Early childhood education: a driver for equal opportunities
Early childhood education is of central importance for children's cognitive, social and emotional development and plays a key role in reducing social inequalities. Socio-economic disadvantage continues to go hand in hand with limited educational opportunities. Therefore, it is essential to provide access to high-quality and inclusive services. In line with Goal 4 of the 2030 Agenda, this requires equitable educational structures and professional development for professionals who are key players in ensuring quality, inclusion and social justice.
Objective
Early childhood education is considered a key driver of equal opportunities in four interrelated dimensions. These emphasise the creation of inclusive learning environments, culturally sensitive cooperation with families, ensuring reflective transition practices and strengthening multi-professional teamwork. Together, they form the basis for quality and equal opportunities in early childhood education.
Milestones
Duration: November 2025 to June 2026
The development of the policy paper is based on the following data:
- Literature review
- Interviews
- Focus groups
- Online questionnaire
Duration: August 2026 to March 2027
The content of the Open Educational Resources (OER) will be the following modules:
- Module 1: Educational equity in the context of language support
- Module 2: Inclusion and diversity
- Module 3: Transitions
- Module 4: Cooperation with parents
Exercises for theory-practice transfer, quizzes, interactive exercises, videos, podcasts and in-depth texts will be created for this purpose. In addition, individual learning paths and an automatic feedback system will be developed. The Open Educational Resources will be available in the languages of the project partners.
Duration: January 2027 to October 2028
The aim of this milestone is to pilot and adapt the OER learning platform and modules, evaluate the implementation and consequently optimise it.
Duration: March 2028 to October 2028
The final milestone involves the development of a methodological and didactic handbook. Workshops on practical relevance and applicability will be held for the evaluation.