Based on a meeting of professionals in 2017 in Spain (Lleida), the project aims to enhance and step up the exchange already in progress towards a structured, cross-disciplinary professional dialogue. Expanding the project physically by the Italian region of Rovereto and by including Don Milani vocational high school with its focus on social services and health as a new partner is an important step to reach this goal. Target groups are counselling centres and management of early child education, care and education, teachers at vocational schools as well as representatives of providers and professional staff of local administration. The project will help to bring on cross-disciplinary discourse and understanding between the players involved in light of expanding the capacities for care and support, and improving the quality of child day care. A special focus is on introducing digital technologies in early child education, care and education. Expanding child day care means quantity as well as quality of early child education, care and education. Therefore, linking practical and theoretical aspects in vocational training and development receives special attention. This will provide the possibility to identify new social developments and challenges from a practical point of view and include these topics to vocational curricula. In addition to a high-quality professional training in theory and practice, an important point is raising the interest of trainees-to-be for the social profession and creating strong ties with this field of work. Topics will be considered within a European context and discussed with Spanish and Italian professional staff. Among other things, the participants will gain from reviewing their own attitudes, considering other perspectives, learning from European partners and broadening their knowledge through constructive cooperation while stepping up their own professional process. To achieve this, strengthening of intercultural competences, of techniques and cooperation skills as well as European skills is essential and will be especially fostered during the course of the project. Within the time period of the project, a learning activity will be held in each of the partnering countries with the aim that participants get to know each other and the local socio-cultural aspects and take part in an exchange on the scheduled key issues in formal settings such as presentations and lectures as well as part of training visits and talks. This will also provide opportunities for informal dialogues beyond professional issues and may relate to local culture and circumstances of the towns and countries involved. This will support friendly contacts and encounters. With long-term significance of the project in mind, structures of communication and interaction as well as networking with our partners will be improved and continued, and where possible expanded to other European countries. Digital networking and awareness for the European dimension in early child education will be firmly and sustainably fixed in the participating partners' routines to ensure continued and successful cross-border cooperation and a constructive, joint handling of challenges in the future. In this way, we aim to facilitate the long-term process of European experience and cooperation.
The objective was to build up communication and interaction structures between the cooperation partners and to create formats that positively influence the above-mentioned aspects. The aim was to improve relations within the framework of the quantitative and qualitative expansion of child day care at regional level, which included the recruitment and qualification of socio-educational professionals. The focus was also on exchanging the project topic at European level in the partner countries in theory and practice and learning from each other. An overarching theme was digitalisation in ECEC and the use of digital technologies in early childhood. In order to counteract the shortage of social education professionals in all partner countries, it was necessary to establish contacts and build networks aimed at exchanges in internships, training and employment. The professionalisation of all participating professionals was to be considered as a cross-sectional goal, which included the development and strengthening of intercultural, language, cooperation, methodological and European competence and should culminate in the creation of a competence profile for a personal Europass CV.
The application was based on a meeting of professionals in Spain 2017 and aimed to develop the exchange started there into a structured interdisciplinary dialogue of professionals. For this purpose, a vocational high school with a focus on social services and health in Rovereto (Italy) should be integrated as a new partner. The target groups were professional counsellors and managers from early childhood education, care and education (ECEC), teachers from vocational schools as well as professionals from municipal administrative levels. The project aimed at interdisciplinary professional discourse and understanding between the actors against the background of the quantitative and qualitative expansion of child day care, the strengthening of the professional profile of the social pedagogical specialist and the professionalisation of all participants in an international context. Digitalisation and the use of digital technologies in ECEC were seen as focal points in all partner countries and were considered in the context of expert presentations, dialogues and job shadowing. With regard to the quality of initial and continuing education and training an equivalence of the learning locations of theory and practice should be strived for.