With the PATHWAYS project, partners aimed to promote a holistic approach to children’s well-being by advancing the quality provision of ECEC services in 4 European countries. To achieve this goal, three objectives were identified, which also meet the priorities of the Erasmus+ programme namely: - to enhance and strengthen ECEC professionals’ strategic competences and skills on topics of inclusiveness, green and digital environments while actively involving parents/guardians and family at large; - to improve the quality of ECEC setting through activities where ECEC professionals’ role is to empower parents to become active players in children’s education; - to create synergies with the professional community to support the partnership between ECEC professionals and parents and families, which effectively contributes to children’s holistic development. In addition to addressing the three objectives, the attention was ensuring an inclusive approach in all actions of the project, which meant paying attention to the diverse needs of children, parents and professionals to address and involve members of a wider social and professional community. This allowed partners to respond and further explore in practice the key EU recommendations.
Partners from Italy, Lithuania, Romania, Serbia and Portugal decided to join their efforts to address the critical need for high-quality ECEC services to foster holistic child development while addressing cooperation with parents. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, ECEC professionals reported the need for more inclusive, digital and green environments and increased capacities to effectively work with parents in a vision of shared responsibility in children’s education. Therefore, the project aims to enhance their skills and competences to act as agents of change on the above topics while promoting parents’ empowerment and creating synergies with stakeholders at various levels engaged in the early childhood sector. By addressing these needs, partners and teachers strived to improve the quality of provision and ensure that children feel safe, accepted and supported in their unique development pathway. PATHWAYS project is also aligned with the European Quality Framework and the recommendations of the ET2020 working group on ECEC, which indicate tight connections between the high quality of service and professionalism of staff which engages parents as a resource in the child’s education and care.