Dear readers,
You are receiving the first newsletter dedicated to the international project „Learning by Doing – Attainment of Basic Competences in ECEC (ABC for kindergartens)“. The publishing house N Dr. Josef Raabe, s.r.o. has begun implementing the project since November 2020, together with eight other partners from three European countries – Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Slovenia.
We want to provide you with information about the project, the participating partners, what we have already managed to implement, and what is still waiting for us.
We believe that we will be able to fulfil our goal together with you – to support teachers in pre-primary education and teacher training providers on applying project based and task based learning.
Keep reading us!
ABC for kindergartens partners
This project has been funded with support from the Erasmus + program, Project number: 2020 -1-CZ01-KA201-078464, Key Action 2, Strategic Partnerships in School Education.
This publication (document) represents the author’s sole opinion. Neither SAAIC – Erasmus + National Agency nor the European Commission is responsible for any use made of the information contained therein.
(prelink na https:// www.abc-kindergarten.eu)
As highlighted by the European Commission, it is of crucial importance to foster initiatives that support and reinforce the development of key competences for all individuals from early childhood. Many newly qualified or inexperienced teachers tend to base their lesson planning on the traditional PPP approach (Presentation, Practice, Production). The problem is that PPP serves the teacher’s needs, but it is debatable whether or not it fulfils the needs of the learner. For this reason, more and more teachers in ECEC (Early Childhood Education and Care) turn to more learner-centred approaches where the needs of the children are central to the lesson content. Two such approaches are TBL (Task-Based Learning) and PBL (Project-Based Learning).
Since the 1st of November 2020, the publishing house Nakladatelství Dr. Josef Raabe, s. r. o, has started to implement the transnational project „Learning by Doing – Attainment of Basic Competences in ECEC (ABC for kindergartens)“. The project will combine the efforts of 8 relevant organisations from 3 European countries (the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia) and the aim of this project is to improve the quality of ECEC education through introducing innovative approaches and practices and to ensure comprehensive development of children’s competences at ECEC level. This will be achieved by supporting kindergarten teachers to gain knowledge on how to efficiently apply project based learning (PBL) and task based learning (TBL) at ECEC level.
What are our intentions?
- to develop a toolkit for ECEC teachers, which would not only support educators in enhancing their practices, but would also support the acquisition of various key competences among children at kindergarten level,
- to equip ECEC teachers with bespoke methodology, teaching practices and techniques, knowledge, competencies and tools on to how to apply properly the project-based and task-based learning approaches at ECEC level,
- to integrate the aspects from the newly developed methodology and training into own curriculum of University partners.
What are the planned outcomes of the project?
- ABC Manual for Teachers – methodological guidance for ECEC teachers on how to integrate PBL and TBL in pre-school education with practical activities and comprehensive overview of lesson plans, assessment techniques and various additional resources
- ABC Train the Trainer Course – training programme for ECEC teacher training providers on how to train students in pedagogy and teachers willing to enhance their professionaldevelopment with focus on learner-centred methods such as on PBL and TBL
Who is the project for?
The target groups of the ABC for kindergartens project are:
- mainly ECEC teachers,
- children in pre-primary education,
- teacher training providers such as universities, continuous training providers,and associations.
Who are the project partners?
The project partners are the renowned universities (the Charles University in Prague, Catholic University in Ružomberok, University of Maribor), and the kindergartens (Faculty kindergarten with special care in Prague, Kindergartens Kopřivnice, Kindergarten Riadok in Ružomberok, Kindergarten Vrtec Studenci in Maribor).
More information about the project can be found on the official project website and the Facebook profile.
Meeting of ABC for kindergartens project partners
The 1st official international meeting of ABC for kindergartens project partners took place online on 26 November 2020. The partnership meeting coordinator and organizer was The publishing house N Dr. Josef Raabe, s.r.o. (CZ). The meeting was attended by representatives of all ABC for kindergartens project partners from Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Slovenia:
–Catholic University in Ružomberok; Kindergarten Riadok in Ružomberok (SVK)
– the Charles University in Prague; Faculty kindergarten with special care in Prague; Kindergartens Kopřivnice (CZ)
– University of Maribor; Kindergarten Vrtec Studenci in Maribor (SI)
The content of the meeting:
- introduction of individual partners,
- presentation of the ABC for kindergartens project (tasks, schedule, intellectual outputs, PMI, project meetings, conference) and getting acquainted with the project documentation and funding rules.
The aim of the meeting:
- to allocate tasks among partners and plan tasks for the lifetime of the project,
- to explain the partnership agreements,
- to agree on the form and scope of the questionnaire survey for kindergartens (entry levels).
Further steps:
- implementation of a questionnaire survey at the kindergartens in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Slovenia and their assessment,
- design and development of the first Intellectual output ABC Manual for teachers,
- preparation for the second meeting of the project partners in June 2021 in Maribor; the presentation of the first (draft) version of the methodological materials; the opportunity to comment on the draft version.