Effective provision of preschool education sets the foundation for children’s lifelong learning, social integration, personal development and employability. It directly correlates with quality preschool teachers education and training and their Continuous Professional Development (CPD) practices.Within the KEY project ECEC practitioners, educators and regulators in Serbia and Montenegro join efforts with EU partners to design modern pathways to efficient CPD system for preschool teachers based on the introduction of professional learning communities (PLC) approach, going beyond the training courses required for teachers certification encouraging them to review the learning needs, acquire new knowledge/competences through formal, informal and non-formal learning throughout their careers while enabling HEIs to provide students with competences they need to adapt to globalised settings, where creativity, innovation, initiative, and commitment to continuous learning are as important as knowledge.Establishing 6 ECEC learning hubs at participating HEIs as operational facilities supporting teachers and practitioners training specialized in 5 different areas (inclusive education – work with socially deprived children and their families, Roma and migrant children; education for sustainable development across the curriculum; ICT in preschool education, work with gifted children and their families, teaching English to preschool children) is the project main output. Other products include CPD courses and materials, Guidelines on M&E and QA in CPD, CPD model of standards, introduction of Moodle platform in CPD. In sustained efforts to address equality and inclusion, project outputs will be prepared in Serbian, English, Romani and Hungarian.KEY project will impact ECEC learning communities in Serbia and Montenegro, bringing about greater value of teachers profession and students and young professionals learning competences and skills mandatory for their careers in 21 century.
The wider objective of KEY project is to strengthen the role of teacher training HEIs in continuous preschool professional development (CPD) system in Serbia and in Montenegro. We believe the project succeeded to fulfil this objective.
KEY project activities continue to be relevant for the achievement of the set goals. The goals of the project go hand in hand with the HE strategic documents. The methodology for achieving the goals has shown to be relevant, as the establishment of the Early Childhood Education (ECEC) learning hub is necessary for providing appropriate trainings for the preschool teachers in Continuing Professional Development (CPD).
<< Background >> KEY project activities continue to be relevant for the achievement of the set goals. The goals of the project go hand in hand with the HE strategic documents. The methodology for achieving the goals has shown to be relevant, as the establishment of the Early Childhood Education (ECEC) learning hub is necessary for providing appropriate trainings for the preschool teachers in Continuing Professional Development (CPD). << Objectives >> The wider objective of KEY project is to strengthen the role of teacher training HEIs in continuous preschool professional development (CPD) system in Serbia and in Montenegro. We believe the project succeeded to fulfil this objective. << Implementation >> Implementation was hampered by COVID-19 pandemic, but with 1-year non-cost extension, the project consortium succeeded to fulfill all envisaged objectives and results. Project activities were more or less implemented in line with the workplan. Little variations carried out in the various activities are the indicator of a high sense of adaptability with the aim of maximise the impact. << Results >> Project produced all expected results, especially the major ones: establishing of ECEC learning hubs at 6 HEIs, development of 45 CPD courses and accreditation of 42 CPD courses for preschool teachers and training of 848 preschool teachers, 7 prepared handbooks/guidelines/toolkits 100-500 hardcopies distributed to preschools, 2 models of accreditation standards.