Vulnerable young refugee children not only need housing and food, but also high quality ECEC, essential to alleviate childhood trauma and toxic stress. Access to high quality ECEC is important, because it provides children with a safe, relaxing, playful, pedagogically sound environment where they can meet and play with peers. Overall objective was to improve the quality of ECEC for young refugee children by providing new tools to educators, child care professionals and policy makers.•A description per country of the actual situation (legislation and practice) of ECEC for refugee children: IO1, Country reports•An analysis of what high-quality ECEC for this particular target group entails: IO2, Quality Indicators•Material for ECEC professionals working with young refugee children: IO3, ToolboxPartners:(1) Sardes (leading) is an independent agency working on project-based activities for ministries, local authorities, schools, school boards, welfare agencies in the field of education and youth, providing research, consultancy, (teacher) training, educational material development and project coordination in education and ECEC, especially focused on children in disadvantaged situations. (2) The University of Cambridge is a renowned Research /Higher Education Institute with a long standing history of academic and scientific excellence backed up with rich culture, learning, research and creativity. The Dept. of Theoretical and Applied Linguistic covers a comprehensive range of language sciences and offers theoretical and empirical research in a broad spread of linguistic fields, including that of bilingualism.(3) VBJK, the Centre for Innovation in the Early Years, is a research centre located in Ghent. VBJK has developed action research projects in the sector of Childcare, e.g. on improving the professionalism of the childcare workers and the family day carers. VBJK was one of the founding members of the European Network on Diversity in Early Childhood Education and Care (DECET), and has an active role in the network of the International Step by Step Association (ISSA).(4) OsloMet is Norway's largest state university college, with a student body of 16,000 students and 1,850 employees, 4 faculties and 3 research centres. OsloMET provides education that qualifies students for employment in health and social services, education, and public administration, media, design, arts.Main activitiesThe first TPM was in Utrecht: introductions of project partners, information about the Erasmus+ financial and administrative guidelines, agreements about the project implementation. The project team met in five more TPMs, one in Ghent, two in Cambridge, one in Oslo and one in Leiden, as well as in Skype meetings.Data for Country reports (IO1) were collected partly on-site (refugee centers) and partly through interviews with stakeholders. On the basis of the input, a list of indicators for high quality ECEC for refugee children was compiled. Based on actual situations in and outside ECEC centers with young refugee children, we developed a set of scenarios, that, in combination with reflective questions, forms the MyREF training material. In October 2017, the project was presented to an international audience at the ISSA conference in Ghent, the first ME. The Second ME was held in Leiden, with approximately 100 participants. There were invited keynotes speakers on language, trauma and play, an interactive presentation of policy recommendations and short presentations of inspiring practices. The website with the Toolbox/training package was presented: https://www.sardes.nl/MyREF. Together with the conference participants a sample of the scenarios were tried out. Results: •4 country reports•A list of quality indicators•Training material for preschool teachers who work with young refugee childrenImpact: •Cambridge University applied for funding of an impact study, ‘Hiraeth’ (July-Dec 2019): workshops for recently arrived refugee adolescents in Cambridge and a participant-led radio programme, to develop a sense of home and belonging while improving language skills. In the project the effectiveness of the MyRef Toolkit is evaluated, and Toolkit training materials are expanded.•Sardes was granted budget from ISSA to organise a workshop, with the aim to present the MyREF material to ISSA members, to discuss its possible use in other countries, and opportunities for translation in other languages.•Sardes is a member of the Consortium Vluchtelingenpeuters (Consortium Refugee Toddlers). With a grant from the Kinderopvangfonds (Child Care Fund), the consortium is preparing e-learning material for training preschool teachers to work with young refugee children. The MyREF material will be part of that e-learning package.Longer-term benefits:The Refugee Trauma Initiative in Greece is interested in the MyREF material and teacher training. Preliminary plans were made for possible future cooperation.

<< Objectives >>To strengthen Family Day Care (FDC), this peer learning project will explore examples of effective policies and implementation in FDC governance and management systems, workforce professionalisation and development, and recruitment and retention in Ireland, Flanders, and Denmark. The learning will be shared with target groups responsible for policymaking in partner countries. The project will increase the partners' advocacy capacity and enable exploration of further cooperation opportunities.<< Implementation >>This aim will be achieved through 3 LTTA (Learning, Teaching, Training Activities) in Flanders, Denmark and Ireland and the development and dissemination of a final report and documentation detailing the learning arising.<< Results >>Expected results are that partners and target groups will demonstrate improved knowledge of effective policy options and instruments for FDC systems development, workforce professionalisation and development, and recruitment and retention; stakeholders will engage with the learning communicated through project outputs; project partners will demonstrate an increased capacity to advocate for effective FDC policy; and partners will explore further cooperation, including with family day carers.

Context/background:Although reflection is mentioned as a key competence for educators, teachers are usually expected to reflect on their practice on their own, filling out documents. Reflection is rarely developed with the help of collaborative/connection based and personalised (let alone joyful) processes. However, when reflection is done with meaningful, motivating and collaborative methods, it facilitates true learning and a shift in the quality of education and care. Carers and educators become more aware of their professional role towards children and families, and value the points of views and the feelings of others. Such reflective methods stimulate the active engagement of teaching staff in continuous learning, promote systematic and positive support for professional learning within every school and increases teachers' sense of belonging and appreciation. Although every country requires teachers to follow a Continuous Development Path (CPD) where reflection on practice is required, methods other than guided questions are rarely available. This creates a need for processes where reflection is not a complusory, boring element to be ticked off the list but a process that brings motivation and job satisfaction to practitioners' CPD. Project aims: Introducing collaborative reflective methods in 10 ECEC services/primary schools in 4 countries for practitioners/teachers working with children aged 0-10 to support them in learning how to negotiate, to increase their empathetic competences, to regain motivation in their job, to look at their practices with a ‘discovery attitude’, and appreciate value diversity - and facilitate intergenerational learning within the staff. REC project aims to raise awareness on the importance of making reflection part of the lifelong learning/continuous professional development path for teachers/practitioners in a collaborative way, tailored to the staff's needs. Methods and good practices already exist, however, REC partnership aims at treating them in a systemic way and offer schools/ECEC services a variety of choice so they can choose the reflective methods that suit them the best. In this partnership, we will develop a framework that helps to tailor reflective methods to the different needs and possibilities of educators and carers dealing with children from ages 0-10 - since quality early childhood education and care is of key importance. Our initiative offers methods for building resilient practitioners' communities from a professional and personal points of view so they can face systemic challenges on a lower level of stress, leading to more successful cooperation among colleagues and with families.Project activities: - A European report will be written on the available reflective practices in Europe, with a detailed focus on the partner countries, mapping the gaps between the needs of professionals and current practice with the help of an in-depth survey, following our initial descriptive survey- Collaborative reflective methods will be implemented in 10 ECEC services in the 4 European countries, tailored to their needs, bringing real learning experience and increase in the quality of daily practice - Based on the introduction of reflective methods in the 10 services, a practical guidebook will be written and made widely available on how to choose the reflective methods that suit the specific ECEC institution/school - An impact report with policy recommendations will be available for professionals related to education based on the implementation of regular structured reflection in the 10 ECEC services/primary schools to raise awareness with policy makers, teacher training institutes and other education-related professional organisations - ECEC practitioners/primary school teachers will be able to share experience and exchange good practices from the different implementation processes and visit Belgian ECEC centers where reflective practices are already integrative part of practitioners' livesExpected results:1) Practitioners have the skills, knowledge and methods to reflect on their practice systematically.2) Concrete improvements in quality in 10 ECEC services/schools in 4 EU countries. More positive attitudes and behaviours amongst participating ECEC practitioners/primary school teachers regarding their daily practice.3) Important stakeholders (professionals and policy makers related to education, NGOs, teacher training institutes) recognize the importance of effective and collaborative reflection in CPD of ECEC practitioners/teachers.ECEC services, schools and teacher training institutes are open to promote collaborative reflection as part of the continuous professional development more actively.

CONTEXT AND BACKGROUND From the perspective of the rights of the child, realizing qualitative and accessible Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) is a crucial responsibility for governments, giving each child as much chances as possible. Increasing access to affordable and high quality ECEC is a main challenge in many European countries. Children from low-income and/or immigrant families face barriers to accessing high-quality ECEC. Multidimensional approaches are needed in ECEC to address child poverty as it poses a multi-faceted, persistent, intergenerational, and both material and immaterial problem, and integration of services in early childhood can be critical in providing comprehensive and aligned support to young children and their families. However, policy segregation at all levels within many early childhood programs currently results in scattered and siloed services that fail to address the holistic needs of young children and their families. Throughout the whole of Europe, integrated services for parents with young children are growing, in order to assure a qualitative ECEC for all families. These services have different names as ‘family centers’, ‘children’s centers’,... There is a wide variety of what these centers include, what their main purposes are and what kind of families they reach. Despite these differences, they have similar challenges. A huge challenge is the question of how to enhance the accessibility of integrated services for all families, especially those who are most in need of qualitative ECEC, which are vulnerable families and children like migrant children, poor families,… OBJECTIVES The aim of the Erasmus+ project 'Increasing Accessibility of integrated ECEC-Services to support all families with young children' (IAS) is to exchange ideas and inspiring practices between policy, practice and research on improving accessibility of integrated services for these (vulnerable) families with young children. The exchange of ideas and inspiring practices happens on different levels: (1) Relation professional/services – families: * Support professionals to embrace diversity and to handle sensitive to all kinds of families (eg. by creating open meeting places) * Increase the competences of professionals to interprofessional collaboration and leadership * Support the social work approach to empower families * Integration of multiple services (e.g. social, health, ECEC, Non Governmental Organisation (NGO)) . (2) Role Policy Makers: *Support policy makers in looking for relevant indicators and outcome results on an improved accessibility of ECEC *Guarantee the effectiveness of ECEC, in the way that they are accessible for all. DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITIES AND PARTICIPANTS Each partner country did document analyses on relevant practice and policy which was elaborated in 'country reports' that documents relevant policy, research and practice of the organization of ECEC in each country.Focus groups were held with practitioners, policy makers, researchers focusing on accessibility and integrated services. The overarching results and policy recommendations are included in a concluding report. In addition, in three partner countries a 3 day-meeting (IAS-meeting) was organized, combining study visits to inspiring practices, with discussion and working tables on a theme linked to the abovementioned questions. The Slovenian and Norwegian meeting was transformed into an online seminar with virtual study visits, presentations and discussions. From each partner, four professionals (a mix of practitioners, researchers and policy officers) joined the IAS-meetings. PLANNING • December 2018: Belgium • April 2019: Poland • October 2019: Finland • March 2021: Virtual - Slovenia • May 2021: Virtual - Norway IMPACTThe focus groups, international meetings and inspiring topics gave input for the online IAS-platform, a web-page hosted by the Belgian partner. It was dissemenated by every partner at different levels within each country through common and well-known online channels. It is meant to inspire and support practices as well as policy and research. Looking to the evaluation report of the participants of the IAS-project, this objective was definitely realised. LONGER TERM BENEFITSThe 'IAS-approach' could be inspiring to furher explore the European council recommendation of 14 June 2021 on establishing a European Child Guarantee. It could be an option that all member states elaborate inspiring topics on a specific aspect of the recommendation. This could be shared on a European platform, inspiring all member states to achieve the objectives of the recommendation in creating affordable ECEC-services and health services for all children, especially the most vulnerable. Child poverty remains a huge challenge and qualitative, affordable ECEC is a huge key in combatting the circle of disadvantage.

"Children’s long term success at school is influenced as much by social, emotional and self-regulation skills as by academic skills and knowledge. Social and emotional development is a main contributor to successful school transitions and a significant preventative factor of disruptive behaviour, and mental health difficulties. Not paying attention to social and emotional development is harmful to young children’s capacity to learn and to thrive. The SEED Project (Social and Emotional Education and Development) was designed to draw attention to the importance of social and emotional well-being for children’s learning and development. This was done by a research study about young children's well-being and the factors that influence it in ECEC and primary schools in Croatia, Hungary, Latvia, Norway and the Netherlands. Based on the research findings practitioners working with 3 to 6-year-olds in these countries participated in a continuing professional development pathway based on group reflection to give them the skills to create create educational environments which are supportive of children's social and emotional well-being.The participants were 140 ECEC practitioners and primary school teachers and 44 principals in Croatia, Hungary, Latvia, Netherlands and Norway who participated in the research. A subset of 80 of these professionals participated in the piloting of the WANDA group reflection over one school year, supported by trained mentors. They also took part in study visits to ECEC settings. Other participants were the 545 staff of faculties of teacher education in universities and institutes of teacher education, teachers' and parents' associations, university researchers and local and national policy makers responsible for education and training. These participated in local seminars and conferences where SEED findings and their implications were discussed. Achievements of SEED include an assessment of the socio-emotional well-being of 1195 five-year-old children attending ECEC settings in urban and rural areas in 5-countries; a comparative analysis in understandings of young children’s social and emotional development across countries; sensitization of practitioners, principals, teacher trainers and policy makers to the importance of social and emotional well-being and the multiple setting factors that influence it and the formulation of principles of social and emotional well-being in ECEC.Important results are that practitioners are strengthened in their professional role and where their attention should be oriented in order to support socio-emotional well-being of children. This means they are better able to deal with daily challenges in their classrooms. Practitioners also feel supported in concretely transforming and improving daily practice and in continuously working on the link between theory and practice. The group reflection pathway has also better prepared practitioners to deal positively with diversity in their classrooms by drawing attention the impact ECEC environments. and their behaviours and interactions with children and their parents have on social and emotional wellbeing. SEED has therefore led to quality improvements in ECEC. It has also led to concrete commitments to give more attention to social and emotional wellbeing in training, practice and policy in all participating countries. ""Everyone is accepted as he/she is. This is what we stand for as a school. New children are immediately included. We take care of children when they show emotional needs. We teach children to play together and to talk to each other about difficulties"". (Practitioner, the Netherlands). The results of SEED are available in two publications, 1) a research report titled: ""Social and Emotional Wellbeing of Young Children in ECEC Settings"", which is also available in summary in Croatian, Dutch, English, Hungarian, Latvian and Norwegian, and 2) guidelines for coaches and mentors, titled ""SEEDs of Change: Supporting social and emotional well-being of children in Early Childhood Education and Care"", and summaries in Croatian, Dutch, English, Hungarian, Latvian. Paying more attention to young children's feelings and social relationships in ECEC and primary school leads to happier learners who have a better and a more equal chance to fulfil their potential. As a result of this project ECEC centres and schools are now better prepared to meet the needs of all children and their families.For more information and to download the SEED publications: https://icdi.nl/projects/social-and-emotional-education-and-development-seed"