Based on the findings of the international literature review and on the exchange with the partners, the following pages propose crucial topics explored during the training for ECEC staff concerning intercultural competences.
The topics have been separated in modules for the sake of clarity, but many of them overlap, and some specific theme might belong to more then one topic/modules. This confirms how intertwined the competences of ECEC practitioners today need to be, in order to deal with the complex context we live in. Each module contains the topics explored during the training of I.ECEC project.
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FIRST MODULE: Plural and Complex Societies
The Module will specifically dwell on:
- the notion of plural and complex society, and the ensuing social role of ECEC services that becomes crucial while acting as spaces aimed at promoting diversity, equity and democracy with a focus on the importance of services accessible for everyone with particular reference to families and children with a vulnerable background;
- competences needed to work in a plural context: cultural, relational, reflective and methodological competences being included in a holistic and transformative approach;
- a broader view of the 'system' needed to develop and accompany this type of competence: investing in a ‘competent system’;
- EU commitment in the field of education.
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SECOND MODULE: Diversity, Inclusion and Participation in ECEC Services: Relationship with Families and Community
The contents of this Module aim to value and enhance the knowledge, the relational and reflective capacities of educators with regard to the aforementioned topics. In fact, ECEC professionals are required to:
- know the context in which the service is located, the types of families attending ECEC services and not, possibilities of relationship with families and territory;
- be able to 'put themselves in crisis', to ‘stay in their own questions’, to value their own doubts, so as to constructively co-transform the educational practice in respect of the families;
- recognise families as ‘first educators’ of their children, which means adopting an attitude of respect, acknowledgement, dialogue, negotiation, through non-judgemental communication methods, based on active listening.
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THIRD MODULE: Diversity, Inclusion and Participation in ECEC Services: What Approaches and Methods with Children
Though intersecting in various points, the Modules 2 and 3 try to provide two different standpoints, so as to illustrate as comprehensively as possible the multiple dimensions of intercultural approach.
The contents of this Module focus on children attending services, and on how to value their voices, their interests, their stories, their needs.
The contents of this Module aim to value and enhance educators’ knowledge, their relational and reflective capacities with regard to the aforementioned topics.
In fact, ECEC professionals are required to know how to:
- relate to children by using respectful and encouraging communication methods, able to promote participation of everyone;
- value individual identities within a collective space, or rather give voice to both individuals and group;
- support children’s interactions/relationships among them themselves, by valuing differences and similarities, and conveying an attitude of respect, mutual knowledge, dialogue.
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FOURTH MODULE: Flexible Practices, Innovation and Transformation
This Module aims to explore topics related to flexibility and transformative capacity needed to manage the day-to-day operation of ECEC services today.
This Module contributes to developing competences aimed at flexibility and opening up to the transformation of educational practices. In particular, it is about developing methodological and reflective competences aimed at creating evolutionary and holistic planning, able to grow and change with children and families, while levering the guiding principles that animate the identity of each service up.