A Quality Framework for Early Childhood Practices in Services for Children under Three

A Quality Framework for Early Childhood Practices in Services for Children under Three

A number of childcare facilities (children under 3 years of age) of the City of Ghent incorporated sustainability and ‘green principles’ in their pedagogical vision and daily practice, engaging children, parents, community and the care team. Each of our childcare centers works from a well-defined, holistic pedagogical vision, focusing on total wellbeing and involvement of children and their environment. The so-called ‘profiled centers’ elaborate a specific aspect of this vision.

The Nest Center is an open, close-to-home type of center, where a stable, fixed group of 30 to 60 children aged 7-16 from multi-problem families spend time before and/or after school, and in weekends and holidays.

The overall objective of the Nest Center is to provide children from multi-problem families with a safe space, where they can enjoy interaction with peers and adults in leisure and learning activities, to enhance their psychosocial well-being and strengthen their resilience.

The UPSI-5 is an easy to administer instrument to measure the psychosocial well-being of 5 year old children. The UPSI-5 consists of 29 questions which can be filled in by someone, for example a teacher or a social worker. The UPSI-5 provides an urgently needed counterpart to the strictly physical indicators and mortality indicators commonly used to measure young children’s well-being and survival.

The UPSI-5 can be used for comparative research, programmatic as well as for lobby and advocacy purposes. Specifically, the UPSI-5 might be used:

ProuD! Is a manual of how to use documentation of children’s learning including photos, audio-visual recordings, quotes, written notes, and children’s work products to reflect on children’s learning and development through discussing and reflecting upon them with colleagues. These kinds of systematic discussions support reflective collegial learning,  promote better knowledge of yourself and your colleague(s), and both demonstrate and reinforce professional work and growth.

Video coaching 'imagination' professional development practice is about video coaching teaches and educators how to videotape themselves in order to be able to reflect on the quality of interactions they have with the children, the needs and strengths of the children, their initiatives,  and the growth opportunities that may present themselves. The purpose of the video coaching is to promote higher quality interactions with children and to grow as a professional.

All about language is a resource offering  concrete tips and ideas to support professionals in language stimulation for young children. It is generally acknowledged that language development is an important aspect of the overall development of children and consequently, a stimulating language environment is a crucial aspect of quality early childhood education and care.  Language cards and coaching cards are immediately inspiring and answer frequently asked questions about language stimulation and language coaching.

NESETII report on Professional Learning Communities. Each child its own story: Diversity in child care centres (from birth to 13 years) is a book acknowledging that every child starting at a childcare centre (day care, preschool and afterschool care) brings along its own experiences and its own history. An early childhood centre is like a micro society for children, families and professionals where diversity plays a key role among children, the adults and their ideas.

The High 5 Quality Scan is an evaluation tool based on the European Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education and Care accompanying the 5 Steps to Quality Training Package. ISSA has translated this resource so it is now available in English.