly brainstormed, discussed, and defined the field research questionnaires’ contents in detail, concluding that the research will be conducted in three different formats, depending on the partners’ national situation and preferences: online, in-depth interview,

There was also space to start exploring how the Serious Game, an online interactive tool to support the professional development of  ECEC educators, could look like.  The Serious Game is an innovative approach to problem-solving, nurturing inclusive and non-biased attitudes and behaviours in children and adults, putting positive values on differences, etc.  All the partners were excited and could not wait to start in-depth work on this project output in May 2022.

This was a very inspiring and enriching event. It also reminded us of the value of in-person gatherings. We have done a lot of valuable work under the project online; however, being together with colleagues and peers boosts creativity and adds to the motivation. ISSA is looking forward to welcoming D+ partners in May 2022 in Leiden for the next partners’ meeting.

Diversity+ aims to provide ECEC professionals, managers, and practitioners with governance, benchmarking, recognition, and professionalization tools to help them transform their practice and open up to diversity among children and families. The Italian partner CIAPE leads the project. The other partners are: Link Campus University in Italy, Aspire-Igen in the UK, Fondatsiya na Biznesa za Obrazovani in Bulgaria, Skola Dokoran in Slovakia, and Schola Empirika in the Czech Republic. ISSA  contributes to the project by developing different tools and resources and leads its dissemination activities.  

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