Earlychildhood and preschool education

Transcription

1 Earlychildhood and preschool education 1

2 The university course of study as an anticipation of the development of a system of earlychildhood and preschool education professional reasons The initiation of a graduate study of early childhood and preschool education encroaches into the fundamental theoretical observations relating to a qualitatively different thought on the role, significance and perspective of experts working in the developmental period of early and preschool childhood. Its affiliation to the academic, university milleu is of twofold importance. In a wider context, it denotes the approval of an educator as an intellectual of a wide provenance and the acceptance of the educational profession as al pari to other studies which are, without hesitation, defined as university studies. The new educator is, without a doubt, an intellectual whose habitus of education implies an academic nature in the extensively positive connotation of the term. As such, he is foremostly a subject of a wide spectre of interests, sensitive to the changes occuring around him and an active participant in them and, not seldomly, also their initiator. Such an expert is the response to the challenges of contemporary social movement characterised by the time of potent changes on the brink of the 21st century. Furthermore, from the position of professional and scientific justifiability we start from the claim that every action of education, no matter where it unfolds and with what kind of population of learners, demands a competent approach based on professional responsibility for the chosen vocation. This is a complex activity which demands a high level of intellectual capabilities and practicans based on them. These competencies are attained, above all, by honouring modern scientific cognitions in the relevant field. They are, with a quality model of education based on contemporary curricular approaches, transmuted into a successful model of education in which the theoretical and practical dimensions are balanced in the function of attaining a quality act of education. This is the manner in which the goal is achieved: educating the educator as a critical intellectual and a contemplative, reflective practitioner. In the work of a modern educator, there is no practical situation behind which there is no well- thought out and certified scientific truth in the background. In the same manner, scientific theory without verification and confirmation in practical situations in life becomes bare academicism without purpose and meaning. The university education of an educator is the beginning of a process of the definition and development of indicators with which the quality of the educator and his education, and accordingly his social status, is promoted. We start from a clear stance towards the educational profession, in which we define it as a complex vocation that implies refexive thought, continuous professional development, autonomy, responsibility, creative expression and presonal judgment. In a narrower context, a graduate university course of early childhood and preschool education is a response to the modified role of the educator in the conditions of the modern definition of the institutional context outside the family. As research has shed new light upon the significance of an educator's education and the prerequisites for ensuring the quality of their work, initiated changes lean in the direction of redefining the fundamental goals and tasks of their education. In its foundation is advocating to direct them towards the attainment of basic qualifications, instead of to the results of knowledge. Educating for a profession is defined as a dynamic, open and permanent process based on the demand that continuous professional development and constant professional specialisation is an obligation that emanates from professional ethics and the responsibility of everybody who has chosen to be an educator. From a developmental persepctive the university education of an educator is 2

3 only a basic phase upon which, with processes of lifelong learning, the educator's autonomous, personal and professional competencies will countinuously be built upon. In the conceptualisation of a graduate study of early childhood and preschool education, we used a competence approach based on a complex system based on the outcomes of study and competencies. The effects of study are relevant to the curriculum both for a basic professional qualification and for the labour market, but also for a further education feasible within the limits of given temporal and material restrictions. The structure of the study is based on the 3+2 model, in the manner of reflecting upon the educational qualifications of an educator on each level. These levels are defined by a description of the nub of the qualification in terms of generic and specific competencies, that is the results of study accomplished after the successful end of an approved study programme. The differentiation between them has been done through dimensions of differentiation of knowledge application and comprehension, judgement, communication and learning skills in the modern context of an area of work. The initiation of a university graduate study of early childhood and preschool education above all ensures a study programme better adapted to the needs of our society, while it also follows the trends of the wider region. In this manner, students that graduate from it will possess the knowledge, skills and competencies needed for contemporary early and preschool care and education; they will be able to find jobs more easily, which in turn will have a positive effect on the motivation levels of students and their active participation during the entire process of their education. The university graduate study as a possibility of achieving the accessibility of education by ensuring equal opportunities for tertiary education for all It is a constitutional right for one to have access to tertiary education according to their abilities (article 65 of the Consitution of the Republic of Croatia). Everybody must have equal rights to education and qualification in accordance with their capabilities, needs and individual development. The realisation of accessible education is one of the elements that prevent social exclusion. In order to ensure equal prerequisites for horizontal and vertical porosity, equality in achieving merits should be ensured for all young people. This is why in a strategic document (Plan for the Educational System from 2005 to 2010) it is particularly stressed that measures that ensure equal opportunities for tertiary education for all will be taken. In the view of the education of educators, the national tertiary system contrasts with the positive attaiments of European practive, but also with the aforementioned declarations from national strategic documents. The education of preschool educators is the only segment within the educational profession that is realised with a professional study that offers students an appropriate level of knowledge and skills to enable the pursuit of a professional career and qualifies them for immediate integration into employment.. The possibility for a further formal education ends here, regardless of the fact that the basic feature of the educational system of the Republic of Croatia is horizontal and vertical porosity. This feature is not applied to the education of educators, as in the system of tertiary education there are no studies which would allow bachelors of preschool education to continue their education on a higher level. Apart from the aforementioned, we stress as particularly relevant the fact that, in 2005, the European Commission Directorate-General For Education And Culture established the Common European Principles for Teacher Competences and Qualifications, from which we specifically highlight these demands on the matter of the education of teachers and educators: 3

4 1. Teachers should be graduates from a higher education institution or equivalent. 2. Teacher education programmes should be delivered in all three cycles of higher education in order to ensure their place in the European higher education area and to increase the opportunity for advancement and mobility within the profession. 3. The contribution of research and evidence based practice to the development of new knowledge about education and training should be promoted In this same document, Recommendations to national and regional policy makers are made, that is to those whose duty is to create national and regional strategies, so that they could be implemented in accordance with mutual European principles. In this context, the introduction of a graduate study represents a possibility for the consumption of the aforementioned constitutional right to the accessibility of education for the educators of preschool children, a right which has been denied to them so far, and also a harmonisation with the highlighted European principles. The university course of study in the function of lifelong learning the basic principle of science and higher education It is a fact that the society's main resource is knowledge, while lifelong learning is the key to the 21st century. The education of young generations obtrudes upon educators to be in the centre of the transformations in society, and also to be the main bearers of these changes. The changes in Croatian society and the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union also demand an implementation of lifelong learning and continuous professional training to respond to the new demands of the educational profession. Strategies of lifelong learning are more than necessary for us to face challenges and competitiveness, as is the application of new technologies and improving social connections, equal opportunities and the quality of life. Lifelong learning is particularly important for personal development, acquiring new knowledge and to more efficiently adapt to the labour market and new life conditions. The educational profession thus must be placed within the context of lifelong learning. The education of educators implies continuous professional development and encompasses the entire scope of an individual's professional career. Engaging in lifelong learning in its entirety will qualify them for professional advancement and help them adapt to the new demands in their careers. The university course of study in the function of harmonising the Croatian system of the education of educators within the parameters of European tertiary education The creation of a modern educational policy is inconcievable without the honouring of professionals in early care and education. They are, along with teachers, acknowledged as the key factors in the promotion of a Europe of knowledge in a sociocultural educational context. They are the ones who, with the strength of their professionality, make a significant contribution to preparing the future citizens of a united Europe, to their development and furtherance of their capabilities in responding to the challenges of a society of knowledge, to their active participation in this society and independent lifelong learning. ("Education & Training 2010" the Success of the Lisbon Strategy Hinges on Urgent Reforms). Following this line of thought, the European space for the education of professionals in early childhood care and education is established, with the advocation of defining professionalism in a European dimension. The tendency is to provide every educator unrestrained admission to every educational group within the countries of united Europe. 4

5 A Croatian educator attains European professionalism and becomes a citizen of a knowledge-based Europe only with his education. Thus it must not be restricted to a practice of educating only within national borders. Such ideas have also been acknowledged in the Plan for the Educational System from 2005 to 2010, where it is particulary stressed that the development of education for educational professions will have a key role in supporting many of the novelties planned by the Croatian educational system. The programmes for studies of education will be formed in accordance with the International Elaboration of Education, other international documents that relate to the field and preponderant programme models in the countries of the European Union. These programmes will grant educators equality with other professional workers in the education system in their professional training and advancement in the Republic of Croatia and the European Union. Life in the multicultural environment of united Europe is the destiny of the Croatian educator of the 21st century. This is why he should be qualified to attain a professional and personal lifestyle according to which he will perceive diversity as a virtue, develop a high level of tolerance towards differences and promote the provision of equal chances for all with his actions. The comparability of the study with similar programmes in the countries of the European Union The development of a system of diverse programmes of early childhood and preschool education has, during the past 15 years, also become a priority in the EU. Following this line of thought, the Council of Ministers of the EU already in 1992 issued the Recommendation on Childcare, in which the development of such programmes is strongly supported in both a qualitative and quantitative sense. As a result of these efforts, there is a vast diversity in the number and sort of programmes on early and preschool education, with a flexibility in forms of organisation. The inclusion of children of early and preschool age in various programmes is strongly supported, and this contributes in the continuous expansion of their scope. In the context of the aforementioned, great attention has been given to the discovery of the parameters which are of particular influence on the development of these programmes, among which the need for adequately qualified professionals is particularly stressed. Modern early and preschool education promotes a new system of professional roles of the experts participating in it. According to this, reflections on the need for redefining/redisigning traditional educational perspectives on the professional roles in the field of early and preschool education are becoming more frequent, in the manner of conceptualising different educational programmes for different categories of professionals. European experiences point us to the fact that there are great variations in the treatment of the education system of educators in this area. These variations are obvious in almost all of the aspects in which that part of the system can be clarified: conceptual solutions, institution types, duration, curricula, etc. Despite this, it is possible to note a basic principle upon which the contemporary education of professionals in early and childhood education is organised in Europe. This principle is reflected in the organisation of a system based on modern scientific knowledge on the importance of early and preschool education for the development of an individual, and the application of the same in the context of demanding the quality education of the professionals realising them. In accordance with this, many countries of the European Union are undergoing reforms modifications in the curricula of their education system of educators. In doing so, many opt for the new approach of a dynamic, open and continous process based on the demand that continous professional development and training are an obligation emanating from professional ethics and the 5

6 responsibility of an individual who has chosen a career in education. Undergraduate education (the sixth EQF level) thus represents only the first stage in the attainmant of generic and professional competencies. The general tendency, which is also visible in more and more countries-members of the European Union, is to develop the education of professionals in early and preschool education to the highest EQF levels. Sweden and Finland have integrated study programmes for the education of primary education teachers into universities through the performance of a study at all levels (including the eighth). Thus it can be seen that, at the University of Helsinki's Faculty of Behavioural Sciences, there is a study of early education on a graduate level (More at: Similarly organised courses can also be found in Sweden, where new institutions for the education of teachers were introduced in 2001: National Graduate Schools in Teaching Methodology which offer graduate programmes of early education. Congenious studies can also be found at universities, for example: Umeå University Faculty of Teacher Education, Department of child and Youth education. (more at: In England, it can be seen that studies in this area are organised up to the highest, eighth level. For example, Newcastle University offers a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) - Primary (with Qualified Teacher Status QTS) The PGCE covers the 5 to 11 age range with an emphasis on either Key Stage 1 or Key Stage 2. More a: k.) The education of teachers in Denmark is organised through several Centres for Higher Education (CVU). In 2000, they renamed themselves to a Professional Bachelor s degree with the possibility of studying at a Master or PhD level of study. Although Bosnia and Herzegovina is not a member of the EU, we shall also emphasise it in this review for the reason that the country's universities (in Mostar, Sarajevo and Tuzla) offer four-year studies of preschool education with which the title of a professor of preschool education is attained. (more at i.e. ). Therefore, with an insight into recent sources it can be seen that a wide range of programmes for further professional development and specialisation in early care and education is offered in Europe, programmes which function as some kind of superstructure on an undergraduate study. 6

7 List of compulsory and elective courses and modules with the number of hours required for their realisation and the number of ECTS credits Module/course Course/module holder Code 1st year I.sem P V S ECTS II.sem Module 1. Compulsory INSTITUTIONAL CHILDHOOD Jasna Krstović,PhD The new paradigm of early and preschool care and education Vinka Uzelac, PhD Sociology of the family Željko Boneta, M.A The professional competencies of an educator Jasna Krstović, PhD Zorina Pinoza Kukurin, Module 1.A Elective 10 PhD CONTEMPORARY PARENTING 1 Contemporary parenting Jasna Krstović, PhD Partnership with parents Jasna Krstović, PhD Counselling orina Pinoza Kukurin, PhD Supporting the parents of Zorina Pinoza Kukurin, shildren with special needs PhD Module 1.B Elective THE CONTEMPORARY EDUCATOR 1. Continuous professional education Vinka Uzelac,PhD Renata Čepić, PhD Team communication Z. Pinoza-Kukurin,PhD Positive psychology Sanja Tatalović- Vorkapić,M.A Evaluation and self-evaluation Renata Čepić,PhD

8 P V S ECTS Module 2. A Elective METHODOLOGY IN EARLY AND PRESCHOOL CARE AND EDUCATION Željko Boneta,M.A. Jasminka Mezak,M.A. 1. Searching databases Jasminka Mezak,M.Sc Instruments of research and Željko Boneta,M.A. 5 evaluation 3. The methodology of creating a Aleksandra Pejčić,PhD 5 professional and academic paper 4. Action research Lidija Vujičić,PhD II.sem P V S ECTS Modul 2. Compulsory METHODOLOGY IN EARLY AND Darko Lončarić,PhD PhD 20 PRESCHOOL CARE AND EDUCATION 1. The methodology of qualitative research Renata Čepić,PhD The methodology of quantitative research S. Vorkapić-Tatalović,M.A Applied statistics. Darko Lončarić,PhD

9 2nd year Module /Course Course/module holder Code III.sem Modul 3. Compulsory THE CO-CONSTRUCTION OF A CURRICULUM 1. The neuropsychological basics of early learning 2. The co-construction of a curriculum in early education 3. The co-construction of a curriculum in preschool education P V S ECTS Lidija Vujičić,PhD 20 Darko Lončarić,PhD Lidija Vujičić,PhD Lidija Vujičić,phD Module 3.A Elective Aleksandra Pejčić,PhD Marija Riman,PhD Maja Verdonik,PhD Renata Sam Palmić,PhD Ester Vidović,M.A Sports programme Aleksandra Pejčić,PhD Artistic programme 3. Literary and linguistic programme Marija Riman,PhD Renata Sam Palmić,M.A. Maja Verdonik,PhD Ester Vidović,MA Alternative programmes Jasna Krstović,PhD Module 3.B Elective THE KINDERGARTEN- AN ORGANISATION THAT TEACHES Lidija Vujičić,PhD Management and leadership Renata Čepić,PhD Kindergarten culture Lidija Vujičić,PhD Documenting learning practices Lidija Vujičić,PhD Reflexive practice Lidija Vujičić,PhD

10 Modul 4. Compulsory PLANNING AND CREATING A THESIS IV.sem P V S ECTS Vinka Uzelac,PhD The creation of a project Vinka Uzelac,PhD Thesis Mentor 20 h 20 10