PROJECT CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVESThe ultimate goal of the Project is the Exchange of experience and training between professionals that work in the infant education sector of 0 to 3 years old. In order to see this through we are proposing an Association of 2 years between Professional Training centers and schools with the goal of collaborating to analyze our training practices, identify our strengths and weaknesses and to better the professional training of future infant education teachers. The title we have chosen for the project, TRAIN TO TRAIN, expresses this idea of training for better training The project is based in the established contacts with IES Principe Felipe, the project coordinator, with specific schools and training institutions. The concrete OBJECTIVES are: • Reflect on the type of training students and teachers receive: the role of the school in the training and the collaboration of Professional Development centers with schools. • Widen our perspectives to different projects with similar needs.• Get to know specific projects that each specific school is working on. • Collaborate on investigations of concrete themes; mathematical logic and art in the 0-3 sector. • Respond to the motivation for sharing experiences had at the professional development centers and in the schools. • Create a time, space and platform for the exchange between educators and teachers. The GROUPS formed to realize this project will be teachers from the professional development centers and educators from schools of 0-3 years olds. ACTIVITIESA1 THE ASSOCIATIONA2. THE SCHOOLA3 THE NURSERY A4 THE EDUCATOR A5. EFFECTIVE PRACTICES A6. CONSTRUCTIONS AND MATERIAL TRANSFERS A7. ARTPARTICIPITORY AND COLLABORATIVE METHODOLOGYOne of the projects main principles in the association between information Exchange and experience, for this reason, fluid and constant communication is necessary. The main methodological principles that will guide the implementation of this project will be:- Equal dialogue - Participation- Cooperation and collaboration between participants- Fluid and systematic communication - Constant Exchange of ideas and experiences In the long term, the impact will be internalized and will positively affect the efficiency of our professional practices 1 . in the formation of new educators2. in the proposal of new methodologies 4, in the organization of academic institutions5. in our own profesional practices STRATEGY AND OUTREACH ACTIVITIES The strategy of outreach activities will be based in the following ACTIVITIES: • Project blog • Project new son the IES website: articles, pictures, and participant interviews. • News about the development on-site with each partner • Open Door Conference that is celebrated annually at our center called “En abierto”. At these meetings the European projects are presented with talks with former students. • Inclusion in the schools’ charter. • Detailed presentation of the experiences to be used in meetings, conferences and seminaries. • A detailed Moodle manual of the experience, to be used for future projects. • The presentation of the program at the beginning of new school years. • Claustros, Consejos Escolares, CCP, etc• The invitation for professors to discuss the project in different meetings and conferences. • A conference about the good practices organized by SEPIE o another regional/national educational administration, such as the CRIF.
The Partnership has lasted for 2 years and has been composed by Vocational Training organizations and Infant schools. What has brought us together has been a strong motivation to improve the quality of Infant Education in our contexts. The main aim has been to exchange experiences among professionals who work in the field of the 0-3 age range Infant Education directly, as well as teachers of future educators. The title of our project ´Train to Train` [hereunder T2T], expresses the idea of providing professional development for future educators. PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS The partnership is composed of the following 6 organizations: ROC Da Vinci College in The Netherlands, which has approximately 10.000 students and has locations in 2 different cities. COLEGIUL NATIONAL PEDAGOGIC C. BRATESCU (CNPCB), in Romania, which has both Vocational Training and an Infants school. They also have previous experience in Erasmus projects and various Etwinning Quality labels. KITTA ALEGRIA, in Germany, a company that manages 4 bilingual kittas in Berlin and that work on an outstanding art project. The company has received Erasmus + trainee students in the last years. There are 3 organizations in Spain. 2 are kindergartens: Zofio public school with direct funding, which is located in Usera and established as a learning community. Reggio, a private institution located in Las Tablas , which holds an innovative project as far as methodology is concerned. Acting as a coordinator for the project, the IES Príncipe Felipe public high school, which is located in the North of Madrid and has carried out a number of Erasmus projects. The Community Services department has been in charge of managing the project. MAIN ACTIVITIES This project was structured in seminars and training activities. Seminars The Association (Sept-Nov 2016) - We created the structures to share information between partners. The contents were developed through Google Drive. School and Infant Education (Dec 2016 - Feb 2017) - A website and a blog were set up: https://www.train2train.net This work allowed us to prepare visits, get to know each other at a deeper lever, and to acquire an understanding of the ethos and current situation of Infant Education in each of the partner countries. In the second phase, we advanced towards social media by creating a Facebook page. The Educator (March-June 2017) - We collaboratively decided on 7 questions regarding the requirements infants educators should have; who and how they should be. We have answered these questions within our work teams, and this has allowed us to incorporate more people and organizations into the project. During the first stage of our work we struggled to share our work. We describe this method of using questions and answers as good practice for the exchange, although we do need to improve certain aspects. GOOD PRACTICES (September - December 17) - The aims were to learn about the specific projects that are carried out in each school, as well as generate discussions on the interventions in 0-3 year-old classrooms, different styles, strategies and actions. The result was a learning experience with Principe Felipe students during the meeting in Madrid, in which each partner shared what they considered to be a good practice. LOGICAL THINKING - MATHEMATICS (January - March 2018) - Each organization collected 20 photos with comments referring to how logical thinking generates / develops in the 0-3 age range. A further propsal explored the methodological change regarding the training of educators through images / iconic language. ART (April - July 2018) - Various art projects with different approaches were carried out in our organizations and we later shared our vision on the role of art both in the development of the child and in adult training. TRAINING ACTIVITIES Programme consisting in 5 short activites titled "What do you see?", using methodology based on Job Shadowing. Madrid What do you see? January 2017 Dordrecht What do you see? May 2017 Meeting in Madrid December 2017 - This is included here to give an general overview of our encounters. Constanta What do you see? May 2018 Berlin What do you see? July 2018 AIMS AND RESULTS To reflect upon student and educator training: ways of collaborating bewteen vocational training organizations and Infant schools To Provide possibilities for Infant schools to open to new and different projects which share similar needs to theirs. To get to know specific projects implemented in infant schools. To research specific topics collaboratively, such as logical thinking and mathematics and art in 0-3 age range. To design a framework which allows time and space for exchange to occur bewteen educators and teachers. Long Term Motivation for Infants Education specialists to participate in Erasmus + projects. KA102, KA103 and KA202 projects between the above-mentioned organizations, with different groupings. Recognition for Infants Education and Vocational Trainin