The DEHORS project focuses on the fact that outdoor activities can regularly take place in pre-schools, however their quality particularly in terms of learning needs to be improved. The partnership of the project believes there is a need to reflect and improve the pedagogical use of outdoor spaces of pre-schools in order to promote children's learning. In particular, the project will focus on the lack of methods and knowledge among ECEC (Early Childhood Education and Care) professionals regarding the design and the best use of outdoor learning environments. The planning of new and/or the use of existing outdoor spaces in pre-schools, requires a broader perspective that goes beyond the traditional pedagogical perspective of "insiders" (pedagogical coordinators and teachers). There is a need to adopt an innovative perspective, which builds on the expertise and knowledge of several other actors such as architects, engineers, landscape designer, agronomists, etc. Finally, the partners of the project believe that pre-school teachers should follow more innovative training paths and develop new learning materials in relation to learning outdoor, equipping them with new knowledge and competences.
The general objective of the project is to improve pre-school quality by developing and enhancing knowledge about the design and planning of stimulating learning environments outdoors. The specific objectives of the project are the following:
- To improve the quality of children’s learning through innovative outdoor learning environment
- To improve pre-school teacher’s skills and strategies about outdoor activities
- To design innovative outdoor learning spaces by bringing together expertise from different fields
partners
Centre for the Advancement of Research and Development in Educational - Technology (CARDET)
CARDET is the leading centre for training and development in Cyprus, with partners around the world. The centre’s mission is to inspire next generation education, and promote research, innovation and development through evidence-based practices, cutting-edge research, and empowered people. CARDET brings together an international team of passionate professionals with global expertise in literacies, reading promotion, vocational and adult training, e-learning, and evaluation.
CARDET has been advising organisations and Ministries in Asia, Europe, and the USA. Members of the CARDET team have successfully participated in more than 100 projects in over 30 countries, several of which were supported by the European Commission, the United Nations, Microsoft, and governments and agencies from around the world. The Management Team is supported by 10 members of the board/advisory board who are all international veterans in education, research, and evaluation. The majority of team members hold graduate degrees (Masters and/or PhD) in areas like literacies, education, research, multimedia development, inclusive education and evaluation.
Partner Website: www.cardet.org
Daugavpils city preschool educational institution Nr 27 “My ladybird” is a big institution. We have 12 groups. Total number of children: 240. There are children from 1to7 years old. Each group includes 16-22 children. Total number of staff: 59people.
The main goal of preschool institution : to ensure the formation of a multidimensional personality of an educator and to prepare learners for the acquisition of primary education.
Preschool priorities: Healthy lifestyle ( our preschool belongs to National Health Promoting School Network and got status of Health promoting educational institution in 2016); Positive Bahavior Support (PBS); Charity shares and voluntary work; New ideas and innovations.
Special attention is paid to art and development ofchild’s creativity. In the learning process are used ICT technologies. Preschool educational institution offers many extra activities: English lessons, dances and drama. Teachers participate in eTwinning projects. Many projects have been realized in our preschool institution: ecological problems, Art for kids, Food traditions from around the world, Healthy lifestyle, Family traditions and generations. Annually preschool children, their parents and staff participate in MOVE week Latvia and The European Week of Sport BeActive, city marathons, World Snow day, and many other outdoor activities.
Partner Website: www.manamarite.lv
Linköping University (LiU) conducts world-leading, boundary-crossing research in fields that include materials science, IT and hearing. In the same spirit, the university offers many innovative educational programmes, frequently with a clear professional focus and leading to qualification as, for example, doctors, teachers, economists and engineers. LiU was granted university status in 1975 and today has 27,000 students and 4,000 employees.
The students are among the most desirable in the labour market and international rankings consistently place LiU is a leading global university. Linköping University’s organization differs from the traditional academic organization model used at most European universities. At LiU there are multidisciplinary departments, covering several adjacent academic disciplines and often belonging to more than one faculty. The faculties are responsible for education and research within their respective areas. There are four faculties: Faculty of Arts and Sciences Faculty of Educational Sciences Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences Faculty of Science and Engineering (Institute of Technology)
Partner Website: www.liu.se/en
Motala Municipality has approximately 43 000 inhabitants and is a fastgrowing municipality. The Department of Education, is the local authority responsible for the implementation of national policies and directives for the public schoolsystem for early childhood education and care, compulsory education, uppersecondary and adult education and leisure activities for school children.
We have just over 40 preschools with 2400 children. The number of employes in the preeschools are around 450.
Motala preschools have a high quality with focus on teaching and learning. We have a systematic quality work that provides development. With lust and curiosity, we learn for life with focus on educare and education.
The entire education system has a common vision:
"We will support each individual regardless of the conditions, so that everyone can achieve the goals"
"All units in education must maintain and develop a professional organization"
The vision is known throughout the organization, it is valuable and factor of success. Three core values define the municipality - Open, Proud and Innovative. We bring these words into thought and action with this Erasmus + projekt.
Partner Website: www.motala.se/kommun/
The Municipality of Casalgrande, situated in the Appenines' foothill area, stretches along the Secchia River, in the ceramic district between Modena and Reggio Emilia. It's a medium-size city and it has approx. 19.000 inhab.
Integration, Social inclusion and Promotion of active citizenship are key to this territory and the Local Administration is committed to maintain, if not to improve, high quality life standards.
The educational system of Casalgrande territory foresees an effective integration of pre-schools run by different subjects: the Municipality, the Italian State and some religious institutions.
The educational offer addresses kids and teens aged from 0 to 14. The Local Council and its Education Dept., led by the Pedagogical Coordinator Mrs. Cristina Gilioli, manage directly the services 0/6.
As for the “DEHORS” project, the Municipality of Casalgrande is focusing on the age range 0-3, involving the following kindergartens:
- "Rosina Cremaschi" c/o "Polo 0-6": for children aged 6-36 months, approx. 50 children divided into in 3 classes (part-time or full-time);
- "G. Rodari" in Villalunga, approx. 40 kids, 2 classes.
Partner Website: www.comune.casalgrande.re.it
The Municipality of Scandiano is the second most inhabited centre of the Province of Reggio Emilia after the capital city. In the last 50 years it gained a strong experience in the field of EU activities and projects, especially in the field of staff’s training, improvement of quality standards in PA, promotion of healthy nutrition at school, CO2 emission reduction and environmental sustainability, art, youth entrepreneurship, creativity in preschool education, etc.The Local Council and the Municipality’s Education Department., coordinated by Mrs. Cristina Chiari as Head Pedagogue, have always put a lot of energy in guaranteeing top quality pre-school services, in order to support the children’s psycho-physical development and families’ active involvement.
As for the "DEHORS" project, the Municiapality of Scandiano is going to involve (mainly) the "G. Rodari" preschool (approx. 75 pupils), but it will also disseminate the project content to the State and Church-run pre-schools located on its territory.
Partner Website: www.comune.scandiano.re.it
SERN is a transnational network of 58 Swedish and Italian local and regional authorities. The network was founded in February 2005 with the main objective of structurally developing relations and exchange of good practices between its members in the two countries, creating a model of cooperation that covers different sectors of local and regional policies and which involves different levels of government and a plurality of actors such as educational institutions and the third sector.
SERN has been promoting the development of projects in the field of learning and education, and particularly in early childhood education and care, such as:
- A Comenius Regio between Emilia Romagna (IT) and Östergötland (SE) on the integration of pupils in the school context.
- A three-year project for the exchange of pre-school staff among member organizations based on job shadowing.
- SERN was the coordinating organization of CREANET, a Comenius multilateral network launched at the end of 2010 dealing with the issue of creativity in the pre-school school in ECEC.
- SERN was also the coordinator of EQUAP, a strategic partnership on the topic of quality and participation in pre-school services with the aim of defining tools to promote participation in pre-school services.
SERN is now involved as partner organization in the following projects related to ECEC services:
- SIA PROD which aims to develop an innovative approach for the professional development of early educators. This partnership supports the notion of self-assessment and self-improvement, upon which the whole project will be based.
- BACK PACK ID for promoting the inclusion of refugee children at school
- SIDEIS whose aim is to develop strategies for innovative learning contexts fostering integration in schools
Partner Website: www.sern.eu/
