Since the 2011 Council Conclusions on early childhood education and care, there is an increasing emphasis on the importance of early years institution-based provision, not only for parents' labour market participation, but also to mitigate socio-economic inequalities and most importantly for children's personal development. At the same time pre-primary teachers are struggling to address the heterogeneity of needs, background and learning abilities of children in mainstream ECEC institutions. This is a challenge that we need to address in order to foster open, inclusive, embedded in the digital era education. For the reason that as stated in the European Commission staff working document: "Supporting the Teaching Professions for Better Learning Outcomes" - teaching professionals are the most important determinants of how learners will perform; and it is what teachers know, do, and care about that matters.The WE Learn and COMmunicate Ensemble (WELCOME) project will combine the efforts of 8 relevant organisations from 3 European countries (the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Bulgaria). The key objective of this project is to fully integrate children with diverse learning needs through contributing to the enhancement of quality in ECEC, i.e. assist teachers in in mainstream pre-primary educational institutions, who lack resources, competencies and comprehensive approach, to manage successfully a heterogeneous class/group and communicate more effectively with children with diverse needs. The project will also contribute to reducing disparities in learning outcomes affecting children with disadvantaged and/or from diverse backgrounds. The tangible intellectual outputs to be produced are:WELCOME Teachers Manual - practical handbook designed for ECEC teachers who are in need of innovative and comprehensive resources, competencies and modern approach to manage successfully a heterogeneous class/group and communicate more effectively with children with diverse needs in mainstream pre-primary educational institutions;WELCOME App for smart devices - to allow interactive and tailor-made application of the WELCOME approach);WELCOME Workshops (guide for conducting and content) - to support teachers in conducting workshop activities themselves and train other teachers from partner kindergartens on how to apply the WELCOME approach in practice.WELCOME Dissemination Conference (large-scope international event) – to promote project’s success, but mainly to foster transnational cooperation on the topic and allow for wider impact.The WELCOME project will be delivered across 33 months and foresees involving in project activities more than 4000 pre-primary teachers, children in ECEC, education stakeholders, high-level policy makers, academics and professionals. Extensive testing, piloting and evaluation will be performed to validate the produced outputs and increase potential for sustainability.Impact is envisaged at various levels as follows:- improved awareness, practical skills and competencies in achieving best possible results and learning outcomes in heterogeneous environment and settings;- enhanced knowledge and ability to apply methods and techniques to manage groups of children with different needs, background and learning abilities through innovative approaches; - enhanced use and applicability of modern technologies in ECEC for open education in the digital era.- full integration of children with diverse learning needs into mainstream ECEC;- increased attainment levels and motivation to learn.
In accordance with the conclusions of the Council of the EU, the importance of preschool education (ECEC) grows especially thanks to its major effect on the personal development of children and on the elimination of socio-economic differences. Teachers in preschool institutions work in heterogeneous classes including even the children with special educational needs (SEN). Kindergartens strive to meet the goals of inclusive education, i.e. to offer support to every child in achieving their highest level of education while respecting their individual educational needs. The teacher plays a key role in the ECEC. Professional development of the teacher as well as acquiring new methods, including digital ones, thus contribute to the satisfaction of potentially very diverse needs of each and every child. Inclusive education brings benefits not only to the child with SEN, but also to the whole group: besides the enhancement of teaching methods, it has positive effects on social learning of children, teaching them to respect diversity and differencies. The project WE Learn and COMmunicate Ensemble (WELCOME) brought together 8 organisations from the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Bulgaria. The main aim of this project was to fully integrate children with SEN. In this regard, new instruments to improve the theoretical background and the enhancement of teacher´s competences were introduced seeking synergy between educational, research and innovative components. Such synergy should be reflected in the overall improved quality of early education. This project lasting in total 33 months is being followed by further activities ensuring the sustainability of its outcomes. Specific objectives of the project: • creation and testing of a teachers´ guide targeting the best attitude towards children with SEN; • development of an application for smart devices connecting theory with practice and innovatively enabling the teacher to prepare a scale of educational activities to fit every child; • scheme, development and testing of interactive workshops helping teachers to better adjust to the work with heterogeneous group in kindergartens based on the major outcomes of the project. In total 8 institutions participated in this project: 1 organisation from school education area, 1 university, 2 scientific institutions, 3 kindergartens and 1 company providing the technical support. This diverse partnership allowed for a proposal, development, testing and dissemination of the outcomes of the project thanks to the international cooperation. The outputs are clear, mutually coherent and universally applicable in all countries involved. The main activities within this project were proposals, development, testing, finalisation and productional side of the project outcomes (translations, typesetting, expert revisions, print etc.). Furthermore, 4 international meetings, 3 focus froups, 9 workshops, 1 international dissemination activity and other broad dissemination activities were organised. Major outputs of the project: METHODOLOGY FOR WORKING WITH CHILDREN WITH SEN IN PRESCHOOL EDUCATION – designed for teachers of kindergartens offering new inspiration and suggestions for working with children with SEN WELCOME IDEA APPLICATION (INTERACTIVE DIGITAL EDUCATIONAL ASSISTENT) – an application for smart devices serving as an assistant for teacher to evaluate child´s current stage in particular spheres of development. On the basis thereof, the application recommends set of activities as well as other tips for working in heterogeneous group and with children with SEN. WORKING WITH AND SUPPORTING CHILDREN WITH SEN IN ECEC (WELCOME WORKSHOPS) – a teachers´guide on how to organise and lead workshops dealing with thematic units while using the WELCOME IDEA app. Concrete scenarios will help teachers use the app. in practice and introduce a really individualised and differentiated attitude in education so as to support the development of every child, their self-reliance and cooperation with other children to the highest extent. Main achievements and effects of the project on the target groups: TEACHERS • spreading of methods, applied tools and methodical materials; fostering the theoretical background, competences and skills for working with heterogeneous group and with children with SEN; professional development thanks to new technologies; sharing inspiration for everyday work with children with SEN, developing skills within the inclusive education; better identification of the educational offer, thus reaching individualisation within the educational process. CHILDREN • better integration within the regular preschool class; child´s development especially in the deficient areas; heightening the child´s incentive to learn, giving them the chance to experience success while being in a regular class; improved communication with parents enabling to work with the child even in their home environment which is then reflected in their better development.