BACKGROUND & CHALLENGESOver the last decade, early childhood education and care has increasingly taken place through informal structures for many families, creating at the same time an employment opportunity and path for many people from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds, such as migrants, refugees, unemployed, NEETs and people living on benefit. The skillssets required by informal and formal child caregivers are not the same. The available learning pathways, programmes and resources for informal childminders are not adequate to enable them to develop the necessary skills and provide childcare in an informal context like home, at the necessary quality and professional standards, thus closing the gap with formal provision of early education & care. Especially disadvantaged informal childminders need Open Educational Resources that can be accessed at one’s own pace, available preferably online, to improve their skills as regards effective home-based education and care of children aged 0-6 years, who do not attend kindergarten or need care in hours that formal arrangements are not available.OBJECTIVES1. Enhance access of informal childminders to training, developing open educational resources tailored to their needs.2. Introduce a modern training delivery method, enabling learners to follow flexible learning pathways as regards the acquisition of skills relevant to the early childhood care in an informal context.3. Enable municipalities, VET providers and associations of disadvantaged groups to offer courses for informal childminders open to their citizens, learners and members, with the aim to attract especially learners with disadvantaged backgrounds.4. Ensure sustainability of project results through the active involvement of public VET providers, social organisations and municipalities in the partnership countries. THE CHILDINMIND PARTNERSHIPThe partnership comprises 5 organisations from 5 countries, from the worlds of VET, research, learning innovation and disadvantaged groups’ representation. UNIMC and FLORIDA bring significant experience in developing high quality educational resources for informal childminders that work with children aged 0-6 years, in research in the ECEC field, and on training provision for the sector’s staff. ECI has experience in training informal childminders, and offering quality experiences for young children and their families in their settings. PROMEA brings expertise in research methodologies design and implementation, and in innovative learning solutions focused on professional skills. NCRP has extensive knowledge on VET courses for disadvantaged learners and families.ACTIVITIES & METHODOLOGY- Analysis of current and future training needs to develop learning outcomes updated and tailored to informal childminders needs.- Development of learning units, learning and assessment materials to be offered online as OERs in a comprehensive VET programme in informal childminding.- Development, testing, and delivery of a self-paced open online course on informal childminding, promoting the adoption of innovative practices in VET.- Development of knowledge resources and tools for course providers to facilitate the organisation, running and dissemination of course.- Involvement of municipalities, NGOs, associations of disadvantaged to ensure the adoption of ChildInMind knowledge resources and online course.- Sharing and evaluation of projects outputs through multiplier events, inviting target groups to uptake ChildInMInd results and act as disseminators.RESULTS & IMPACT- Validated learning outcomes for training provision for informal childminders, impacting 300 VET providers.- Evaluated VET learning units and materials, reaching 10000 learners. - Tested self-paced Open Online Course for informal childminders, involving 250 learners.- Evaluated knowledge resources to facilitate course provision, reaching 150+ associations of disadvantaged, NGOs and public administrations. - Five training workshops and five national infodays to promote project results and validate all developed learning and knowledge resources, reaching 700 participants.POST-PROJECT SUSTAINABILITY- Participation of a growing number of learners planning to work as informal childminders in online courses based on project outputs.- Uptake of ChildInMind learning units and materials from relevant VET providers, municipalities and social organisations across EU.- Expansion of the strategic partnership through the adoption of the ChildInMind knowledge resources by interested training entities, municipal and sectoral stakeholders, including childminding companies and entities representing disadvantaged people, which will develop new courses to respond to sector’s training needs.- VET certification to promote the recognition of informal childminders’ skills.
Context/background of the project Research in partner countries and recognition in most EU nations have highlighted a particular training and professional need, linked to early childhood care and education outside school and institutional contexts. The available learning pathways, programmes and resources for informal childminders are not adequate to enable them to develop the necessary skills and provide childcare in an informal context like home, at the necessary quality and professional standards, thus closing the gap with the formal provision of early education & care. For this reason, it seems important to design and organise a free and easy access training course, especially for informal workers, useful to provide children with high-quality services and to enable people who would otherwise be excluded from academic or institutional education to find work in the world of early childhood care and assistance. Objectives The objectives of the project were related to the implementation of a system of professionalisation for formal and informal childminders, across the social spectrum. In particular, the partners sought both to improve the access of informal childminders to training, developing open educational resources tailored to their needs, and to introduce a modern training delivery method, enabling learners to follow flexible learning pathways as regards the acquisition of skills relevant to early childhood care in an informal context. The consortium, through the materials and the designed accompanying pathway, has allowed municipalities, VET providers and associations of disadvantaged groups to offer courses for informal childminders open to their citizens, learners and members. Sustainability of project results has been assured through the active involvement of public VET providers, social organisations and municipalities in the partnership countries. Number and profile of participating organisations The partnership comprises 5 organisations from 5 countries (Italy, Greece, Ireland, Slovakia and Spain), from the worlds of VET, research, learning innovation and disadvantaged groups’ representation. University of Macerata (UNIMC) and FLORIDA University bring significant experience in developing high-quality educational resources for informal childminders that work with children aged 0-6 years, in research in the ECEC field, and on training provision for the sector’s staff. ECI (Early Childhood Ireland) has experience in training informal childminders and offering quality experiences for young children and their families in their settings. PROMEA (Greece) brings expertise in research methodologies design and implementation, and in innovative learning solutions focused on professional skills. NCRP (Slovakia) has extensive knowledge of VET courses for disadvantaged learners and families. Description of undertaken main activities During the projects have been implemented both the analysis of current and future training needs, in order to develop learning outcomes updated and tailored to informal childminders needs, and the development of learning units, learning and assessment materials to be offered online as OERs in a comprehensive VET programme in informal childminding. A free MOOC has been developed from these resources to promote the adoption of innovative practices in VET. A set of knowledge resources and tools for course providers was designed to facilitate running and dissemination of the course. The municipalities, NGOs, associations of disadvantaged were involved to promote the adoption of ChildInMind knowledge resources and online course: projects outputs were shared through multiplier events, inviting target groups to uptake ChildInMInd results and act as disseminators Results and impact attained The results of the project, in terms of materials and resources produced, are five free and downloadable online learning modules, concerning the professional profile and the main competencies that a childminder must have: 1) Childminding: roles and responsibilities; 2) Working with young children and their families: attitudes and approach; 3) Promoting home safety for children; 4) The importance of play for children; 5) An Anti-BIAS approach. Furthermore, an open-access MOOC, in self-learning, for the training of the Childminders; an e-book for the trainer, accessible also offline and from mobile devices; a manual for the organization of the course by subjects who want to include it in their vocational training offer and some materials for dissemination and promotion of the course, including an online tool from which to download materials and resources All materials are available in 5 languages (English, Italian, Greek, Spanish, Slovakian). Long-term benefits The course will be available free of charge for all institutions and associations that wish to include it in their training offer. The CC free license allows the course contents to be modified and adapted, citing authors of the materials.